Abstract
Analysis and intepretation of film art is primarily domain of the film studies; approach of this discipline could be also supplemented by applied folkloristics. Folkloristic methodology used for analysis of folktales and legends could be used to analyse plots and sujets of popular mainstream movies and to better understand their meanings and their appeal to audiences worldwide.
The study presents, on several examples, how the method inspired by structural-functional morphology of folktale can be used to classify and interpret popular movies, regardless if they use folkloric sujets consciously or unconsciously. Examples of the most popular mainstream movies from last 40 years are used.