The Rise of the Dark Side

[thefourthvine]

Okay, so a few months ago I made a playlist for Best Beloved (based around the theme of heroes and saving the world, additions still gratefully accepted) featuring the song Michael (Jump in), which is actually written (Jumpin) in the version I bought, but I refuse to believe that. Anyway, what I didn't realize when I put the song on the mix is that it is, at least according to BB, a song written by a car to David Hasselhoff.

Best Beloved spent some time explaining this concept to me - apparently, the car was an artificial intelligence, and together he and Michael (played by David Hasselhoff) fought crime. And then I asked her about the line in the song that goes:

"It's not like you/To turn your back and let the dark side win"

Obviously, this gave me a mental image of the show as a kind of Star Wars crossover, where Michael was a Jedi and the car was his - trusty, um, whatever. Racer-thing, maybe. Basically, I was sort of envisioning David Hasselhoff as Anakin Skywalker, which made my brain hurt.

BB explained to me that, no, it wasn't about Michael's dark side. "Because I don't think he really had one," she said.

"But without angst, what do you write about in the third season?" I asked her.

She didn't know. Apparently her television knowledge is not that encyclopedic.

Thinking about it, though, I'm not sure I can imagine this concept. He's a lone wolf white guy out to save the world with just his car (and, I'm guessing, his fists or maybe a gun, although BB did not go into that part)! Surely he must have:

1. Angst, including a tragic back story.
   
2. A dead wife or girlfriend or kid something, or maybe just one who left him with prejudice after she found the photos of him with a puppy on his dick. (Warning for a dude with a puppy on his dick. NSFW, is what I'm saying. Also possibly not all that safe for your brain.)
   
3. A constant struggle with the dark side, whether it be his alcoholism or his desire to eat people or his evil twin or his general dickishness or whatever.

You can't have TV without those things, is my understanding. Even in Sports Night, a half-hour comedy show, Danny had a dead brother, a bad relationship with his parents, and some kind of major emotional breakdown including acting out on air. He had plenty of angst! He had a dark side! He was a news anchor on a half-hour comedy show. So I really don't see how a crimefighter with an intelligent car could get out of this. (BB does recall that the car apparently had some angst. And an evil twin.)

Except, as previously documented extensively in this space, my understanding of TV is limited and narrow. So - can you have TV without those things? I mean, are these the actual requirements, or am I just confused? And if those are the requirements, was it always that way? Can you pinpoint an era as the Rise of Main Character Angst? What about Main Character Dark Sides?

Tell me about angst and dark sides on TV, is what I'm saying!

Comments

[thingswithwings]

First of all, it is one thing to warn for a picture of a dude with a puppy on his dick, and it is QUITE another thing to warn for David Hasselhoff with a puppy on his dick. I wish I had known it was the latter before I clicked. /o\ Puppies on dicks are fine by me, but seeing David Hasselhoff's thighs is NOT. ;)

I have this sort of nebulous set of beliefs about political conservatism and the way it tends to create the ground for cop dramas and police procedurals - there are tons of American police procedurals in the 50s, almost none in the 60s, lots in the 70s and 80s, dropping off again in the early 90s (except for Law and Order) and now you can't spit without hitting one. And I think cop-related dramas tend to foster the kind of angst narratives you're talking about - it all comes from the hard-boiled detective with the gritty past and the quasi-legal relationship to "his" city which he has to save "from itself." I think the link between angst and crimefighting of whatever kind (whether it's the Winchesters or CSI) is pretty strong - a serial killer killed my wife etc., now I have to track him down, blah blah, and its political conservatism is grounded in the idea that crime needs to be punished (not 'criminals need to be rehabilitated') and that we have to ignore the rules to do it.

For example, Batman is an incredibly accurate predictor of the way these portrayals of angst move in cycles, often with the political climate. 40s/50s Batman, all dark knight angsty. 60s Batman: Adam West, camp, bright colours. The 80s sees the reboot of the Dark Knight, now Darker and Knightier, and then the Tim Burton Batman. Late nineties, the movie franchise starts moving camp and colourful again with Batman Forever/Batman and Robin (both amazing films which I love) and then it springs back again with the new Christian Bale films. (Someone who knows more than I do about the animated series and the non-flagship comic series could maybe say more about this). If America ever sees another era of liberalism and revolution, you might see more TV where angst isn't required. Till then, I dunno - right now the crimefighter-angst is so prevalent that those storylines spread out and infect pretty much all the other genres as well.

[paxpinnae]

I also could have done with knowing that the puppy was a Shar-pei. THAT'S an association I never wanted to make in my life.

[anatsuno]

I'm commenting on this mostly just so I get a copy of it in my inbox to keep forever, because I know I'll want to find it again someday. :)