Comfort Zones

Oh goody, first post on tvtropes :D

First about the title. By comfort zone I mean "a psychological state in which a person feels familiar, at ease, in control, and experiences low anxiety" [- WP].

Alright so you've probably stumbled across or read intently some stories that deal with ideas and other topics that may take you out of your comfort zones one way or another. Exactly what tropes do that obviously varies to some extent depending on the audience. Consider these (more or less) arbitrarily chosen topics:

Nihilism

Relativism

Solipsism

Fatalism

Determinism

Free Will (This term admittedly seems to have become somewhat nebulous among philosophers and academic sorts among others. I'm mainly talking about the concept as far as it's concerns societal concepts of retributive justice, merit, responsibility, punishment, just desserts, etc. as well as experiments conducted in the field of neuroscience such as the (in?)famous "Libet Experiment" and its subsequent redesigns.)

Genetic Engineering (I'm not the least bit discomforted by this one honestly but I know many other people are.)

Cessation of Existence

Might Makes Right

Eugenics (Working definition I'm using: The belief and practice which aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population. It is a social philosophy advocating the improvement of human genetic traits through the promotion of higher reproduction of people with desired traits (positive eugenics), and reduced reproduction of people with less-desired or undesired traits (negative eugenics). [- Thanks Wikipe-tan]

Eliminative Materialism

Involuntary Euthanasia

Pedophilia

Suicide

Late-Term Abortions

and lastly so called 'trolley problems' - For Example in the "Transplant Problem"; a brilliant transplant surgeon has five patients, each in need of a different organ, each of whom will die without that organ. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of these five transplant operations. A healthy young traveler, just passing through the city the doctor works in, comes in for a routine checkup. In the course of doing the checkup, the doctor discovers that his organs are compatible with all five of his dying patients. Suppose further that if the young man were to disappear, no one would suspect the doctor [- Courtesy of The Other Wiki again]. What should he do? And if he were to engage in the potential illegal act in this situation and were somehow caught, should he be sent to prison or an asylum?

I'd like to hear any other tropes/concepts that you guys can think of on this topic. Main questions:

1. When you watch/read/listen to media that discusses/explores/whatever stuff containing material like the above or any other topics capable of making you leave your comfort zone does it make you more likely to stop reading or keep reading? Keep in mind I'm not (at least not only) talking about "Author Tracts" or anything else that attempts to blatantly shove a viewpoint/worldview down your throat.

2. In your opinion does it matter whether the emotional response of your audience is mainly positive (joy, affection for characters, etc.) or negative (fear, sadness, etc.) as long as it's not boredom? In other words is it a normal writing technique to push people out of their 'happy places' in order to entertain them?

3. Would an attempt to toy (for lack of a better word) with people's feelings on subjects such as those mentioned above (i.e. pushing them out of their comfort zones) in order to aid in generating a grim-dark/horror type atmosphere be thought of as being in poor taste?

If anyone bothers replying (especially with specific reasons given for their opinions) can I just say thank you very much for your time :)

I should mention that I'm more or less shooting from the hip outta curiosity here. Apologies in advance if anyone was offended by this in some way (I can't see how right now but there's probably something I overlooked), it definitely wasn't my intent to do so. Also I was high on caffeine while writing this at about 80 minutes past midnight so I have a (somewhat) reasonable excuse in case this contains any grammatical errors, logical inconsistencies or if it just sounds like the rant of someone who's gone completely off his rocker (which I totally haven't) or if I sound like a pretentious douche (which I'm not). Now if you don't mind I'm going to go bait some squirrels in my backyard so I can hug them and pet them and call them George (no squeezing though, squeezing bad).

I accidentally added this wasn't trying to bump it, honest. So... I can see the edit button but no delete button... Bah... Oh yeah. I should mention I'm a complete amateur with zero professional writing experience. I really do want to learn something from these posts. Have pity on a newb and help out will ya?

edited 16th Feb '15 12:00:25 PM by Quasipinko

I'm going to say yes. These are topics that a lot of people have very serious opinions about in real life, and some of them are directly linked to real suffering. Using them just to set up a "dark and edgy" atmosphere is... kind of exploitative.

Absolutely keep reading. Hell, I'm more inclined to start reading something like that, that brings an examination of such compelling issues to the forefront. At least so long as it is an examination, and not just brought in to "enrich" the world-building and never be brought up again. That's almost always a major disappointment in my book, and can sometimes feel like a bait-and-switch.

Absolutely not. I like reading stories to think and feel, not just browse through an event as it occurs. Effective emotional manipulation, whether jubilation, amusement, fear, melancholy or anything else, can be key to captivating writing.

Not to me, at least not so long as it's integral to the setting and/or story and not something like:

"There were so many late-term abortions going on in the background, it was hell itself!"

Some of the best horror films use grim premises to great effect, and some of the most disappointing ones play it safe where boundaries should have been pushed. And then, other examples of the worst ones use shocking tropes in a juvenile attempt to "push the envelope."

edited 16th Feb '15 2:11:06 PM by DoctorDiabolical

The presentation is important. I'll keep reading if incentives for reading it are presented. I like surprises, or having the tropes I've memorized and have seen unfold before subverted unexpectedly. Also it comes to the point if I'm the intended audience. Reading a book intended for people familiar with the Dr. Who fandom would be out of my comfort zone, same with a solipsistic book explaining why the author is the only real person in existence.

As long as they can invoke some emotional reaction out of a reader, it is worth it. However, invoking negative emotions from the viewers by the use of Idiot Plot or Idiot Ball is never justifiable.

No, within reason. Knowing how far you can push them out of their comfort zones is essential. Toying with emotions is perfectly fine, put don't push them too far, or you'll push them out of the story so far they won't come back.

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