Harry Potter and Doctor Who walk into a bar

Today I’d like to take a break from the tech topics I usually discuss, and veer into literary territory. Harry Potter and Doctor Who have two interesting characteristics in common, and I’d like to present them as a shared compliment and criticism.

Let’s start with the compliment. I believe the authors of these two media properties owe their success almost solely to their understanding of a key concept. We identify with the underdog. We invest in that plucky fighter who never gives up, who the odds are always against, who is always one step away from certain defeat and death. There are all these micro-cliff-hangers throughout because of these overwhelming odds, that juice us on adrenaline and keep us hooked.  And then, wow if that guy (or girl) somehow snatches victory at the very last second despite everything, that makes us happy. 

And if that every-man, rag-tag, too small, no skills, picked-on, kicked around, out-numbered loser does end up losing in the end, well don’t think about writing a part 2. We feel betrayed. But even worse is a heroes’ hero, strong physique, flies, every bad guy is two steps behind him. We don’t invest in him because we don’t identify with him. There are no challenges so we get bored. The only reason comic book super-heroes have hung around is because they developed weaknesses.

Speaking of comic books, they also illustrate my second point, my criticism, as do Harry Potter and Doctor Who. As I mentioned above, we invest and identify with these plucky underdogs. Therefore the one thing you cannot do is betray us. Besides having them lose in the end, there are several other “writing devices” which constitute betrayal in my opinion, such as having the character die and then bringing them back to life, or having the character lose and then turning back time, or saying it was somebody’s dream, or events in an alternate universe. These are cheap cop-outs. We invest in those events as much as the characters, and snatching them back like an “indian giver” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giver kills an amount of trust each time. Sure I get writing yourself into a hole, when you have to up the ante each time, but I expect better.

PS. No need to comment that Doctor Who is a TV show not a book. I meant literary in the sense that each episode is written down before it is directed .