History Main / CompetencePorn

Competence porn is a term invented by ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' writer Creator/JohnRogers (see [[http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/08/leverage-204-fairy-godparents-job-post.html here]]) and used by a lot of [[{{Review}} critics]] since --read [[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3bj5bk/the-martian-is-pure-pleasurable-competence-porn-1002 here]], [[https://www.wired.com/2009/10/admit-it-you-love-competence-porn-too/ here]], [[https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/02/the-martian-sherlock-holmes-and-why-we-love-competence-porn/ here]], and [[http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-wednesday-october-28-2015-1.3291976/competence-porn-why-we-like-to-watch-experts-do-things-we-can-t-1.3291978 here]]. It's the thrill of watching bright, talented people plan, banter, and work together to solve problems. It's not just "characters being good at a thing," particularly if that thing is fighting--otherwise, the term would apply to virtually all fiction--but specifically about using cleverness and hard work. Though the term mostly applies to realistic dramas, there's an element of WishFulfillment to it, as characters in a competence porn series rarely have to deal with serious infighting, dead-end ideas, VastBureaucracy and the other difficulties that affect real-life groups. As a result, competence porn is overwhelmingly featured in works on the idealistic end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

* ''Literature/{{Gate}}'': It focuses on Japan's military and its efforts in exploring a fantasy world on the other side of a portal. The soldiers involved are depicted as an extremely competent, organised and rational fighting force, with half the fun being the sheer catharsis of skewering the cliche of RockBeatsLaser with a hefty helping of combined arms.
* ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'': The franchise focuses on an elite police unit, but this gets emphasized in the ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]'' sub-series, which shows Section 9 at their best, as a cautious and talented team of counter-terrorists who often out-think, out-hack, and out-politic the antagonists. Even at their most dire, the members always make sure they put up a fight to the last.
* ''Manga/Golgo13'': The manga depicts the world's best sniper, and the reason for his success isn't just because of his reflexes. Many of his hits show the slow and methodical process of him researching and preparing for his shot, which makes the payoff all the sweeter when his various targets and rivals, who were so assured of their strategies, realize they've been outplayed.
* ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'': Many of the show's curb stomps are because Koko's team of bodyguards are mainly composed of ex-military, and thus accomplish their job with the precision and professionalism many of their enemies lack. Koko herself is a shrewd strategist and businesswoman who regularly proves she's a braver, better player in the arms-dealing business than her self-styled rivals.
* ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'': The series follows "Blank", a brother-sister team of hardcore gamers who are unbeatable as long as they work together. The appeal of the series is watching the various ways they deduce how the rules of their opponents' games work, figuring out if and how said opponent is cheating, and then outwit their opponent to win the game. As a bonus, they ''also'' outwit their opponents ''after'' the game is over, such as using ExactWords to reinterpret the rewards for winning.
* ''Manhua/StartingTodayIWorkAsACityLord'': A good amount of the enjoyment out of this series is seeing how Liu Feng constantly takes on powerful people and easily comes out on top. He also surrounds himself with highly competent assistants and ensures that his followers learn how to become highly competent individuals as well. Because of this, he and his forces can come at most problems from multiple angles and consistently gain the upper hand against adversaries.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': The titular character was described by Creator/GrantMorrison as hyper-competent in his Justice League phase, and even then a good part of the appeal of the "World's Greatest Detective" and his stories was seeing him use and apply his intelligence, skills, and resources to come out on top against every enemy and challenge no matter how dire and outmatched he is. This also applies to his supporting cast who are all at the top of their game, Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, Lucius Fox, Oracle, with the KidSidekick Robin originally being created as an AudienceSurrogate precisely to provide an emotional center to his stories and an element of vulnerability.
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Reed Richards is generally considered the most competent and effective leader and scientist in the entire universe and the Four's adventures generally are all about their adventures and inventing and exploring somehow always saving the day.

** The above efforts turns out to be ploys to buy time for their compatriots to set up ambushes with even more firepower, including crew-served weapons like an autocannon and later a twin-multilaser.

* ''Fanfic/HeroClassCivilWarfare'': The fic puts Izuku's planning and management skills front and centre, showing how a team filled with a disparate set of powers can be effective, as opposed to a poorly-led team that banks on winning fights with raw brute force. InUniverse the competence displayed by Izuku delights some (Nezu) and horrifies others (all of the other students in UA, who now know that if Izuku became a villain, he would be an ''InvincibleVillain'').

* ''WebAnimation/TIEFighter'': It shows the Galactic Empire, for once, not suffering from troops dying en masse ineffectively or having terrible aim, and wins a battle as a result, due to being genuinely more dangerous than the Rebellion.

* ''Film/Apollo13'': You already know how it ends. And you probably already know the gist of how three astronauts and their thousands of support staff on the ground cooperated to get a crippled spacecraft back to Earth. What the movie gives you is the chance to watch how they do it.
* ''Film/TheBigShort'': The film is about [[TheCassandra various people in the finance industry who saw the 2008 financial crisis coming before anyone else did]] and used this knowledge to become rich while the world entered the worst economic recession in nearly a century. Of course, [[GreyAndGreyMorality whether they were right]] to do this is up for debate.
* ''Film/FordVFerrari'' is about expert drivers, designers and mechanics building a top tier race car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. You see a little bit of everything from the new high power motor to discussions about brake assemblies and the precision driving needed to make it work the way it needs to.
* Creator/HowardHawks: In UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, he was credited with making movies about professionals who approach their work with confidence, spirit, fun, and resourcefulness. Movies like ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings, Film/HisGirlFriday, Film/ToHaveAndHaveNot, Film/RioBravo'' all had hypercompetent professionals and team-mates banter with each other as the plot focused on how they approached a job.
* ''Film/TheMartian:'' As Creator/BobChipman put it, "This isn't some hackneyed cautionary tale about the dangers of exploring the unknown, it's a high-stakes procedural about the awesome power of knowledge, which has placed Watney in one of the most impossible situations imaginable mainly so it can thrill us with detailed depictions of smart, dedicated people figuring out how to get him out of it."
* ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'': It has hyper-competent [[StageMagician magicians]] known as "The Four Horsemen" robbing and swindling corrupt businesses and [[JustLikeRobinHood giving their money to the everyday-folk of the world.]] Even when it seems like they've completely fallen into the villain's trap, the UnspokenPlanGuarantee swoops in at the last minute to show that everything had always gone according to their plan.
* The remake of ''Film/OceansEleven'' and its sequels each have a team of [[GentlemanThief Gentleman Thieves]] working together to pull off TheHeist. The thrill was seeing how these crooks manipulate and worm their way and use the UnspokenPlanGuarantee to their advantage to pull the rug under the feet of both their mark and the audience, generating suspense and thrill, as opposed to earlier heist films, [[spoiler:in a perfectly executed heist]].
* ''Film/{{Spotlight}}'': The film is about a team of journalists doing their due diligence to uncover the full extent of the Catholic Church's child sex abuse scandal in Boston.

* ''Literature/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'': The Yotsuba clan is a rare example of the "shadowy crime family that controls an entire country" trope that is ''just as badass'' as they are said to be if not more. Inter-clan conflict is the only real obstacle any Yotsuba character faces, and even then it doesn't stop them from accomplishing every goal they put their mind to- including enslaving a PhysicalGod.
* ''Literature/TheMartian'': Both the book and its film version are basically nothing but this--it's two hours of teams of scientists and engineers trying to bring Mark Watney home from Mars after he's stranded there by a freak storm. If anything, the book goes into even more detail about the science and math involved.

* ''Literature/ReleaseThatWitch'': Thanks to Roland’s modern day knowledge, he managed to not only improve the quality of life for his kingdom, but also leave all other kingdoms in the dust of the arms race by developing hot weapons over cold weapons. Roland’s enemies may outnumber him, but he outguns them, proving that one should never underestimate an enemy they know nothing about.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Watching ex-cop, [[CleanupCrew cleaner]] and [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] Mike Ehrmantraut's various elaborate criminal schemes (both aiding Gus Fring's drug empire and interfering with [[TheCartel The Cartel]]) is one of the main attractions of the series. Emphasized by his interactions with other criminals throughout the series, who are often [[HairTriggerTemper hotheaded]], [[FailedASpotCheck reckless]], or complete idiots.

** The moment it dawns on Penny that the bunch of nerds across the hall are actually quite effectual and hyper-competent --when they're dealing with their own areas of expertise.
** Penny appreciates the intelligence and vast interests of the guys but has admitted to being overwhelmed with the TechnoBabble and feeling she will never fully understand it. During a rocky point in her relationship with Leonard her friends encourage her to meet him part way. After surprising him in his lab, he shows her some of [[TechnologyPorn the work he does with lasers and holograms]]. This proves to be quite the GeekyTurnOn for her and they repeat a cycle of science experiment and fooling around afterwards several times.
* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Watching Michael Weston out badass every criminal and spy he comes up against is entertaining. Adding to the fun are the voiceovers which nonchalantly explain why he's doing things a particular way.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'': {{Inverted}} in [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps"]] with Abed's story: sure, the heroic characters he creates are (by slasher victim standards) GenreSavvy and hyper-competent, but the (InUniverse) audience (other than Troy) hates this for lacking any tension.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': A hyper-competent team that catches the bad guys by using their own thinking against them.
* ''Series/HowItsMade'': This documentary ScienceShow is nothing but footage of people [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin expertly making things]].
* ''Series/TheJoyOfPainting'': There’s something wonderful about watching Bob Ross calmly go from a blank canvas to a finished landscape in the space of half an hour, all while assuring the viewer that you can do it too with a little practice.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': It's the indirect TropeNamer. The series is about a gang of [[JustLikeRobinHood Robin Hood types]] who use their specialized talents to pull off elaborate con games, outsmarting a new AssholeVictim each week. Complications are cleanly overcome by the end, assuming they weren't [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee actually part of the plan from the beginning]].

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': He can always build the right device for the situation in relatively realistic ways; the show often details how seemingly useless items (at least for the problem at hand) could be used for another purpose.

* ''Series/MissionImpossible'': This trope was the major appeal of the original television series. The Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is an elite team of agents who are tasked with achieving some sort of goal that the government has deemed pretty much "impossible". They use a number of high-tech gadgets, deception, disguises, and other methods to achieve their end goal. Some episodes have the villains figure out the plan or reveal some countermeasure to it, but this always either plays into the IMF's hands or is quickly adjusted for and countered.
* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'': The crew were all accomplished artists, engineers, tinkerers and carpenters. They were not, however, scientists but this made their application of UsefulNotes/TheScientificMethod A LOT more entertaining than it might have been otherwise. Entire generations of fans went on to become engineers and craftsmen because they made the industry look fantastic.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': Definitely part of the appeal of Leslie Knope, both in-universe and for fans. And in a literal sense of the trope, there are definitely times when she and Ben get ''turned on'' by the other's excellence at their mundane government jobs. As the series goes on, more and more of the supporting ensemble also develop into these kind of extremely talented people who it is a pleasure to watch excel in work they care about.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': The Man in the Suit can take down decades-old organizations with hundreds of members with minimal help from his support team. [[spoiler:If anything, part of the reason the next-to-last season felt incredibly dreary is that Samaritan went past "proper escalation" and straight into InvincibleVillain territory and the final season had the heroes struggling to catch up.]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': This is the main draw of the franchise for many. Professional people from a variety of fields act professionally and work together to solve problems by the end of the episode. Some newer Trek stuff is controversial with the old fans for the characters acting less professionally and competently, and getting by more on luck and {{Indy Ploy}}s.
* ''Series/ThisOldHouse'': Much of the series' appeal and LongRunner status is clearly found in the chance to watch professional workers use their skills to rehabilitate run-down houses.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'': The series is all about White House staffers coping with world-class political, social, and even historical crises every week. The main cast is also, to the last person, incredibly intelligent, idealistic, and incorruptible, and their political agendas are almost always for the service of their country, and not for their own profit.

* ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'': The gamebook explicitly instructs players to play out their characters as daring, bold, ambitious, and ready to take big chances to live a bigger life, while literally telling the GameMaster, "Don't make the [=PCs=] look incompetent", and instead to explain their failures with overwhelming odds stacked against them.
* ''[[{{UsefulNotes/Fate}} Fate Core]]'': The rulebook says this regarding player characters: "Characters in a game of ''Fate'' are good at things. They aren't bumbling fools who routinely look ridiculous when they're trying to get things done--they're highly skilled, talented, or trained individuals who are capable of making visible change in the world they inhabit."

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'': Many games set in modern times, such as the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' trilogy and later [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019 2019 remake]] usually place the player in the role of military elite, allowing them to fight alongside other competent and professional soldiers armed with high-tech equipment and reams of long-distance support.
* ''VideoGame/GhostReconFutureSoldier'': The game could essentially be summarized as "stone-cold and extremely put together badasses stop a coup in Russia, and then allow the Russians to take credit for it with nary a flinch".

* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorWarfighter'': It has a lot of dramatised missions involving "Tier-One Operators" strategically taking out terrorist threats in a no-nonsense manner.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'': In the earlier seasons, every 'buster got a chance to come up with the plan or have the insight to capture the episode's ghost. This faded as SeasonalRot and {{Flanderization}} set in, though there were still flashes of this in specific episodes.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In a setting replete with HollywoodTactics, it's refreshing to see the heroes work together to formulate a logical battle plan and execute it flawlessly as they do in [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E19StormOverRyloth "Storm Over Ryloth"]].

* ''Fanfic/HeroClassCivilWarfare'': The fic puts Izuku's planning and management skills front and centre, showing how a team filled with a disparate set of powers can be effective, as opposed to a poorly-led team that banks on winning fights with raw brute force.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': {{Inverted}} in [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps"]]. Abed's story is an inversion: sure, the heroic characters are (by slasher victim standards) GenreSavvy and hyper-competent, but the (InUniverse) audience (other than Troy) hates this for lacking any tension.