Tuesday, October 13, 2009

draft: Competence.


I have been thinking a lot lately about competence porn.

The term was first brought to my attention by a link to the blog of one of the writers of Leverage. (additional link to tv tropes, discussion regarding comics and competence from box in the box)

Arent we all tired of the fake drama? Knowing what the characters in the show dont know, and agonizing over whether or not they are going to tell one another?
This is so very overdone. So very tiresome.
All of the people i have talked to dont want to deal with it anymore.
We want to actually enjoy what we are watching, not have manufactured tension because the characters dont talk to one another.

@McKelvie stated on twitter that he really liked FlashForward because the characters actually tell eachother important information.
I really liked this too, it was such a relief to get down to what was actually happening, instead of suffering through "An American Tale" type situations.

(Do Not Want)

You know what i am talking about -- we all watched that little mouse miss his family by looking the other way, being just around a corner, my little six year old heart ached as i yelled at the tv FIEVEL! YOUR PARENTS ARE JUST OVER THERE!


This is not drama. This is not good storytelling. This is aggrivation. This is killing time.
I dont want to watch a show where characters are obtuse and cant put one and one together. I want to see people who are proficient at something BE proficient. Detectives should solves cases, superheroes should be super. Scientists should solve problems, etc. THAT is what i want.

(this post is a draft, i will clean it up later, but anyone that reads is welcome to comment)