What Kind of Story Is That?

Jack Kelly in Newsies as a "Fool Triumphant"

This week, I’m returning to storytelling insights from Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat: a famous framework for storytelling that helps to sustain audience interest and takes them on a fulfilling journey. Snyder wrote his formula for screenplays. His framework has since been applied to novels. I’m working on adapting it to musicals, as a resource for world-class storytelling. 

I’ve written about Snyder’s overarching 15-beat framework as it applies to Beauty and the Beast, and I’ve started analyzing five familiar musicals, starting with loglines and moving on to Beat 1 (first image/song), Beat 15 (final image/finale) and how the contrast between them underscores the story’s theme (Beat 2). I was going to carry on today with Beat 3, The Setup, but realized I first need to take a step back and explore a little more about the type of stories that are being told first. 

Snyder has identified 10 different types of story, each with a key set of rules that can be adapted but not abandoned without peril. He calls them “genres” but not in the sense that we usually think of the term. This isn’t a distinction between RomComs and Action stories. It’s a differentiation between the key elements that drive a conflict and how a fulfilling end can be reached. If you’re interested, you can learn about all 10 genres here. (Be aware that the descriptions here are not all Snyder’s, but have been developed by a team that applies his insights to novels as well as screenplays). 

Identifying the genres of our five musicals seems important because the genre rules help to establish what needs to get set up in Beat 3 (and because I was having a little trouble figuring out where Beat 3 ends and Beat 4 begins in The Lion King). These classifications are not an exact science. I’m giving my opinion and you are free to disagree with me. If you do, please comment here. I’d love to read a note about why. 

Simba and Mufasa tell a Rites of Passage story

The Lion King: 

The proof that genre classification is not an exact science is in the fact that the Genre Mapper at SavetheCat.com identifies The Lion King as a classic example of the “Superhero” genre. But I think it belongs to the “Rites of Passage” category. Since the next musical on the list is a Superhero one, Rites of Passage is what I’m going to explore. 

According to Snyder, this genre involves 

1. A hero suffering through a relatable life problem (divorce, growing up, death, mid-life crisis, etc.) 

2. An effort to avoid the problem instead of tackling it head on. 

3. An end point that involves surrender to unavoidable forces larger than ourselves and an acceptance of one’s humanity. 

In The Lion King, Simba runs away from the death of his father (an unavoidable and relatable life problem). It’s not just because he’s been tricked into thinking he’s responsible and will be an outcast. For the next several years, he continues to run away from it by diving into “Hakuna Matata” and refusing to acknowledge or even think about what his father’s death means. In the end, he discovers that his running away has done great harm to his people. He comes to accept a legacy that allows his father to live in him. He triumphs by facing the painful truth and winds up honoring the circle of life. 

Hamilton as a Superhero

Hamilton

I classify this as a “Superhero” story, the key elements of which include:

1. A hero with special powers who is “challenged by the mediocre world around them”

2. A powerful nemesis who is jealous of the hero’s powers 

3. “A curse for the hero that he either surmounts or succumbs to as the price for who he is.”

Hamilton’s special powers are his extraordinary mind and compelling ability to write persuasively. His curse is his insatiable ambition, fueled by desperate need to prove himself to a world that’s suspicious of his antecedents. Aaron Burr is the nemesis who is jealous of his powers. 

Elphaba and Glinda tell a tale of Buddy Love

Wicked

This could be classified as both a “Buddy Love” story and a “Fool Triumphant” (see Newsies for more on the latter category). I’m going to focus on Buddy Love. Its elements, direct from the Genre Mapper are: 

1. A hero who is missing something that keeps them from being a whole person

2. Another person (who may also change in the story or may be primarily the catalyst for the protagonist’s change), whom the hero generally despises on first meeting, but who eventually becomes the close to them. 

3. A complication that results in some sort of separation, after which the parties reunite, becoming whole in the process. (Alternatively, the catalyst may disappear into the sunset after the protagonist has become whole and no longer needs them). 

Both Elphaba and Glinda are incomplete and made whole by what they learn from each other. 

Jean Valjean is another "Superhero"

Les Miserables

I think this is another Superhero story, where Jean Valjean’s extraordinary powers are his drive to do good to everyone. His nemesis is Javert, and his curse is his inability to win the world’s forgiveness for his past as a convict. It almost consigns him to a lonely death as an outcast, but in the end, Marius comes to an understanding of his extraordinary goodness and rushes, with Cosette, to his death bed, while Jean Valjean receives a heroes welcome in the afterlife. 

Jack Kelly is an underestimated underdog

Newsies

This is a “Fool Triumphant” story. Its key elements are: 

1. An underestimated outsider 

2. Who takes on a powerful establishment and 

3. Triumphs by holding fast to their values and ultimately undergoing a change into someone or something new

If Jack were not such an underdog at the outset, this could be a “Dude With A Problem” story about

1. An average Joe who is minding his own business when 

2. A sudden, unexpected event turns his world into turmoil 

3. The ordinary hero must “dig deep inside himself to conquer” and ultimately “wins by using his individuality to outsmart the more powerful forces arrayed against him.”

Jack is a homeless teen who goes toe to toe with the giants of the news industry. He triumphs by holding to his values, and his social status changes in the process. 

These genres are important because they give a general roadmap that will help define a satisfying story. What do you think? Do these classifications ring true to you? 

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