Every creator fears the Moonlighting curse, not just HH.
That's because there's actual story logic behind it, which is what people don't get, I think.
Stories have an emotional climax, and once that's over, the story feels over to people even if there's more story to be told. (Anyone remember Return of the King? Despite its blockbuster status, people walked out of the theater in every viewing I went to (and there were many) and in one of the first showings, actually laughed at one of the endings. The emotional climax was interpreted as Frodo destroying the ring and people felt the story was over at that point, never mind a number of other threads to tie up.)
While I don't think Hart has, a certain percentage of the Bones fandom has identified the emotional climax of the story as being when B&B 'get together/aka have sex.') And when that happens, the story will feel over for them, even if right now they're prepared to swear on the life of a loved one that they'll still watch after B&B are a couple.
Read the comments here or any board or blog, and what comes across quite clearly is that there are people who have no other interest in the story than that moment. And that means that for them, once that happens, the story will be over. They'll stop watching, and will move onto something else.
This doesn't have anything to do with how Hart has done things so much as with story structure and how people interpret story, things that are largely out of his hands.
So his task has been, first, to delay that long enough to build an audience who's likely to continue to watching (who haven't defined the climax of the story as their getting together), and second, to try and find a way to do it that de-emphasizes that moment.
If he can tell the story in such a way that they flow naturally into being a couple rather than having a clear 'before this ep they weren't a couple, after this ep they were' he'll have a better chance of keeping more of his audience because some of the 'this is the climax of the story' feeling will be lessened.
Is an awareness of people losing interest in a story once what they view as the climax is over the same thing as the Moonlighting Curse? I don't think so. The MC says that you can't get any couple together that a fandom is really invested in without losing the show, and that's what I think Hart doesn't believe is true. He thinks it can be done, that they can become a couple without losing the audience because the story feels over, while recognizing that if it's not handled carefully, that's exactly what will happen.
I think what we're seeing now are his attempts to do just that. To me, B&B became a couple in all but the physical at the end of Blizzard. I'm not hung up on them having sex/saying 'we are now a romantic couple' and saw what happened there as an acknowledgement that they belong together and a commitment to one another that it would happen. And what I've seen in the three eps since then has supported that - they're moving gradually and organically toward that point, which, IMO, will most likely be very low-key when it happens.
Which, of course, means that people who are waiting for a big climactic moment are going to be disappointed. I've been expecting for a while now for certain fans to be livid the morning after B&B clearly become a couple, with cries of, 'that's what I've been waiting for?' Well, yeah. That's the problem, actually.
I agree. People don't get the logic behind the Moonlighting curse and I think it's denial because they want the ship to get together.
It happened when Lois/Clair(Superman) hooked up in The Adventures of Lois And Clark. I wanted them to get together so badly but when they finally did, I felt a void whenever watching the show; and that was it.
Same with a lot of other shows I have watched. I think most writers don't write it cleverly. From the last three seasons I don't think the writers could master Booth/Brennan as a couple. I think it would be nothing but forced scenes and gimmicks; I don't think they could write it to be interesting.
I think he shouldn't have made the relationship the biggest task of telling Bones. I think it should be one of the last things we care about. I think it should be on the backburner and be subtle; not forced down our throats and that's the only way they can write it is by giving us gimmicks and forced attempts at showing them. IE The rest of the cast explaining to them that they belong together, the outrageous undercover tasks of being husband/wife boyfriend/girlfriend.
That's because there's actual story logic behind it, which is what people don't get, I think.
Stories have an emotional climax, and once that's over, the story feels over to people even if there's more story to be told. (Anyone remember Return of the King? Despite its blockbuster status, people walked out of the theater in every viewing I went to (and there were many) and in one of the first showings, actually laughed at one of the endings. The emotional climax was interpreted as Frodo destroying the ring and people felt the story was over at that point, never mind a number of other threads to tie up.)
While I don't think Hart has, a certain percentage of the Bones fandom has identified the emotional climax of the story as being when B&B 'get together/aka have sex.') And when that happens, the story will feel over for them, even if right now they're prepared to swear on the life of a loved one that they'll still watch after B&B are a couple.
Read the comments here or any board or blog, and what comes across quite clearly is that there are people who have no other interest in the story than that moment. And that means that for them, once that happens, the story will be over. They'll stop watching, and will move onto something else.
This doesn't have anything to do with how Hart has done things so much as with story structure and how people interpret story, things that are largely out of his hands.
So his task has been, first, to delay that long enough to build an audience who's likely to continue to watching (who haven't defined the climax of the story as their getting together), and second, to try and find a way to do it that de-emphasizes that moment.
If he can tell the story in such a way that they flow naturally into being a couple rather than having a clear 'before this ep they weren't a couple, after this ep they were' he'll have a better chance of keeping more of his audience because some of the 'this is the climax of the story' feeling will be lessened.
Is an awareness of people losing interest in a story once what they view as the climax is over the same thing as the Moonlighting Curse? I don't think so. The MC says that you can't get any couple together that a fandom is really invested in without losing the show, and that's what I think Hart doesn't believe is true. He thinks it can be done, that they can become a couple without losing the audience because the story feels over, while recognizing that if it's not handled carefully, that's exactly what will happen.
I think what we're seeing now are his attempts to do just that. To me, B&B became a couple in all but the physical at the end of Blizzard. I'm not hung up on them having sex/saying 'we are now a romantic couple' and saw what happened there as an acknowledgement that they belong together and a commitment to one another that it would happen. And what I've seen in the three eps since then has supported that - they're moving gradually and organically toward that point, which, IMO, will most likely be very low-key when it happens.
Which, of course, means that people who are waiting for a big climactic moment are going to be disappointed. I've been expecting for a while now for certain fans to be livid the morning after B&B clearly become a couple, with cries of, 'that's what I've been waiting for?' Well, yeah. That's the problem, actually.
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It happened when Lois/Clair(Superman) hooked up in The Adventures of Lois And Clark. I wanted them to get together so badly but when they finally did, I felt a void whenever watching the show; and that was it.
Same with a lot of other shows I have watched. I think most writers don't write it cleverly. From the last three seasons I don't think the writers could master Booth/Brennan as a couple. I think it would be nothing but forced scenes and gimmicks; I don't think they could write it to be interesting.
I think he shouldn't have made the relationship the biggest task of telling Bones. I think it should be one of the last things we care about. I think it should be on the backburner and be subtle; not forced down our throats and that's the only way they can write it is by giving us gimmicks and forced attempts at showing them. IE The rest of the cast explaining to them that they belong together, the outrageous undercover tasks of being husband/wife boyfriend/girlfriend.
Loved your comments by the way. :)
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