Think of your favorite story, be it a book, movie, TV show, or video game. What was it about that story that made it stand out in your mind?
Odds are, it was unique in some way—it wasn’t a retread of something that had come before. Maybe it had a concept, plot twist, or characters that subverted your expectations, surprised you, and made it special.
It probably also left you feeling satisfied.
To be clear, that doesn’t mean the story left you feeling good. You might come away from The Godfather Part II with a sickening feeling having watched Michael Corleone’s descent into outright villainy and kin slaying. But there is a sense of satisfaction, or completion, that a tale like that delivers. It makes sense to the core of our beings in some unspoken way.
So, we have two crucial elements in telling a story that are equally important: subversion and satisfaction.
Subvert Expectations…
Subversion, at least in the storytelling sense, has gotten a bad rap recently. Over the last decade or so, popular culture has had a particular interest in subverting audience expectations.
Now, this isn’t a bad thing, at least, not entirely. It’s coming from an understanding of what makes stories work and stick in our minds. Let me give you a few examples where a story subverted expectations to great success.
In H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, the invading aliens are not defeated by strength of arms in a climactic battle, but by microscopic germs to which they have no immunity.
In Aliens, the story uses the audience’s knowledge of the previous film against us as we, like our protagonist Ripley, automatically distrust the android Bishop. We are pleasantly surprised when Bishop proves to be a hero, not a villain like his robotic predecessor, Ash.
Finally, the introduction of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back is another great example of subverting expectations, both for the audience and the characters in the story. Luke Skywalker arrives on Dagobah looking for a master Jedi, and he—like us, the audience—is expecting a person of great stature and presence. When it turns out that a diminutive green alien is the great Jedi, we get to learn alongside Luke not to judge things simply by appearance.
…But Do It Wisely
So subverting audience expectations can be a good thing! It serves as one part of a memorable story. But stories can run into problems when subversion moves from a focus to the focus. A story may be full of subversion, but if the logic of those twists and turns are all over the place, the audience is not going to be happy. Ideally, we’re participants in the story, along for the ride, but if someone keeps pulling the rug out from under us every five minutes for the sole purpose of subverting our expectations, we’re going to get sick of it.
There is another danger of using subversion in a story. Nothing takes us out of a story than when things happen that just don’t make sense. For example, a character says or does something, well, out of character. An established part of the world conveniently changes to facilitate a plot point. Death becomes a temporary inconvenience as opposed to a grim finality.
Yes, these things might surprise us. But it’s an unpleasant surprise. And those yank us right out of a story. It can be easy to do if you’re not careful.
The final seasons of the Game of Thrones TV series have unfortunately become a cautionary tale. In it, the creators subverted audience expectations in ways that were almost uniformly despised. Suddenly, everyone could zip around the world in a matter of days. Dragons were buffed, debuffed, and buffed again depending on the episode. Daenerys broke bad. Bran became king. Plot armor abounded. In a vacuum, these choices weren’t necessarily bad. But they conflicted with the world that had been established in the first several seasons. Expectations were subverted, but not in a remotely satisfying way.
Another way subversion can go wrong is when you’re dealing with a character or story that has already been established. Many fans had a huge problem with Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi for this very reason. Luke Skywalker, the man who rescued his father, Darth Vader, from the dark side when no one else (even Vader himself) believed it was possible, was now a hidden hermit, cut off from the galaxy and the Force, after watching (and partly contributing to) his nephew’s fall to evil. Many had a hard time accepting that the hero we see standing strong at the end of Return of the Jedi would have regressed so badly. Subversive, but not satisfying.
Satisfaction is Key
Again, satisfaction does not mean you walk away from every story with warm fuzzy feelings. That’s not always the point. But how a story progresses and concludes should make sense for the world that’s being established.
In The Lord of the Rings, the fate of Middle earth is decided, not by mighty men or elves or wizards, but by a few small hobbits. Those few humble halflings are ultimately the reason for the dark lord’s defeat. That’s subversive. But it’s also immensely satisfying and perfectly concludes the story Tolkien was telling, that even the weakest among us can make a remarkable difference in the world.
Dune subverts our expectations by setting up a prophesied protagonist, then tells us that the rise of said hero will result in a galactic massacre. We go through the story, almost in disbelief of this premise, but by the end we realize that is exactly what’s going to happen. Paul Atreides wins the day, but I wouldn’t call it a happy ending. The ending fits the story, but it surprises us in its execution along the way.
Conclusion: Subverting Expectations and Satisfying an Audience
When you revisit your favorite stories, I think you’ll notice a harmony of subversion and satisfaction—two necessary ingredients to a good meal. In the future, I hope the stories we see in pop culture keep their interest in subverting expectations, not as an end to itself, but in its proper place: alongside a desire to craft a satisfying story that will stick with us for years to come.
What do you think? And what did I miss? What are some stories that surprised and satisfied you when the final page was turned, or the credits rolled?
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