- Movies with shifts in tone, characters, or plot are more likely to have high ratings.
Some of the most popular films of recent times include Shutter Island, Atonement and Gone Girl.
Now, experts have figured out what makes them big hits – and it all has to do with the plot twists.
Researchers have found that movies, TV shows, and books with more changes in tone, characters, or plot are more likely to have higher ratings or be downloaded more frequently.
In a series of studies, researchers used computers to analyze the language and discourse of movies, television shows, and novels.
Some of the most popular movies of recent times include Shutter Island, Atonement, and Gone Girl. Now, experts have discovered what makes them such huge hits: it’s all about the plot twists.
Researchers have found that movies, TV shows and books with more shifts in tone, character or plot are more likely to have better ratings or be downloaded more frequently. Pictured: Shutter Island
The first study involved 3,713 transcribed films and found that those with more inversions (for example, the 1999 romantic comedy “10 Things I Hate About You”) received higher ratings (the equivalent of a 1.4-star increase in rating) compared to those with less inversions.
Other popular films with plot twists include the 1995 thriller The Usual Suspects and the 1999 horror film The Sixth Sense.
A second study looked at 19,339 transcribed television episodes and came to a similar finding: those with more reversals had the equivalent of a 0.35 star rating increase.
These could include the hit 2004 television show Lost and the 2005 drama Prison Break.
The third study evaluated 8,663 English-language novels and found that those with the highest number of remakes had twice as many downloads compared to those with the lowest number.
In a series of studies, researchers used computer science to analyze language and speech from movies, television shows, and novels. Pictured: Gone Girl
The researchers, from the University of Toronto and Northeastern University, published their findings in the journal Science Advances.
They wrote: ‘While some stories captivate us and achieve lasting recognition, others bore us and are universally criticized.
It has long been theorized that narrative shifts, or turning points in a narrative, are critical to moving narratives forward and creating engaging plots.
‘These tipping points can be relatively large or small but… they fundamentally represent events that change the course of the narrative from positive to negative, or vice versa.’
As an example, they reference Romeo and Juliet, when the couple falls madly in love with each other at a masquerade ball only to realize that their love is forbidden by their families.
“We found that stores with more, and more dramatic, tipping points are more successful,” they added.
‘Our findings shed light on this ancient art form and provide a practical approach to understanding and predicting the impact of storytelling.’
A previous study found that people are more likely to remember happy stories than pessimistic ones.
Researchers found that a listener could mentally reconstruct the episodes of a story told from another person’s memory of a film, even if the listener had not seen the film before.
They found that when the speaker told a happy story, listeners remembered it better.