I agree that road trips are not limited to movies, but the trope name is "Road Movie". Should a rename be considered, or should this be restricted only to movies as a matter of definition? I'm also wondering if this might be considered a sub-trope of The Hero's Journey.
Edited by 24.2.6.46
fyi, I am a firm believer that genre definitions should be confirmed by real movie goers. Having done the very first study of L Ittle Miss Sunshine, even before it was shown at the Sundance festival I can attest that the movie was not mainly thought of as a road trip movie by either mainstream or indie movie goers. It was first and foremost experienced as a comic drama with an independent style. The breadth of audience potential for it comes from its ability to strike very true-to-life-feeling situations with resonant emotional chords that let people see beneath the surface of the American Family at the time is it set in. It was, though, secondarily a road movie.
Road Movie was renamed to Road Trip Plot per TRS
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Examples: There really needs to be more of them. For one, not just movies contain Road Trips. Almost all of John Green's books feature a group going out in a car to find them selves and some cool stuff. Heck, even Lord of the Rings feature people on the Road to a place, and I can think of at least on webcomic that is a literal cross country road trip. I think this one needs to be more inclusive is all.
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