| Khuutra said: It is a very fine distinction which a lot of pople don't make, but it's still there. Think of the plot as a skeleton for a story, or a path down which the story walks. The story is what you experience. The plot is merely what happens. Hm, that didn't make a lot of sense. Give me time to come up with something better. |
I'm not very good with semantics, but to me the plot is general what happens and why. A story is that, and everything else that comes with it.
A cliched plotline doesn't mean a bad story, or even a cliched story really. Look at Pixar movies, most of their movie's plotlines are fairly cliched. When you watch something like Toy Story, you'll likely know the general plot progression and the kind of ending the movie will eventually reach. It's the classic homeward bound kind of plot with a pair of reluctant friends, and Toy Story doesn't do anything to significantly change that kind of plotline. What you won't likely know how Buzz reacts to finding out he's a toy, or what to expect from Sid's "experiments", or how Woody eventually stops Sid, or every little joke and adventure along the way.
Basically the devil is in the details. Pixar's CEO John Lasseter is a big Hayao Miyazaki fan. A decent amount of Miyazaki films have very simple storylines. Something like My neighbor Totoro's plotline could be easily described as two girls befriend a demon. The details are what make it a joy to watch.
