So I started to think about how formulas exist in popular culture in everything from comics to books to TV shows and movies. There seems to be a similarity when there is some sort of a saga or series. For example, this week I watched Superman Returns and Spiderman 2 and in both sequels the hero took a sabbatical, lost the girl, and almost died. The heroes were having a really tough time, but the formula was to make them vulnerable so we can build them back up. Also, there was a shift or a rift in the romantic relationships which is all too common. For example if you read a series of novels or watch a television series about the same characters time after time, the convention is that we want to see our favorite couple together, but the invention is to find ways to keep them apart to build the suspense. This is true if you read the Twilight Saga: most fans want Bella and Edward together, yet it takes several novels to get to the big payoff. Shows like Law & Order SVU or Bones, stories about crime solving detectives even use the formula. Week after week, we watch the male and female leads dance around each other and the sexual tension builds. Will they or won’t they? Grey’s Anatomy is constantly mixing up its ensemble cast but the core characters always find their way back to each other (hello Mer and Der’s post it wedding and Izzie and Alex’s marriage of convenience). These relationships have come a long way since season 1, but nonetheless are intact. Soap Operas notoriously build up “supercouples” so they can break them up and reunite them during “sweeps” months when ratings mean the most. Even reality shows thrive on rumors of whose dating who or jealousy amongst cast mates. The convention is that our favorite forms of entertainment play on our very real emotions even if the inventions are a little hard to believe. According to Brown, “convention provides stability to the cultural aspects of life; invention, although it tends to de-establish, does so only so that new conventions can be tested and worked out” (2005).
References: Browne, R. (2005). Profiles of Popular Culture: A Reader. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.