It amazes me how well fictional storytelling principles apply to non-fiction as well. The Great British Baking Show is a personal favorite, which uses many of the same techniques you detailed to give each episode (and even each individual dish) a recognizable arc. The editors of these shows know how to establish stakes, communicate the protagonist’s goal, show a disaster befalling them, and then show them achieving victory or reckoning with defeat. Even the music and audio cues in most reality TV mimics that of a drama.
As an aside, I think something you touched on explains the reason I detest all but a few TV shows. You mentioned that there can rarely be lasting change or transformation in serial stories since that would hamstring future episodes. And since, for me, character arcs and personal transformation are the most interesting element of any story, television feels shallow and empty.
Final thought: I just now realized that I have a general apathy for man vs. man conflict in any form. This explains why I don’t care for postmodern fantasy like A Song of Ice and Fire, which intentionally emphasizes man vs. man and de-emphasizes the man vs. nature and man vs. self conflicts of our prototype Tolkien. (Those two types of conflict are still present, of course, but account for a smaller percentage of the total). I tend to think that most gritty or grimdark stories choose to focus on man vs. man conflict and feature the abominable nature of mankind in order to generate their tension, which leads to darker material with an overall tone of cynicism and despair. The Lord of the Rings, but contrast, starts out with a journey story in which nature is one of the primary foes. I subconsciously pattern myself more after that, which explains why I’ve always had trouble caring enough about my antagonists to make them even remotely real.
Now you mention it, I realize I feel the same way. The man vs man conflicts are less interesting, at least most of the time. Man vs. Nature conflicts almost necessarily involve an element of man vs self, since nature is implacable and does not change or care, it is really what man must face in himself in the face of implacable nature that forms the heart of the conflict. Man vs. man conflicts can involve that too, of course, but too often they are simply resolved by who hits hardest, which is dull.
It amazes me how well fictional storytelling principles apply to non-fiction as well. The Great British Baking Show is a personal favorite, which uses many of the same techniques you detailed to give each episode (and even each individual dish) a recognizable arc. The editors of these shows know how to establish stakes, communicate the protagonist’s goal, show a disaster befalling them, and then show them achieving victory or reckoning with defeat. Even the music and audio cues in most reality TV mimics that of a drama.
As an aside, I think something you touched on explains the reason I detest all but a few TV shows. You mentioned that there can rarely be lasting change or transformation in serial stories since that would hamstring future episodes. And since, for me, character arcs and personal transformation are the most interesting element of any story, television feels shallow and empty.
Final thought: I just now realized that I have a general apathy for man vs. man conflict in any form. This explains why I don’t care for postmodern fantasy like A Song of Ice and Fire, which intentionally emphasizes man vs. man and de-emphasizes the man vs. nature and man vs. self conflicts of our prototype Tolkien. (Those two types of conflict are still present, of course, but account for a smaller percentage of the total). I tend to think that most gritty or grimdark stories choose to focus on man vs. man conflict and feature the abominable nature of mankind in order to generate their tension, which leads to darker material with an overall tone of cynicism and despair. The Lord of the Rings, but contrast, starts out with a journey story in which nature is one of the primary foes. I subconsciously pattern myself more after that, which explains why I’ve always had trouble caring enough about my antagonists to make them even remotely real.
Now you mention it, I realize I feel the same way. The man vs man conflicts are less interesting, at least most of the time. Man vs. Nature conflicts almost necessarily involve an element of man vs self, since nature is implacable and does not change or care, it is really what man must face in himself in the face of implacable nature that forms the heart of the conflict. Man vs. man conflicts can involve that too, of course, but too often they are simply resolved by who hits hardest, which is dull.