Being Predictable

This article strikes me as something Paul could have written. (My preacher
recently told me that when he finally got around to seeing Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time, he thought it was something I could have written. I was
actually flattered.)

http://www.aleemartinez.com/being-predictable/blog/08022011/

Being Predictable
By A. Lee Martinez
<http://www.aleemartinez.com/author/a-lee-martinez/> | Published:
February 8, 2011

This is not meant to be a critical post.  It will probably come across that
way, but I just wanted to be clear on that.  I’m merely thinking aloud (*or
is that typing aloud?*) some thoughts I had while watching Syfy’s new
show *Being
Human*.

*Being Human* is not a bad show.  It’s well acted.  The
writing<http://www.aleemartinez.com/category/writing/>is decent.  The
dialogue is believable.  The FX are good.  Unlike
*Sanctuary*, which always comes across to me as something you could see on
Youtube, except better and more interesting, *Being Human* comes across as a
competent, well-made television show.  To criticize it on any particular
level of quality is difficult because there’s nothing wrong here.

But it’s just so damned generic.

Maybe it’s just me.  Possibly a hazard of being a novelologist is that I
write stories, and I think about stories.  I analyze them, break them down,
see how they fit together, try to make them fit together in new and
interesting ways.  Perhaps, just as real police find most cop shows
ridiculous or real doctors find medical shows absurd, a writer of fiction
loses his ability to just enjoy something at a basic level.

Or maybe not.  Maybe it’s something simpler.  As *Futurama* once put it,
“People don’t like clever and original.”

See?  That came across as critical.  For the record, *Being Human* is
clever.  It is sharply written.  It’s not very original, but originality is
overrated anyway.  Nothing is really original.  Everything’s been done and
done again about a thousand times over.  Everything I’ve ever written is
just a variation of something someone else has already done (*and quite
probably done better*).

It’s not a question of originality.  Or cleverness.  But absolute and
complete predictability.  Having watched a few episodes of *Being Human*, I
have yet to be surprised by any of it.  Not even a little bit.  It’s not
that I expect to be blown away by the show, but after watching the first
episode, I could tell you practically everything that happens in the show
thus far.  Heck, just giving me the premise and the title tells me
everything I need to know.  None of that matters.  Yet at the same time, the
show bores me because there’s really nothing new or original about it.  Not
even an attempt at new or original.

Of course, the werewolf is a poor schlub who is harmless and almost geekish
in his human form.

Of course, the vampire is incredibly handsome and struggling to overcome his
primal lust for blood.

Of course, vampires have a secret society that lurks hidden below the
surface of the mortal world, manipulating and conspiring.

Of course, the werewolf nearly kills his sister when she tries to help him.

Of course, werewolves and vampires don’t like each other.

Of course, the vampire’s old sire shows up to tempt him to the dark side.

And, of course, vampires love to have sex covered in blood.

And there it goes again.  I don’t want to sound insulting because without a
doubt people work hard on this show.  This doesn’t come across as a show
that just got thrown together.  It doesn’t seem phoned in.  It seems like
people really care about making the show.  All the ideas above are staples
because they work and make sense.

The reason I don’t want to sound critical is because I’m not sure the
audience wants anything different.  People who like vampires, for example,
seem to really enjoy the handsome, tortured, struggling
monster<http://www.aleemartinez.com/books/monster/>archetype.  And a
werewolf that’s comfortable with who he is and has learned
to deal with his problem makes conflict difficult.  If the vampire had a way
of handling his cravings for blood, you’d have to find conflict elsewhere,
and then why are we watching a vampire show in the first place?

I don’t know.  It’s not that I want everything in the show to be original.
Or much of anything.  But it’d be nice to have one or two underused
touches.  Wouldn’t it be cool to see vampires having a support group who
tries to help them deal with their bloodlust?  Or maybe the werewolf could
actually like the perks that came with being one (*minus the huge
inconvenience of being a menace once a month*).  What if werewolves secretly
ran the world and vampires were the outcasts, the down and out?  What if
supernatural creatures of all types got along fairly well in the world?
There are loads of possiblities, but none of these will be explored.
Because they aren’t the possibilities *Being Human* wants to explore.  And
as much as it might bore me, the show is probably right to not try anything
very radical.  The audience doesn’t tune in for that sort of thing.  Any
more than anyone wants to watch a cop show about paperwork or a doctor show
about changing bedpans.  There’s no appeal, no demand.

In *Gil’s All Fright Diner*, I wanted to make my monsters very human.  Duke
doesn’t kill anyone by accident.  Earl’s craving for blood isn’t really any
stronger than our desire to eat.  Neither is cool.  They’re just a couple of
normal guys.  But I had that luxury because I was writing a story with
ghouls, zombies, and monster gods to spice up the conflict.  Without that, a
story of just Duke and Earl sitting around talking probably wouldn’t be very
interesting.

*Being Human* isn’t an adventure show.  It’s not about grand adventures.  It
has to find its conflict somewhere.  So having the characters being
conflicted by their natures is not only necessary, it’s the entire premise
of the show.  And judged by that necessity, it’s a good show.  It’s probably
better than anything Syfy has had in a while with sharper writing and
characterization than its other generic shows.

Still, it would’ve been nice if it had taken one or two chances, changed a
few things up.  Nothing groundshaking.  Nothing too radical.  Just something
to say that this contemporary supernatural universe is at least a little bit
different than all the others.  But perhaps that’s too risky for television,
and perhaps they’re right that the audience doesn’t want those kind of
challenges.  They want a well-produced show and the rest is irrelevant.

It makes me glad I write novels.  There’s a certain pressure there, too, but
it’s less.  I have more options, and it’s unfair to expect television or
movies, which are harder to produce and make profitable than
books<http://www.authors-books.com/>,
to take the esme kind of risks.

Oh, and about the ghost.  I didn’t really comment on her because she’s not
very original either, but there haven’t been a lot of TV shows with ghost
protagonists.  So even if her storyline is fairly standard, it at least
feels like something I haven’t seen a million times before from this
perspective at least.

*Beting Human *is a good show.  If you like vamps or werewolves, I’m sure
you’ll probably like it.  As for me, I won’t be watching.  Unless they add a
giant robot to the cast.  That’d be awesome.


Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |

*“I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have
inside your head.”
Attributed to Teresa Nielsen Hayden*

-- 
dadl-ot mailing list
http://mail.thehood.us/mailman/listinfo/dadl-ot_thehood.us
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.music.dadl.ot