Do Stories NEED Dark or Controversial Content to Succeed?
Dark content has been prevalent in stories of all kinds for a long time. However, it hasn’t always been as pervasive or in-your-face as it seems to be today. It seems like we can’t turn on a show, go see a movie, play a game, or open a book without experiencing content that’s aggressively dark or grim hitting our eyes at some point during the story. This is something I’ve seen ramping up lately, particularly with the success of shows like Game of Thrones. The question I want to ask today is… do stories need dark or controversial content? Are violence, gore, sex, drugs, trauma, and other topics that have been considered taboo in the past necessary for stories? Do they improve the stories overall, or would the stories be better if this content were cut?
The Case Against This Content
To start, I’m going to present arguments in favor of dark content and then arguments against dark content. I’ll start with the arguments that oppose dark content in stories. These are arguments I’ve heard or read, either over the course of a few years or in the process of researching for this post. Some are even arguments I’ve come up with myself! Just because I’m listing this here doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with the arguments, they’re just arguments I’ve found that I believe can promote thought and discussion around this issue.
It’s Inaccessible
Including content that many might consider to be dark changes your target audience, or reduces who is able to consume your story and glean something from it. Many people will refuse to read or watch stories that contain excessive violence or gore. They might refuse to watch a show if it includes anything sexual in nature. Still others may be unable to enjoy your story because the content in it is too much for them to handle personally, especially if you’re dealing with something that’s traumatic. When a story has dark content, it could be alienating people who might otherwise enjoy the story.
It’s Unnecessary
Another belief regarding dark or controversial content is that it’s unnecessary or gratuitous. If you could have the same impact with a vague description or fade to black, that should be enough. Actually including the content feels excessive and unnecessary. Gore and sex and particular are inclusions that some would really prefer were not included or were cut away from rather than shown, particularly in detail. If they don’t add anything to the story and the story would be the same without such things being shown, they shouldn’t have been included in the first place.
It’s Just “Ticking a Box”
This is something I have heard a lot. I especially heard it in relation to Game of Thrones, or really most HBO shows, and I think that HBO has historically exemplified it more than any other network or studio. Especially early in the seasons of certain shows on HBO, it felt like there was an excessive and completely unnecessary of certain content, particularly sexual content, and it was so bad that it kind of became a meme, with multiple comedy sketches being made to mock this. It felt like there was a box to check when it came to being a show on HBO. So the argument goes: including dark or controversial content is just the story creator ticking a box that feels like it’s just a cheap attempt to grab viewers or readers. Including dark and controversial content, thus, is simply selling out.
The Case in Favor of This Content
Those were three key arguments opposed to including dark or controversial content in stories, but I’m now I’m going to look at the other side of the issue. I’ll be presenting you with the same number of arguments in favor of having darker content in stories. The hope is to provide a solid balance so that it’s easier to think about this issue and come to an informed conclusion regarding how we should feel about the inclusion of darker themes and content in stories.
Deeper Exploration
There’s a staunch difference between the Netflix Marvel shows and the Disney+ Marvel shows, and that really boils down to the rating, in my opinion. Now I’m not totally in love with all of the Marvel Shows, although I feel like the first seasons of Punisher and Daredevil are excellent. However, when we then watch the Marvel shows on Disney+, things feel… almost comical and goofy. The handling of darker themes, particularly in Hawkeye, don’t really resonate like they could have if the show were on Netflix, instead. It’s like the show is pulling its punches, and it keeps us from fully empathizing with characters and their situations. Including elements that will increase the maturity rating of a show allows storytellers to explore challenging topics to a greater extent. Instead of scratching the surface, we can go into the deep end.
Increase of Stakes
This is very much a personal opinion, but it’s one I believe many share: dark content greatly increases the stakes. There’s a huge difference between a character you love dying in a single sentence and reading the gruesome death of a character you love. Think about how children’s books have to handle death compared to graphic, dark stories and how they address it. The finality and violence of some deaths can increase the stakes. The tension of certain situations can be amped up considerably when you know that the story isn’t going to pull its punches. Scenes that are hard to watch or read—that make you want to look away—can be incredibly powerful and emotionally charged. It naturally increases the stakes because viewers, readers, and players are scared about what they’ll have to see or read.
Realism
In line with the previous argument, including all of this content is usually realistic. These are things that happen and if you want to tell a believable, compelling story, it’s odd to not include some of these things unless they genuinely aren’t necessary for the story. If you don’t show blood when someone gets stabbed or other consequences of particular elements in stories, it’s not going to be realistic and it’s going to break immersion. It also makes the stakes feel lower, as I mentioned in my previous argument when you don’t have real consequences in your story. Including believable violence, gore, sex, and other content in your story makes it feel more realistic. I’m specifically saying believable here because when it’s incredibly excessive, it can have the opposite effect and result in the story feeling cartoonishly ridiculous. I don’t need to see someone getting stabbed and having a fountain of blood spurting out, because I’m just going to cringe or even laugh. Dark content that is believable can greatly enhance the realism of a story.
Where Do I Fall?
I was originally going to just present the arguments and end the post, but that feels a bit like a cop-out, so I’m going to tell you where I personally land on this issue. My opinion regarding dark content is that it is often necessary for stories, and stories that don’t include it feel as though they’re lacking. They don’t hit the same way that darker stories do. That said, sometimes dark content is included and it’s completely unnecessary—it doesn’t fit with the story overall and breaks the themes that have been present up to that point. I personally find myself enjoying and appreciating stories that are willing to explore dark themes to their fullest extent, but I understand that isn’t for everyone.
Conclusion
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post! I’m curious about where you fall when it comes to darker content and themes. Do you align with me? Do you think no stories should feature things like this? Do you think every story could be improved if it had darker content? Feel free to let me know! And after you do that, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel, which is the best way to support me right now! You can also follow me on social media; I’m @TLBainter on most platforms, with Instagram being my most active. You can find links for all of those at the bottom of this post.
Until next time, bye!