My step-daughter has just started an A level course in flim studies. This means that I (hopefully) get a good excuse to buy lots of classic films on DVD.
It also means that we get to have interesting discussions about films. Like this one from last night.
Gill doesn’t like many Hollywood films. She thinks they are often far too formulaic and the the endings are far too easy to guess from pointers in the early scenes. It’s hard to disagree with that, but I pointed out that formulaic films aren’t all necessarily bad. Without thinking too hard I came up with two popular formulas for recent British films.
1/ Child exhibits talent in something that a parent thinks is totally unsuitable. After many adventures the parent conceded that they are wrong. See Billy Elliot, Bend It Like Beckham and (longer ago) Kes.
2/ Working class community is threatened with disaster. A large part of the community throw themselves into a new activity which they do very well at. See The Full Monty, Brassed Off and Calendar Girls.