No... I... didn't see anything. Nope! Nothing there. What's for dinner?

[prog]

Random hypothesis:

In general, and over the whole history of the medium, characters in television shows lie far more often than real-life people would in similar situations. This is because lying is an inexpensive way for writers to introduce plot twists and intercharacter stresses.

This from a conversation with dougo about "Lost", which I've been watching on DVD. Midway through the second season I'm getting pretty tired of how the all the characters turn to lying so easily, even to characters that I'm fairly sure are supposed to be people they trust. It's moved past caution into what I'd call childishness. These are supposed to be complex adults, not little kids who think that the best way to handle an encounter with something weird is to never tell anyone ever (or until you blurt it out when sufficiently harassed or otherwise upset).

I think this is related to why characters in modern-setting fiction never call the cops. But at least Lost doesn't have that problem...

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Also the actor(s, probably) playing Claire's baby are several months too old, at least in some shots. Even I can tell the difference.

Comments

[kahuna-burger.livejournal.com]

the lying thing is especially prevelant on sitcoms. A friend once described the standard sitcom plot as "Something happens which could be resolved with a small amount of embarrassent, but instead the character lies about it. Things spiral out of control. Next week they do it again BECAUSE THEY NEVER LEARN!"

The earliest siting of this as a repeated plot where characters never learn is the book of Genesis. No joke.

[prog.livejournal.com]

That is an interesting observation!

[karlvonl.livejournal.com]

That wasn't me perchance, was it? That's a big pet peeve of mine. I've often said that all sitcoms should be retitled "Web of Lies". Also, do you remember the short-lived sitcom "Shaky Ground" from the early-90's, starring Matt Frewer of Max Headroom fame? My nickname for that show was "Don't Tell The Wife", because that was basically the plot of *every* episode.

[kahuna-burger.livejournal.com]

It may well have been. But I noticed the Genesis thing ("She's not my wife, she's my sister!" "Oh so shes available then?" "Err...." 3 TIMES!) On my own. *grin*

[prog.livejournal.com]

And right out of the gate: "Did you eat that fruit?" "Um... NO!" Arguably that was an OK mistake to make for the first humans mere moments into panicky full sentience, but did anyone learn from that? Tsk.