I was watching a Matt Damon or Leonardo Dicaprio movie the other day. Unfortunately, I can't tell those two apart, but it doesn't matter.
From my God-like omniscient view of the action, years of experience with "the formulae" doled out by movie and TV studios, and knowing the plot is quite predictable, unlike those "choose your own adventure" books, I decided I was smart. Brilliant even. The hero couldn't figure out that the administration was using the war for political purposes at home, but I sure could. Cuz I'm smart. Brilliant even. Yep, I watched them string him along for an hour and a half knowing full well what was going on. Cuz I'm smart. Brilliant even.
People like being made to feel smart. Brilliant even. That's exactly what television and movies do -- they make us feel somehow intellectually or morally superior to the characters. I mean, who hasn't watched an episode of Jerry Springer and felt better about their own screwed up relationships? Who didn't figure out that lots of different groups had come and gone from the Island over the years and the Dharma Initiative was just a more recent one? The omniscient perspective entertainment producers give us appeals to that prideful and egotistical arrogance that most of us carry, even if in small amounts. They know exactly how to make us feel to keep coming back for more.
For a grad student perpetually staring at a stack of unread books and articles, I like to feel smart every once in a while, rather than intimidated by bodies of knowledge I may never fully understand. Actually, I like to feel smart all the time, and Stargate SG1 readily delivers that emotion to me. This explains why I can sit through 2 discs (8 episodes) in one day. It makes me feel like a genius. Who doesn't want to feel like a genius?
I don't know that any of the bits and pieces of entertainment theory have addressed this, but I'm certain someone has noticed at some point in time. Now that I'm aware of this phenomenon, I will be on the lookout for it.
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