The Craft of Screenwriting: Genres

We have established that Genres are useful in story creation, but how many movie genres are there? The answer to that question depends on who you ask. In Victoria. Schmidt’s “Story Structure Architect”, she lists 21 Genres and gives compelling reasons for that large list. On the other hand, the late Blake Snyder in his “Save the Cat!” book doesn’t so much list genres, but more like ten story categories that blends traditional genres into basic plots. I think both authors have valid points of view, but for out purposes we will confine our discussion of genres to nine basic types.
So let us look at the nine different genres in no particular order, because in our discussion, no genre is more important than another.

Action and Adventure can be looked at as one genre that encompasses many movies. Most War movies and Westerns fall into this genre. Superhero moves fit nicely into action and adventure as does an epic fantasy movie like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars.

Action and Adventure movies are usually about a Hero or a small group of Heroes who are faced with a quest or mission or a dire situation that only they can face and hopefully win. They are faced with an antagonist that may be an almost unstoppable army, or super villains or just a superbly clever individual. Movies like Diehard, London has Fallen, The Avengers, The Alamo, Fury, Aliens and the James Bond films all fit into the Action and Adventure genre.

Action adventure movies almost always follow the classic Hero’s Journey; The Hero [male or female] or Heroes are called upon to embark on a [for want of a better word] Quest. The hero at the beginning of the story is thirsty for adventure, but when called upon to take up the quest at first refuses. Does this sound like Star Wars: A New Hope or Wizard of Oz? Good because deep down they have the exact same plot and are both examples of the classic Hero’s Journey. The hero of course takes up the quest usually because circumstances make it impossible for the hero not to go on the quest. As the hero travels , he meets allies and foes and the road ahead get more and more dangerous.

As the hero over comes the ever increasingly difficult obstacles, he must discover an inner strength that he will use for the final ultimate battle with the evil antagonist. The hero succeeds and balance is restored to the land [or the force] and everyone lives happily ever after until the sequel.
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