Lesson plan
Idiot plot
In literary criticism, an idiot plot is a fictional storyline which is "kept in motion solely by virtue of the fact that everybody involved is an idiot", and where the story would quickly end, or possibly not even happen, if this were not the case. It is a narrative in which the conflict derives from characters not recognizing, or not being told, key information that would resolve the conflict, often owing to plot contrivance. The only thing that prevents the conflict's resolution is the character's constant avoidance or obliviousness of it throughout the plot, even if it was already obvious to the reader (or viewer), so the characters are all "idiots" in that they are too obtuse to simply resolve the conflict immediately.
Article summary
In literary criticism, an idiot plot is a fictional storyline which is "kept in motion solely by virtue of the fact that everybody involved is an idiot", and where the story would quickly end, or possibly not even happen, if this were not the case. It is a narrative in which the conflict derives from characters not recognizing, or not being told, key information that would resolve the conflict, often owing to plot contrivance. The only thing that prevents the conflict's resolution is the character's constant avoidance or obliviousness of it throughout the plot, even if it was already obvious to the reader (or viewer), so the characters are all "idiots" in that they are too obtuse to simply resolve the conflict immediately.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.