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Promethean
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Is \\\"Viewers Are Geniuses\\\" a bad thing? Is invoking it always a mistake, unless subverted somehow? The main article seems to suggest this, but a lot of the examples are very successful and acclaimed works. There seem to be two different understandings of this trope:
1. The story doesn\\\'t work properly unless the viewer has detailed knowledge on something that\\\'s considered obscure by the target audience
2. The story simply makes a reference to something that\\\'s not common knowledge
The difference is that 2. doesn\\\'t necessarily affect the quality of the story at all. In some cases, when you know the writers have done their research it may give you an expectation of authenticity (even if you wouldn\\\'t actually recognise un-authentic Roman armor anyway).
So which is it? Do we want examples like the Aubrey-Maturin series, which really requires you to know A LOT about napolean naval warfare to understand the battles? Or do we want examples like O Brother, Where Art Thou, with its shout-outs to Homer which don\\\'t really affect the plot at all?
1. The story doesn\\\'t work properly unless the viewer has detailed knowledge on something that\\\'s considered obscure by the target audience
2. The story simply makes a reference to something that\\\'s not common knowledge
The difference is that 2. doesn\\\'t necessarily affect the quality of the story at all. In some cases, when you know the writers have done their research it may give you an expectation of authenticity (even if you wouldn\\\'t actually recognise un-authentic Roman armor anyway).
So which is it? Do we want examples like the Aubrey-Maturin series, which really requires you to know A LOT about napolean naval warfare to understand the battles? Or do we want examples like O Brother, Where Art Thou, with its shout-outs to Homer which don\\\'t really affect the plot at all?
