I followed the directives in the video of my previous post and started creating a list of favorite stories. Some of these are books, but most are films or television shows. This was a quick, off-the-top-of-my-head list with a few words to describe what I found appealing about them in terms of genre, theme, character development, and plot. I know I will think of more. Eventually, I will pop these in my internal story making blender and hopefully come up with a good story idea. Here goes:
Dead Poets Society (A version of the gospel– teacher offers enlightenment to students, then betrayed, yet students continue to follow him)
Standing on the desks in honor of Prof. Keating (allegiance, enlightenment)
Prof. Keating Helping Todd to write a poem (enlightenment)
Casablanca
Scene: Singing of French National Anthem in the Bar (defiance, patriotism)
Scene: When they say good bye at the airport (drama, love, tension, oh my!)
Lord of the Rings
Return of the King scene “I can’t carry the ring, but I can carry you” (loyalty)
Two Towers: Sam’s speech about great stories being the ones that you remember (hope, good triumphs over evil)
Harry Potter Series (friendship, another gospel tale– Harry as savior that comes back to life at the end and banishes evil)
Star Wars original (The classic Hero’s Quest)
The Fugitive (driving complex plot)
Downton Abbey (setting/locale– the abbey is almost a character)
Star Trek Voyager (strong female protagonist)
Star Trek DSN (exploration of spirituality)
King Arthur legends (mythological components)
Shakespeare in Love (tragic love story in comedic form)
James Michener’s Hawaii (setting/locale told in vivid detail)
Sherlock Holmes (character development: is Sherlock a genius or is he just insane or both)
Big Bang Theory (It is basically a story of family)
Signs
Scenes: “Swing Away Merrill”
“The Poison Never Got In” (both scenes deal with “everything happens for a reason” or predestination
Practical Magic: (Urban fantasy, finding joy in the moment particularly in the Midnight Margarita scene of the movie version)
Miss Pelican's Perch 
April 20, 2022 at 8:39 pm
Dead Poets Society is one of my favorites, and I’ve always wanted to see Casablanca. You have a great list of stories here.