The Chris Carter Effect: Difference between revisions

That said, most audiences are savvy enough to recognize a framing device when they see one. Plots resting on a single [[Driving Question]] (Where is [[Samurai Champloo|the Sunflower Samurai?]] Who the hell is [[How I Met Your Mother|Mrs. Mosby?]]) are allowed some leeway; otherwise, the production team would be out of work and the story would end. The Chris Carter Effect happens when a work is wholly focused on twists, not building up to a satisfactory resolution -- Or if the plotting becomes so bloated that there can no longer ''be'' a satisfactory resolution (see [[Ending Aversion]]). At this point, even the most ardent fans will start to feel jerked around, or at the very least, channel flip to a wrestling match.

 

 

See also [[Kudzu Plot]] and [[Commitment Anxiety]]. If fans are suspicious that such a show will even ''survive'' to tell its story, and don't bother tuning in, that's [[The Firefly Effect]].

[[Trope Namer|Named for]] [[Chris Carter]], creator of ''[[The X Files]]'', which some people believe to be the godfather of this trope.

 

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* The Chris Carter Effect seems particularly prevalent in television programs of the last few years. Sci-fi blog ''Io9'' elaborates on [http://io9.com/5735228/we-are-in-a-golden-age-of-awful-television an argument] which postulates that this is a result of the proliferation of quality television programming to the premium cable channels. This has quite simply resulted in a greater quantity of more 'daring' shows, and has led to many amazing TV series such as ''[[Mad Men (TV)|Mad Men]]'', ''[[The Wire]]'', ''[[The Sopranos]]'', and ''[[Breaking Bad]]''. However, because it also lead to ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'', which further revolutionized the use of extended [[Myth Arc|Myth Arcs]], many more shows have sprung up [[Follow the Leader|in an attempt to imitate its success by copying this format]] (badly), including but certainly not limited to ''[[Flash Forward 2009|FlashForward]]'', ''[[V-2009|V]]'', and ''[[The Event]]''.

* [[Trope Namer|Named for]] Chris Carter, creator of ''[[The X Files]]''. For the first half of [[The Nineties|the 1990s]], the fans were convinced that Carter had plotted an elaborate and minutely thought-out web of deceit and lies for his FBI agents to unravel. Forests of [[Epileptic Trees]] sprouted around every new tantalizing hint revealed. No reference was too obscure for devoted X-Philes, who cheerfully threw themselves into history, folklore, myth, science, or any other branch of human knowledge that seemed like it might shed some light on the story. By mid-decade, though, the [[Myth Arc]] story had churned along for years without really answering any of the questions raised. It had, in fact, mutated into a dense [[Kudzu Plot]], and fans began to suspect that there ''was'' no intricately plotted story - he'd just been making it all up as he went along. (Carter eventually confirmed this suspicion.) This eventually went on into the finale which made promises of resolving the [[Myth Arc]] which not only fails to do so but also in the last ten minutes presents a teaser for an alien invasion set to occur in 2012.

* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]''. At any given time, exactly half of its fanbase will believe that the show's creators are making the next ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' and have no idea what endgame they desire, while the other half will argue that the threads are finally coming together, and a satisfactory revelation is all but guaranteed. In the end, it's a matter of opinion how it all turned out. The most diplomatic way to phrase it would be to say that there were two groups of fans: those who thought it was about the characters and those who thought it was about the plot/mythology. The former seem to have generally been pleased while the latter are generally very upset and firm believers that this trope was in effect. Generally, science fiction can have an open ending as long as the fates of the most interesting characters are resolved. Unfortunately, on ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'', a large chunk thought the island was the most interesting character.

** One reviewer basically described the end as the result of the writers admitting that they could ''not'' resolve ''both'' the characters and the plot--so they opted to resolve what they could, in an effort to minimize damage and please ''some'' of the fans. If this trope hadn't been in play, ''both'' groups ought to have been pleased.

** At least part of the problem with ''Prisoner'' is that Patrick McGoohan conceived it as a 6-episode miniseries... then [[Executive Meddling]] caused it to be inflated to 17 episodes, almost literally at the last minute. The insanity of the [[Grand Finale]] is attributed to McGoohan's exhaustion/burnout at the end of the production cycle.

*** After the finale was released McGoohan said that the utter rage and confusion that the finale inspired was partly intentional.

* This was pretty much what got ''[[The 4400]]'' canceled. The long-awaited elaboration of the fabled 'Future People' was half-answered very late in the show, but then about twice as many new questions cropped up. The cancellation then abruptly cut off any hope of the rest of it being resolved. Damn shame, really.

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'''s first season was hailed as great, tightly-plotted and well-written storytelling, with a clear goal in mind. Its second and third seasons, though, were prime examples of the Chris Carter effect in action -- the writing team flailing around, directionless, at war with its own continuity -- and it's only started to re-establish its arc as of the fourth "volume." Unfortunately, the writers had envisioned each "volume" to be about a different set of heroes with a different set of problems to solve, but fans just wanted more cheerleader beheadings.

* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' features a single ongoing mystery for every season which is solved in the season finale. There's widespread suspicion among the fanbase that the solution to season four's mystery was changed halfway through after Marc Cherry decided he wanted to keep Dana Delany (one of his favorite actresses and the original choice for regular character Bree) on the show.

* The rebooted ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]'' was accused of this on several occasions - the effect can be traced back as far as the third season, when the decision to largely abandon the show's carefully crafted [[Myth Arc]] in favor of a series of standalone episodes almost resulted in its cancellation (and eventual pushback from the producers to get the plot back on track). Still, the showrunners were open about the fact that they were mostly making things up as they went along. A series of open questions and mysteries were raised over the length of the show, and ended with [[Hand Wave|handwaving]] and the revelation that {{spoiler|[[Deus Ex Machina|God was responsible for many of the mysteries, and they may have been being literal in this]]}}. As a result of the series bible's publication after the show finished airing, fans now know that none of the plot points introduced in season 3, such as the Final Five and Starbuck's death/resurrection, were things the producers were aware of at all during the first two seasons. They'd exhausted their stockpile of potential plotlines.

** The "Death of Starbuck" ruse: in the first two seasons, the writers often boasted that they respected the intelligence of their audience and didn't walk them through plot points. At the end of season 3, with ratings dropping and the writers running out of ideas, they pretended to kill off Starbuck. Even in real life, the writers and cast were ordered to act like Katie Sackhoff left the show. The episode she was killed in bizarrely and obviously set up new plot points for her. She wasn't randomly shot or captured; she randomly flew into a storm due to a newly revealed religious plotline. It was confusing even then. Starbuck's "dramatic surprise return" was therefore predictable; writers who once said that they respected the audience's intelligence were now stooping to comic book deaths, though they insisted that this was a stroke of genius. All of this was supposedly related to Starbuck's "destiny," but they never fully explained (even in the finale) why Starbuck had to die and literally be resurrected by the Gods to lead the Fleet to Earth.

** Made worse by the fact that the intro crawl text assures viewers that the Cylons "have a plan" which explains their seemingly bizarre and illogical actions. Eventually, the whole thing is hand-waved when a character says, "plans change". After the show is cancelled, a subsequent work called "The Plan" finally reveals the plan, though YMMV as to whether it really was worth it.

** [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/070122 Erica Henderson] did a very good job parodying this during her guest week back in 2007, pulling at several loose plot threads and even introducing "Pete" as a Wizard of Oz type god.

** The real irony? Back when ''[[The X Files]]'' was still on the air, he made jokes at Chris Carter's expense about the need to resolve plotlines lest the reader lose faith or believe the writer is just making things up as he goes along.

** Of course, in this case, the [[Anticlimax]] was awesome. {{spoiler|Chaos defeated by four white mages, which completes the joke set up some ''1400'' strips before?}} ''YES!''

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' appears to be going for some kind of webcomic record with this trope, with a new mystery added nearly every other page. As to date, few bordering on none have definitive resolutions.