Reply #5: A more specific media problem is TV's 40 years of storylines in [View All]

[Nay]

its fiction works -- movies, series shows, made-for-TV movies. Large numbers of these stories have a certain story and character arc -- who does not recognize the story of the bumbling idiot/wayward person/child who,when confronted with danger/opportunity/a chance at heroism, becomes the hero in the end? There are endless variations on the theme. The near-criminal misfit who is drafted in WWII and becomes the squad hero. The kid who saves his parents from certain death by aliens. The stupid person who, through perseverance, triumphs over regular or intelligent people. And then there are the opposite stories that display the same theme -- the smart scientist who crumbles under pressure, and the D student who saves the day; the grade school teachers who are evil aliens, and the pupils fight them and save the world, etc. etc.

This theme, although seemingly uplifting and moral, has also seemed to have made people unable to pass judgement (or even to notice) other people's gross errors or their incompetence. I truly think a lot of these people are waiting for the 3rd act, when their hero Bush pulls the rabbit out of the hat, saves the world, ends up the hero, etc.