Movie Story Types: Body Swap
In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and sub-genres like Romantic Comedy or Mystery Thriller.
Then there are story types, a shorthand way to describe a specific narrative conceit that is almost always tied directly to the movie’s central concept. They can be found in any genre, cross genre, or sub-genre.
In July for this series, we will explore over 20 of these movie story types, one each Monday through Friday. Knowledge about and awareness of these story types can be a boost not only to your understanding of film history and movie trends, but also as fodder for brainstorming new story concepts. Mix and match them. Invert them. Gender bend them. Genre bend them. Geo bend them.
Movie story types exist for a reason: Because they work. Hopefully this series will help you make them work for you.
Today: Body Swap.
Some examples of body swap movies:
All of Me (1984): A dying millionaire has her soul transferred into a younger, willing woman. But something goes wrong, and she finds herself in her lawyer’s body — together with the lawyer.
The Hidden (1987): An alien is on the run in America. To get his kicks, it kills anything that gets in its way, and uses the body as a new hiding place.
Like Father, Like Son (1987): A mysterious potion switches the personalities of a buttoned up doctor and his laid back son.
18 Again (1988): By means of an accident the soul of David and his swinging grandfather get swapped.
Big (1988): When a boy wishes to be big at a magic wish machine, he wakes up the next morning and finds himself in an adult body literally overnight.
Vice Versa (1988): A mysterious oriental skull transforms a father into his son, and vice versa.
Dream a Little Dream (1989): An accident puts the consciousness of an elderly dream researcher into the body of a bratty teenager. The problem? The kid prefers dreamworld limbo to real life.
Dating the Enemy (1996): A couple wake up one morning to find they have now switched bodies.
The Hot Chick (2002): An attractive and popular teenager who is mean spirited toward others, finds herself in the body of an older man, and must find a way to get back to her original body.
Freaky Friday (2003): An overworked mother and her daughter do not get along. When they switch bodies, each is forced to adapt to the others life for one freaky Friday.
13 Going on 30 (2004): A 13 year old girl plays a game on her 13th birthday and wakes up the next day as a 30 year old woman.
The Change-Up (2011): Dave is a married man with two kids and a loving wife , and Mitch is a single man who is at the prime of his sexual life. One fateful night while Mitch and Dave are peeing in a fountain when lightning strikes and they switch bodies.
The swap may occur through some sort of magic or a scientific experiment, often gone awry. Their minds may switch bodies. Alternatively their minds may stay the same, but their body may go through a sudden alteration as in Big and 13 Going on 30.
What is the appeal of this story type? If we look at that spate of body swap movies between 1987 and 1989, one thing is clear: In that era when high concept ruled, body swap fit the bill to a tee.
There is also a strong wish fulfillment potential: I wish I were big. Plus an organic FOOW [Fish Out Of Water] element: Oh, my God. I’m a girl!
What other qualities and dynamics do you think are present in body swap movies? What other films of note belong in the list?
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