Predictably Unpredictable

Some television shows and movies are so predictable it’s funny. My wife and I have even turned it into a game from time to time, seeing who can guess the next move of the characters, the ending, or what happens to the love interests in the story. I noticed this recently when we started watching the very predictable, though somewhat endearing, Sci-Fi original Eureka. The show is sometimes so easy to predict that I am often fooled into thinking I wrote it myself. But one prediction set me on a particular train of thought that has led me to this post: In Eureka everyday is predictably unpredictable.

Shows like Eureka are built on a never ending cycle of outrageous, cataclysmic, life-threatening events that get solved in 45 minutes, only to be repeated next episode in some other fashion. Take for example an episode from season one. In this particular episode we find our heroes faced with a major dilemma. A set of old nuclear missels have popped up all over Eureka and are about to be launched into the sky and bring utter desolation to their target, not to mention totally messing up the roads and neighborhoods of Eureka. So, naturally, our heroes must disengage the missles in time. Of course they do (sorry to ruin the ending), but then comes the next episode, in which our heroes have had their brains chemically altered by toxic plants, which must be cut down. You get the idea: it’s one big catastrophe averted after another.

What this has led me to consider, however, is just how much television and film portrays the normal life of individuals as utterly exciting, daring, and heroic. My life does not often seem like this, and I don’t imagine yours does either. My life involves changing dirty diapers, fixing the dishwasher, and printing church bulletins. It has moments of excitement (like the bat in my dinning room), but in them I often look less heroic than my TV counterparts (like when I fall on the floor because that rat with wings almost flew into my face). So my curious question is: do television shows like Eureka (and nearly everything else) breed in its viewers a dissatisfaction with life?

I can’t help but wonder if the reason so many people are lured in to alternate realities, second lives on the internet, etc. is because they’ve been seduced by the exciting romances, jobs, friendships, and parties that film and television portray. Books, of course, can do this too, and it is the nature of such art to portray things that captivate our attention. Nonetheless, do we feed our unhappiness by indulging in such things?

I don’t have the exact answers, as you’ve come to expect if you’ve read any of my previous articles, but I know it is a question that I must contemplate in my own heart. Furthermore, it is one I would encourage you to contemplate as well. The next time you want to compare your romance to Sleepless in Seattle, or your job to Jack Bauer’s give some pause. Our lives may not be all that exciting, all the time, but these shows have their predictable parts too, and if you look closely and follow the path you might even get bored with their stories.

Readers, we want to know:

• Is it even possible to make an engaging film or television show that is realistically mundane? Examples?
• Do you ever find yourself growing bored with life? Do you think it has anything to do with shows or movies like this?