The mysterious appeal of entertainment.

In one of his Farscape Shawarma episodes, Paeter spoke about the interactions and relationships of the crew. He described them as jacked up, raging pools of emotional distress and personal dysfunction. I listened in agreement until he said something I found very odd - he said that this personal dysfunction was one of the primary appeals of the show.

I find this odd on many, many levels. First and foremost, I think I've had my fill of dysfunctional family and friends. I don't want to immerse myself in it in my entertainment. This type of interaction is a primary reason I stopped watching Farscape and new Battlestar Galactica. It is one of many, many, many reasons I actively loathe nu-Trek.

But many shows with this type of interaction have huge cult followings, and I simply cannot understand the appeal. Even stranger, the exact same social dynamic is present in shows like Road Rules, Big Brother, The Bachelor, and Survivor, the fanbase who wallows in this dysfunction on the SyFy channel looks down on the "reality" shows of the networks. I find the whole thing bizarre.

To complicate things, this kind of characterization is poor form. It results in characters that are difficult to explore because their attitudes and outlooks are constantly in flux. It is a tenet of character development that characters in community (comic books, tv series) should be consistent in order to build rapport with the audience, while the setting changes around them. The corollary is that characters in isolation (such as in movies and novels) need to grow and change as individuals within a fixed environment.

So why do shows with poor relationships, poor characterization, and tired plots (koff koff, Game of Thrones, koff koff) have such rabid fanbases? And why do the fans look down on the exact same show when the sci-fi elements are removed? I'm at a complete loss; I simply don't understand.

mindspike wrote:
So why do shows with poor relationships, poor characterization, and tired plots (koff koff, Game of Thrones, koff koff) have such rabid fanbases? And why do the fans look down on the exact same show when the sci-fi elements are removed? I'm at a complete loss; I simply don't understand.

I'll take a shot with some sloppy psychology not based in any education in that field:

I think we are meant to feel and feel deeply in this life. And there are good reasons to experience negative emotions along with positive ones. Entertainment can be a means of feeling and processing some emotions we otherwise would not experience, although on a very safe, tame, unreal level.

Horror movies are entertaining to me because I like to challenge myself to endure being "scared" in what is actually a completely safe environment. It also gives me the chance to consider what choices I would make if placed in a similar situation. Something I don't often have reason to consider because my life is not scary.

Likewise, I wonder if screwed up people and relationships interest me sometimes because they give me cause to process moral issues while also reminding me, on an experiential emotional level, what people and values I hold dear. (I am angry when someone is wronged and in pain as a result. Or perhaps I feel compassion and mourn their pain with them.)

My life, to this point, has been largely free of tragedy, so I also allow for the possibility that when I do begin experiencing tragedy (as we all do at some point if we live to be old enough) I may not be as interested in fiction that reminds me of real pain in my real life, since real life by then will have given me many more intense opportunities to process my values on an emotional level.

Paeter wrote:My life, to this point, has been largely free of tragedy, so I also allow for the possibility that when I do begin experiencing tragedy (as we all do at some point if we live to be old enough) I may not be as interested in fiction that reminds me of real pain in my real life, since real life by then will have given me many more intense opportunities to process my values on an emotional level.

I think you're probably on to something here. I know that I want my entertainment to remove me from real life, not remind me of it.