This is how I judge my entertainment. No really.
I. All stories are responses to other stories
A. Agreement
1. Most common response, copying of characters/themes/plots/etc, leads to storytelling norms
a. Example: High fantasy’s norms come from agreement with Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion
b. Storytelling norms are the tropes and devices that make up the bulk of fiction
i. Storytelling norms that a significant portion of common society has become bored of are called clichés.
B. Argument/Discussion
1. Author/story alters characters/themes/plots etc that have become storytelling norms in order to expose their flaws or improve them
C. Rejection
1. Creates a new storytelling paradigm
a. These in turn can become new storytelling norms
b. Impossible to build an entire story from rejection - some things will remain familiar
II. The author IS important, he/she/they is the one responding to the storytelling norms in the culture surrounding them
A. Argument/discussion and rejection’s roots, like the roots of scientific investigation and theory, are observations. The writer is a scientist of the unquantifiable and intangible aspects of human experience.
1. He or she comes to argue, discuss, and reject storytelling norms by comparing and contrasting his field observations of human emotion and nature with the established “theory”, the dominant storytelling norms that surround him.
III. Nuanced, textured characters/themes/plots/etc more realistic, but smooth, simple characters/themes/plots/etc are more memetic and more likely to become storytelling norms
1. No matter how popular a nuanced story is, it will not result on more nuanced storytelling norms, because the story will be simplified in memefication.