The Story of Plots and Genres Pulp Fiction, The Mummy, and Galaxy Quest

Plot In Understanding Movies, Giannetti mentions that there are many ways to structure plots, but that American films most often follow the ‘classical paradigm.’ A classical story pits a protagonist against an antagonist in a linear (usually chronological) plotline of increasing dramatic tension.

Plot Structures Classical Classical Classical

In Element of Fiction Robert Scholes describes three general modes that fiction may follow: Comedy, Tragedy, and Quest. Comedies end positively for the characters Tragedies end negatively Quests involve a character or characters going on a journey, usually having acquired a mission to find something and bring it back.

The quest idea is connected with the idea of a hero and has several characteristics: 1. The protagonist or hero receives a summons of sorts or a goal that must be achieved. If the hero rejects the summons, usually bad things happen and these are often symbolized by images of desert or wasteland. If he accepts the quest, he knows that he is not assured success. 2. When the hero begins his quest, a journey will be involved. This can be an actual physical journey or merely a mental or internal journey. The journey will always be into the unknown. Sometimes this is considered “the Other” and can be merely the “dark side” of the hero’s own nature. When the unknown involves the self, once the hero recognizes his dark side or flaws or unconscious motivations, balance is restored, “health” is regained. For some literature, this may be the only goal of the quest. For early British literature, the goal usually applies to a society as well as to the hero. 3. On the journey, the hero will be tested. Tests can be riddles, physical tests of strength, or moral tests or combinations. The idea that the hero gains self-knowledge occurs in most representations of the quest, but this aspect is emphasized more in some presentations than others. http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/english/brady/211.Quest%20characteristics.htm

4. The structure of the literature involving a quest is usually episodic. The events of the plot are controlled by the events in the journey. The hero encounters many adventures and some are unrelated to the main plot except that they impede action of the main plot. Sometimes they are tests of character, values, spirit, and honor as well as determination. 5. The hero usually is given or has help through the journey. This can be a helper, a mentor, or some person met on the journey. The point is that the help must be accepted by the hero. 6. Usually, there is a descent scene that represents a type of death and rebirth. Maybe the death is only of one set of ideas or values for another, but this is a significant part of any quest. The quest has three major stages: 1. separation 2. initiation 3. return. The hero will somehow be changed as a result of the quest. Another word for change is “transfiguration” and before this can occur, the hero must experience a type of death and rebirth. The data from the last two pages comes from http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/english/brady/211.Quest%20characteristics.htm

Galaxy Quest Galaxy Quest follows a classical plot structure that also uses the elements of a quest narrative. In it, a hero must face a challenge, upon which hinges the survival of a culture, and overcome obstacles (including himself) to find or learn of that thing which can save his people. The Omega-13 is a device with unknown powers that Sarris desires and which the other characers need to keep from him. Notice that each character of Galaxy Quest must learn or do something in order for their whole mission to be successful. The script casts them all as heroes (or heroines).

Galaxy Quest The film also plays with the ideas of fiction and reality, actually privileging those who suspend their disbelief and go with the fantasy (or reality) of their situations. Notice that the characters who most accept their fictional/real roles in the reality of their situation—almost like having faith in the fantasy—become successful.

The Mummy The Mummy follows the classical paradigm with a linear, chronological plotline, and, like each main character in Galaxy Quest, each main character in this film has his or her own idea of treasure. The Mummy’s twist is that in addition to the traditional quest format, it also follows the ‘classic” role-playing game formula, as well, which makes for a vastly entertaining action-adventure film.

A Film Master Stephen Sommers is more than an auteur, he’s a top-class Dungeon Master. The characters follow the classic Dungeons & Dragons character types—or archetypes. Each character has an alignment, a history, and a set of skill specializations and they gain (or lose) experience based upon the success or failure of their actions. The Book of the Dead and The Book of Amun-Ra are valuable magical items for which the characters search. In D&D characters can be wizards, clerics, fighters, or thieves.

Pulp Fiction As Pulp Fiction does not present its scenes in the order they occur, we cannot readily understand the story’s timeline or the characters’ relationships to one another. Each scene presents its own story with its own complications; however, they all come together to teach viewers important lessons. While it includes many aspects of the Mafia movie genre, it also has some revisioned quest narrative components.

Each main character star in his or her own vignettes where there are times when he or she is tested, must overcome obstacles, and emerge from conflict either victoriously or otherwise. A key item emerges with a near supernatural importance: the contents of the briefcase.