formulaic

To describe a movie or book or any art as formulaic is obviously not to compliment. It essentially accuses the artists involved of executing some story or message, however ostensibly novel, in a manner that has been used repeatedly in the past. I'm not talking the familiar arc - having a beginning, middle and end - I'm talking about that sinking feeling you get about a half-hour into a movie or forty pages into a book when you can trace the arc in your mind. You recognize the foreshadowing as if you've read the book before, you can tell why you are given certain information or why certain words are used, because you know that they will resonate particularly strongly if a certain something takes place. "Formulaic" is a shameful word to have applied to your art, despite how easy a trap it is to fall into when creating. It means you have failed at originality, and originality was exactly what you thought you had when you started, wasn't it?

Sidenote: I was in a movie tonight and, realizing that I hadn't done today's word yet, decided to listen for one in the movie that stuck with me. I quickly forgot to do so, but as I shuffled out of the theater at the end, this word was in my head, so here it is.