Monday, February 2, 2009

Just the Same Old Story


I watched Get Smart the other day. There are some things that it would have been better if they hadn’t been in the movie, but if we ignore those things and just consider the story it was great. It is one of those stories that you know how it is going to turn out from almost the beginning. As soon as you see the interaction between the two main characters, you know that they are going to argue for a while and eventually fall in love. You can pick out the double agent villain almost as soon as he makes his appearance. Then you sit through the show and think, “I hope I’m not wrong. I hope I’m not wrong.”


We talk about writing unique stories, but people don’t want to read unique stories. People want to read predictable stories. They want the guy and the girl to fall in love. They want the father to defeat the bad guys and carry his wife and children home to safety. They want the monsters from outer space to turn into a smoldering pile of ash. Yeah, it’s predictable, but that’s okay.


While we want predictable, we don’t want the same story every time. Maybe instead of Cinderella getting this prince we want to see what happens if it’s her wicked step-sister who gets him instead. It’s still a love story with a guy and gal getting together in the end, but we take a completely different route getting there.