Perils of plot armour
I've been thinking about the recent Door Monster video The Plot Armor Problem and I agree, because it's Kyle, and I agree with Kyle, that's just the rules.
My big thing with plot armour is we know the character has Plot Armour but the characters don't. This, I think, ought to be a useful workaround for writers of books and shows but is less used.
I've been catching up on Monarch, because I love big dumb monster movies, or big dumb TV show spinoffs of monster movies in this case. In Monarch there's this constant "Oh no, someone is squashed!" A titan trod on them! Except of course they aren't squashed. The writers haven't randomly squashed a character halfway through episode two, or five, or seven.
But several times a season we have to go through that rigmarole of the writers wanting us to think someone has been squashed. Only for it to be revealed seconds later that no, they are fine. Phew! Really had me going there.
We, the audience, are too cool for that tension. Too story-savvy. We know the signs of when a real squashing will occur. That's plot armour. We don't need that tension.
But here's my thesis: it should be tension for the characters. For the squashees and those watching the apparent squashing. Something should change for them. If I thought someone I cared about had been squashed - even if only for a few moments - I would have a big and ongoing reaction to that. If I thought I was about to get squashed - and if this happened multiple times over the course of a few days real time - I would also be having big and ongoing reactions to that.
It should inform the choices those characters make going forward. It should affect how they relate to each other. Maybe they open up. Maybe they shut down. Maybe they get protective or make crazy decisions or play it safe. What shouldn't happen, but generally does happen, is they just dust themselves off emotionally and carry on as usual.
Every time I saw one character maybe obviously not get squashed I thought perhaps another character who is clearly in love with her is going to use this as a reason to have a heart-to-heart. Nope! They just look pained for half a second and then it's back to avoiding-each-other business as usual.
People who are trained in life-and-death situations still cannot handle life-and-death situations. I'm not saying I want all these characters to have PTSD and psychological issues. But it ought to mean something. Or just don't. The stakes don't always have to be that high!
So that's my solution to the perils of plot armour. The characters don't know they and the people they care about have it. It should change them and shape the story.