Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Four Chords and Seven Basic Plots


I remember being surprised when I learn about Christopher Booker’s theory that every story fits into one of seven basic plots.  It seemed to me that there was such a variety of stories out there.  How could they all be reduced to seven basic plots?  And as an aspiring writer who is constantly bombarded by the idea that agents and publishers are looking for something original, the idea that every story ever written fits into one of these seven patterns is a bit disheartening.  How many original stories can come from seven basic plots?

Maybe a lot more than you would think.

My husband showed me this YouTube video a few weeks ago by a group called The Axis of Awesome, a comedy band.  In the video, they showed how all the greatest hits in the past forty years are based on the same four chords, and by repeating those four chords, you can sing almost any pop song ever written.  I found the whole thing fascinating because a lot of the songs that I knew were really so different from each other even though they all used the same basic four chords.

So below are two of the Axis of Awesome’s four chords YouTube videos.  In the first one, they discuss what a four chord song is and list all the titles of the songs they used while playing them.  The second one is their music video which is just funny.  I will give a warning that there is some strong language (very little actually), but don’t let that keep you from watching it.  It is pretty funny and also amazing to see how all these songs use the same four chords.












I don’t know anything about composing music, so link here to someone more knowledgeable to explain why those four chords are so magical if you’re curious.  The above link talks about how the four chords is just one aspect of a song, the harmony, but music contains so many other elements like “melody, rhythm, tempo, meter, dynamics, articulation, and timbre.”  Maybe I’m over-estimating a bit, but I think by tweaking other variables there may be an infinite number of songs that can be composed based on these four chords.

I’m sure you can see where I’m going here.  Stories also have a lot more aspects to them then plot.  There is characters, setting, tone, style, theme, conflict, etc.  I think you could take one of these seven basic plots and by changing the other story variables come up with an infinite number of stories. 

I’m not really sure if every story can be boiled down to one of Booker’s seven basic plots, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they could.  I believe all stories have familiar patterns in them and part of becoming a good story teller is getting a feel either consciously or subconsciously for those patterns.  For some reason, maybe it is because they are somewhat familiar, we are drawn to those patterns.

Maybe that is the same with the four chord songs, that there is a familiar pattern there that we find so appealing.  Maybe what we want from stories and songs and art in general is something familiar and surprising at the same time.

Happy writing and Happy New Year’s.

~MaryAnn

10 comments:

  1. I'll have to check out the seven basic plots--I'm really curious. I always think about the Greek idea that everything is either a comedy or a tragedy (i.e., ends in a wedding or a funeral). And while that seems a bit simplistic, I can see how so many stories have those two basic threads (or variations of those themes) running through them. Now time to watch the embedded links! Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting now I wanted to know what the seven basic plots are.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Connie and Anonymous, there is a link to the seven basic plots in the first sentence of my post. Click on Seven Basic Plots, and it will take you there. It is very interesting. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ack! You can't send me to TVtropes without warning me! I'm a tv tropes addict and I keep thinking, "Just one more click..." That whole site is a testament to the fact that although some things are done over and over, they can still feel fresh and new when done correctly. Great post, MaryAnn!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting post (and links)! I've pondered those same questions, MaryAnn. I'll have to spend a little time at the TV Tropes link.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Jeff and Melanie. I'm sorry I didn't give a TV Tropes link warning. You can lose a whole day there.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post. I actually used the second video in a choir class I was subbing today (cutting off the f-bomb at the end, of course). Both the video and TV Tropes links are very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, that would've been bad to let the ending play in choir class. Glad it was useful. :)

      Delete
  8. MaryAnn, have you ever seen Pachelbel's Rant? Same idea. :)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
    The part I'm talking about starts at the two minute mark, though the whole thing is pretty funny.

    I used to worry a lot more about the fact that everything's been done before, but that's sort of a futile worry. Now it just gives me more drive to be creative!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't seen that Pachelbel's Rant before. That was hilarious. Thanks for the link.

      Delete

Got an opinion? Use it! Remember... be silly, be honest, and be nice/proofread.