TV: Plot - by Sam Mariotti

I had a difficult time deciding to write about plot or character next. The wonderful thing about TV and movies and writing and… everything, is that there are so many elements and none is more important than the other. It just makes it hard to decide the pecking order.

You see, a friend of mine said that his improv comedy teacher used to tell him to “forget the plot, just make sure you have a good, strong character. If everyone in the scene has that, then the plot will take care of itself.” I say… true. Especially in an improv scene. People laugh at and love a compelling character, that’s why good improv and sketch comedy are so successful. Think of a comedy show like Futurama. The plots are pointless, but we couldn’t care less because the characters are so strong.

I’d like to talk about plot and story though because I think that, especially in the serial drama, plot is just as highly important as character. What happens to the character and how they deal with it makes them that strong, defined character that we seek.

We are told that moments define people, and that’s well and fine for a short story, movie, or television series. We as a culture, however, have graduated from accepting a two-hour story as something that defines a life. We’ve grown to need more… hence movies with sequels and the on-going seven-season “movie” that serial TV offers.

Moments define people, but a series (er… serial) of moments defines their lives.

Every week we are invited to dive in to our chosen escapism via television. Here, we swim around in the ever-thickening, oh-so needlessly dramatic plots. As I’ve said before, this is where we can find our refuge, burying ourselves in fictional lives that out-do our own crazy lives by at least four and a half miles.

Just think about how unnecessarily theatrical (and effectual) your favorite shows are. Humankind has known since Aristotle’s Poetics that “the purpose of drama is to arouse pity and fear” in the audience. We fear that Derek and Meredith will never be happy in Grey’s Anatomy, we pity the poor suckers who are trapped in the mob life in The Sopranos.

Drama is dynamic, so the plot governs the story. In our beloved complex serials, we are constantly made aware of what is occurring on many different levels. We’re regularly slapped in the face by reversals that prompt our yelling at the TV and by revelations that can only leave us silently staring, our mouths agape. Such art is put into literature that makes us act this way that it’s a wonder that television is broadly thought of as such a mediocre medium.

Whether our serials are idealistic, realistic, or completely fictional, the dramatic plots that thicken and build will never fail to leave us at fatalistic crossroads. Yes, the characters could have chosen to treat a situation differently. But as we watch re-run after re-run, we realize that the stories and plots are so fabricated that had that character made another decision, Buffy would fail to slay vampires, and Jack Bauer would never have made it to hour 24. These shows have every ability to make us realize the consequences and potential of choices we make every day in our own lives. My thoughts are that “mediocre mediums” don’t tend to elicit that effect.

I’ll wrap up this edition with that thought, only because I like its truth. Next time, we’ll dive into the element of character and its substantial impact on shows we love. So until then, don’t turn off the TV. You'll miss out n so much of life!