Why can't the nation handle the truth?

[billd91]

While there may be legitimate reasons to keep certain details under wraps (covert operations being an obvious example, same with inside information on publicly traded companies), it seems to me that most uses of this trope come from a sense of arrogance and maintenance of privilege and power rather than actual need to protect sensitive information. A Few Good Men underlines this in a strong way. "We who know the truth obviously can handle it, but you common people cannot." It reeks of elitism and is utterly self-serving to those elites who are then able to get away with whatever they want in the service of that "truth".

So, yeah, the trope can irritate me when the theme of the movie or TV show supports that viewpoint rather than opposes it.

Me, I want my government (and other institutions) under the goddamn sun.

 

[Plane Sailing]

It's not just an issue with adult conversations, either. How many movies would be only 15 minutes long if someone just called the cops, or turned around at the first signs of trouble?

(Search YouTube for Eddie Murphy's standup on haunted houses.)

Reminds me of this

If All Movies Had Cell Phones - CollegeHumor Video

 

[ggroy]

It isn't a sci-fi/fantasy issue either. It's general. Plots that exist merely because the characters cannot manage to have a simple conversation like mature adults are fairly commonplace.

In the mundane non-fiction real world, in practice this seems to be the case too. Too much drama and crap due to people behaving like little kids. More specifically, incomplete information leading to the equivalent of superfluous "plots", and the merry go round involved.

 

[ggroy]

It's not just an issue with adult conversations, either. How many movies would be only 15 minutes long if someone just called the cops, or turned around at the first signs of trouble?

Sounds like an underlying "railroad principle" in play, which has the sole purpose of preserving the semblance of it being a movie lasting 90+ minutes, a tv episode lasting an hour, a novel lasting 200+ pages, etc ...

Sorta like a media version of "Parkinson's Law", where the story content fills the allocated media "straitjacket" container (ie. movie, episode, novel, etc ...).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

My problem with the genre is the pure implausibility of the government pulling off a large-scale conspiracy. I work for the government, and I know how lousy we'd be at that.

 

[Elf Witch]

I think in some situations it makes sense to withhold information. In the movie Deep Impact they were trying to withhold information to stop a panic while they put a plan together.

A populace in panic at the idea of the world ending in two years could make it very hard to maintain order.

Other times I think it is done to because the people in power have a reason to keep it secret in Independence Day I think the reason they kept it a secret was so that the US didn't have to share any of its findings or developments with the rest of the world.

The withholding from the people important to you drives me crazy. One of my issues with the The Secret Circle is how the main character who knows this is a family legacy and really has no reason to trust the other kids does not confide in her grandmother. The only things that makes me some what buy is that teens are stupid and don't trust adults.

But take Grimm the situation between him and his live in girlfriend is just wrong on so many levels. She is an adult and should have a say in her own life. He is not protecting her by withholding this information. She should have a choice if she wants to stay and risk it or leave.

One of the things that always makes me roll my eyes is the phone call. You know the one that goes hey I discovered something but I can't tell you over the phone so lets meet. We all know how that is going to end.

 

[Elf Witch]

Reminds me of this

If All Movies Had Cell Phones - CollegeHumor Video

I have been watching a lot of 70s shows like the Bionic Woman and it is interesting to look back and realize how cell phones have really changed how to handle tension.

Before cell phones if you found out something important and you were out in the country you had to get to a phone. A common scene in movies was someone running away from the bad guys trying to find a payphone to call for help. And often they would find ones that were broken.

 

[ggroy]

One of the things that always makes me roll my eyes is the phone call. You know the one that goes hey I discovered something but I can't tell you over the phone so lets meet. We all know how that is going to end.

This trope isn't always outlandish in the offline mundane non-fiction real world.

Personally I would rather deal with someone in person on a particular matter, than over the phone or email. In person, I can observe and interact with someone and determine whether they are lying to me.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have been watching a lot of 70s shows like the Bionic Woman and it is interesting to look back and realize how cell phones have really changed how to handle tension.

Before cell phones if you found out something important and you were out in the country you had to get to a phone. A common scene in movies was someone running away from the bad guys trying to find a payphone to call for help. And often they would find ones that were broken.

Somebody on this website said as much a few months ago- he knew because he used to be a professional scriptwriter.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Why not turn that trope on its head. The trope usually involves brilliant leadership dealing with the schemes of evil masterminds. Vital information is said to be held due to the panic it would cause for people to know.

But the actual information would reveal that each agency is completely incompetent, meaning that the agencies have been making horrible mistakes and have withheld information to hide catastrophes that did not otherwise have to occur if the people in charge lost their jobs. And that the great threats are overblown or non-existant in order to justify the agency's existence. The PCs are actually the competent ones working inside the beuracracy to undercut their bosses in order to make right out of wrong. See the Retief series for a good example on adventures that could come from scenarios such as this.