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[Pathos]

Why do empty* books ( like Twilight / Eragon / Dan Brown ), empty* TV shows ( Supernatural, quite a few sitcoms ) and empty* games ( dear god, too many to list ) seem to sell the best?

I mean, there's no accounting for personal taste, and I'm not going to hold that against a person, but these things are AWFUL derivative turds. And, yet, they seem to hold the eye of the public more than actually decent pieces of work ( hi George R.R. Martin ).

Can anyone explain this to me? ( Especially the Dan Brown / Eragon thing, really those books are terrible, they literally ripped plots and scenes from other works. )

inb4 someone comes in and accuses me of being elitist / not accepting of people etc.

Spoiler: *Empty (click to show/hide)

Void of original thought / plot / motivation / anything really worthwhile, under my estimation.

[Neonivek]

It isn't that they are terrible in every aspect.

It is that things that are JUST entertaining are easy to just pick up an go with.

It takes energy to appreciate something greater.

[Cheeetar]

It all comes down to personal opinions. Yours doesn't match with the people who like those things, and while you're welcome to ridicule their opinions you can't stop them having their opinions, just as they can't suddenly make you like Twilight by complaining about you not liking it.

[ein]

They're engineered specifically for a demographic for the sole purpose of making money.
There's no need for it to be original.
Artwork is not made specifically to make money, it is made for the artist.

[cganya]

i'm going to steal the answer from someone's sig:

Its not a big huge conspiracy that these things sell well, It a product of stupidity.

to explain: truly original ideas sometimes define a genre of it's own and sell really well and are remembered forever. Its easier to create and sell something that already exists than it is to make something new. old but good ideas are more of a sure shot making money wise, and people are mostly interested in money when they expend energy to create stuff. so the old but good stuff gets rehashed and is chosen over new and better stuff because its less risky to invest in. this causes the market to be saturated with old but good stuff (which is often not actually good anymore, like a meal that's spent too many days as a left-over). Thus old but good stuff generates more money because humans who are concerned with and have large amounts of money are too afraid of losing said money to risky "new ideas"

and to compound this trend, there are too many "stupid" people out there who continue to buy the same story and ideas over and over again.

but really, for all the bad things this causes, it also allows for lots of cool stuff. would you have liked capcom to stop at megaman 1? or nintendo to have stopped at zelda? or mario bros? yes repetition usually causes bad games and stories but it also allows for refinement and tangents.

[Pathos]

It all comes down to personal opinions. Yours doesn't match with the people who like those things, and while you're welcome to ridicule their opinions you can't stop them having their opinions, just as they can't suddenly make you like Twilight by complaining about you not liking it.

I DO enjoy things similar to those things, just not THOSE things - because they are terrible. I've enjoyed Lord of the Rings, Pern, Star Wars - I don't enjoy Eragon. I've enjoyed Anne Rice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( Angel seems to be the character basis for Edward or whatever ) - I don't enjoy Twilight. I've enjoyed various grail conspiracy novels ( all released pre-Dan Brown's stuff, they tried to sue for plagiarism but shot themselves in the foot - they would've won otherwise ) - but I don't enjoy Dan Brown.

I'd understand if I was complaining about rock music and claiming rap was the best, but this is different.

They're engineered specifically for a demographic for the sole purpose of making money.
There's no need for it to be original.
Artwork is not made specifically to make money, it is made for the artist.

I've just realised what makes them all similar: They all seem like terrible fanfics.

[Strife26]

I'm currently reading Twilight, and kind of enjoying it.

Bella's thoughts match somewhat closely with my own, just lacking my overriding "Fuck this, I want a bloody tank/ I see a trope / that's an idea for a story" layers.

Seriously though, Bella's truck is made of awesome.

[piecewise]

I'm currently reading Twilight, and kind of enjoying it.

Bella's thoughts match somewhat closely with my own, just lacking my overriding "Fuck this, I want a bloody tank/ I see a trope / that's an idea for a story" layers.

Seriously though, Bella's truck is made of awesome.

So basically what you're saying is that your thoughts are the same as the thoughts of a incessantly whiny teenage girl (who is in love with a bi-polar cannibal) who exists for the sole purpose of living out the pg-13 masturbatory fantasies of a menopausal Arizona resident?

[ChairmanPoo]

I don't even think it's stupidity. It's just that very often people want more of the same things, and thus novels that adopt to that norm will do better. It isn't really that they are better, it's that they do a decent job at entertaining the reader, and will be generic enough to appeal to a lot of people.

Some notes
- This doesn't make them bad per se. I think that even in this category there are books that are definitedly better written than others. For instance, Ken Follet is a decent writer, while Thomas Greanias is groan-inducing (he's WORSE than Dan Brown)

- We are all guilty of this to an extent. Take a look at the "what are you reading" thread

- I suspect that this same reason is behind the success/continued existence of some very long book series.

[Acanthus117]

I'm currently reading Twilight, and kind of enjoying it.

Bella's thoughts match somewhat closely with my own, just lacking my overriding "Fuck this, I want a bloody tank/ I see a trope / that's an idea for a story" layers.

Seriously though, Bella's truck is made of awesome.

So basically what you're saying is that your thoughts are the same as the thoughts of a incessantly whiny teenage girl (who is in love with a bi-polar cannibal) who exists for the sole purpose of living out the pg-13 masturbatory fantasies of a menopausal Arizona resident?

Not to mention you think that letting a 117-year old immature whiny boy that thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread push you around, steal and damage your car, prevent you from seeing other people and generally be a dick is a good thing?!

[Sensei]

Oh come on. You like Kharne the Betrayer don't you?

...actually, if I saw a love story involving kharne the betrayer, I would read it without a moment's thought. It would be mandatory.

[Cheeetar]

It all comes down to personal opinions. Yours doesn't match with the people who like those things, and while you're welcome to ridicule their opinions you can't stop them having their opinions, just as they can't suddenly make you like Twilight by complaining about you not liking it.

I DO enjoy things similar to those things, just not THOSE things - because they are terrible. I've enjoyed Lord of the Rings, Pern, Star Wars - I don't enjoy Eragon. I've enjoyed Anne Rice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( Angel seems to be the character basis for Edward or whatever ) - I don't enjoy Twilight. I've enjoyed various grail conspiracy novels ( all released pre-Dan Brown's stuff, they tried to sue for plagiarism but shot themselves in the foot - they would've won otherwise ) - but I don't enjoy Dan Brown.

I'd understand if I was complaining about rock music and claiming rap was the best, but this is different.

They're engineered specifically for a demographic for the sole purpose of making money.
There's no need for it to be original.
Artwork is not made specifically to make money, it is made for the artist.

I've just realised what makes them all similar: They all seem like terrible fanfics.

It could just be that they were more heavily advertised and newer.

[Renault]

Well, Eragon was basically just Star Wars but in Fantasyland instead of space. So it was destined to do well until people realized it was written by a kid with little original material and a whole lot of cliche.

[Vester]

But enough cliche can be hilarious in the right condition.

[FluffyToast J]

I read that as "original cliche"...

I need sleep.