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I know that we can say "In the song 'Beat It'" or "In the movie 'Doom'" like in

  • I love the guitar solo in the song "Beat It"

  • In the movie Doom, there is no part that scares me.

Can we say these sentences in this way instead?

  • I love the guitar solo in the song of "Beat It."

  • In the movie of Doom, there is no part that scares me.

I am more used to hearing "of" used this way with geographical names or city names like in "the city of Los Angeles," "the country of Nicaragua," "the continent of America" etc. So when I used "of" that way with a movie name or a song name, video game name etc., it sounded like it might be "wrong" to me. Is it okay to use "of" this way with those mediums of art/entertainment?

Fire and Ice
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  • No, you can't use it that way. Where did you get the idea from? – DoneWithThis. Apr 26 '23 at 13:46
  • @DoneWithThis. As I said, I heard it being used with geographical names so I wondered if we could use it with other kinds of words too. – Fire and Ice Apr 26 '23 at 14:00
  • You can talk about "the movie of Doom" to mean the movie made out of the video game Doom. But in general you wouldn't use it to refer to a movie that wasn't an adaptation of some other thing. – Stuart F Apr 26 '23 at 14:13
  • @StuartF But in another topic I opened, I was told that it was wrong to use "of" with adaptations and I have to say for example "the Lord of the Rings movie" instead of "the movie of the Lord of the Rings." So you don't agree with them? – Fire and Ice Apr 26 '23 at 14:20
  • @StuartF Here is the topic I started before. https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/311585/star-wars-video-game-vs-video-game-of-star-wars – Fire and Ice Apr 26 '23 at 14:23
  • There is no reason to use "of" there in titles. A movie of doom will depress you. The movie Lord of the Rings is fascinating. – Lambie Apr 26 '23 at 14:41
  • @Lambie I am just asking if they can be said. They could sound more artistic, humorous etc. depending on the context. – Fire and Ice Apr 26 '23 at 14:53
  • Believe me, you do not want to use an "of" in your examples. It is not humous or artistic. It just sounds wrong. :) Compare: In the movie version of "Beat It", the lead singer etc. OR: In the song version of Doom, you can hear etc. – Lambie Apr 26 '23 at 14:56
  • @Lambie Stuart doesn't seem to agree with you. – Fire and Ice Apr 26 '23 at 14:59
  • No, his example is exactly like mine: The movie of Doom is better than the video game. That is just like my two examples with "of". Same usage. The adaptation of Lord of the Rings in a video etc. But in your examples "of" is wrong. Sorry! – Lambie Apr 26 '23 at 15:01
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    Switching here to an example using a work that is neither adapted from or (yet) adapted into another medium, to say, “I really enjoyed the movie of Everything Everywhere All at Once,” is simply not done. The of just sounds weird. As to “the movie of Gone With the Wind, my wife tells me the book is better. But here, the phrase may be understood as an elision of “the movie version of,” and therefore is perfectly unobjectionable. – Paul Tanenbaum Apr 26 '23 at 16:56

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