Competence porn – are you addicted?

This feature for The Knowledge appeared in The Daily Telegraph

 

Competence pornYou’ve probably watched a lot of competence porn and enjoyed it, without even realising. Competence porn is the name that’s been coined for entertainment – novels, films or TV shows – where enjoyment is garnered from witnessing impressive feats of human capability. We’re talking about men and women who succeed against expectations, either by their own wits and expertise or with the equipment and technology they wield. They inspire jaw-dropping awe by being far more proficient and accomplished than you at certain tasks. But – and this is important – competence porn doesn’t make you feel inadequate or incompetent. It makes you feel empowered. We’ve become addicted to the kick we get out of watching people who are just damned good at what they do.

Turn on the TV right now and you’ll probably find an avalanche of competence porn. Think about the fast-talking dialogue and political strategising of the characters in House of Cards, the medical acumen of House, the deductive brilliance of Sherlock Holmes (in any of the recent BBC, CBS or Warner Brothers adaptations), and the ingenious bushcraft of Bear Grylls. All of these are classic examples of competence porn. And we can’t get enough of them.

In fact, there’s nothing new about this phenomenon. One of the first examples of the genre was Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel, in which the shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe must start from scratch to build a comfortable and civilised life for himself. The story itself was based on the real-life misadventure of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, and it’s a trope that was repeated in Swiss Family Robinson and Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island during the following century.

This year, perhaps the best shipwreck scenario for MacGyvering your way to survival is explored by Andy Weir’s novel The Martian, about an astronaut marooned on Mars whose resourcefulness is stretched to the very limits to stay alive in the brutally unforgiving extraterrestrial environment.

Read the full feature on The Telegraph website

The Knowledge Want to read more about the behind-the-scenes fundamentals of how our modern world works, and how you could reboot civilisation if you ever needed to...? Check out The Knowledge - available now in paperback, Kindle and audiobook.

Comments are closed.