A lot of things, probably. But most importantly, all shows have two male main protagonists, one of which is incredibly intelligent but kind of useless when it comes to people and feelings, while the other one is caring and compassionate.
Obviously, I'm thinking Dr. Watson (the opposite being Sherlock Holmes himself) and Dr. Wilson (with Dr. House) - for Star Trek, I actually think it should be Dr. McCoy instead of Captain Kirk (with Spock, obviously) - that doesn't fit with the general slash shipping opinions, but on the other hand now there is the pattern of them being doctors.
John Watson is an army doctor. James Wilson is head of oncology at a teaching hospital, and Leonard McCoy is a surgeon and space psychologist. Basically, we can say they all have emotionally demanding jobs that involve dealing with people - a lot. All three have been told on several occasions that they 'care too much'. As House once said to Wilson, "You love everybody. That's your pathology."
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| "Was sich liebt, das neckt sich" |
On the other side, we have Holmes, House and Spock: geniuses, socially insecure, testing ethical limits, shielding themselves from emotions and attachment with cold logic.
Wilson's almost obsessive urge to care for and protect everything that moves is something I will most probably address in another post, but for now, I want to talk about something else. The characters and their interactions in these three television series, as well as hundreds of other fictional works, are based on one simple principle: Opposites attract.
The statement has reached worldwide status as a proverb and exists in multiple languages; Friends and couples who don't agree on everything will find themselves regularly reminded of that tenacious 'old truth'. In movies, we see the rich princess falling in love with the penniless blacksmith's son. How many times have you read a book and realised that two characters would end up together just because of their constant bickering? The German language even has its own proverb for that: "Was sich liebt, das neckt sich", meaning something like "those who love each other tease each other." - see the example of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger above.
But, scientifically, there is simply no basis for the general assumption. Several studies have been conducted in recent years - and all of those suggest that instead of a polar opposite, we might even be looking for a mirror image of ourselves.
We've heard before that humans instinctively look for partners with the same facial geometry, but here are three studies that suggest it goes a lot deeper than that.
In 2003, for example, there was a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in which candidates had to rank how important they thought a specific character trait in a romantic partner, and then to what extent they themselves exhibited that trait. Now, that doesn't sound very reliable to me - it would have been easy for the participants to guess the aim of the experiment and to tick the boxes accordingly. Still, even though most people have opposites attract written all over their brain, the study showed that mostly, people want a potential partner to be as similar to themselves as possible. If they rated themselves as attractive, an unattractive partner wasn't an option. If they called themselves uninterested in money, they didn't want a wealthy workaholic.
Another experiment conducted in 2005 at the University of Iowa divided characteristics into attitude similarities, i.e. ethics and beliefs, and personality similarities (extraversion, agreeableness, etc.). The results of several tests showed that newly wed couples were more likely to be happy with their marriage if they had a lot of personality similarities, as opposed to attitude similarities. We see that personality is a more influential factor - so even if two people have completely different beliefs and general attitudes (one might be a conservative christian and pro-death sentence, while the other might be an atheistic hippie... or something), they might be happy together due to a similar personality (both could be essentially kind-hearted people who like to share and please others). In conclusion, this tells us that people can at first seem different due to a small number of attitude similarities.
In 2009, another study analysed responses of almost 700 members of an online dating site. Most participants originally claimed that they wanted a partner completely different from them, to "balance them out". Still, as they answered questionnaires about their personality traits and what traits their ideal partner should have, they all showed a definite preference for similar characters. Also of interest is the fact that gender made no difference - no one looked for gender-specific traits; "finding common ground was top priority."
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| Would this have been doomed to fail in real life? |
Pieternel Dijkstra, a professor at the University of Groningen, summarised: "When asked about their preferences for a mate, people may draw upon theories of romantic attraction rather than their true desires for a mate." She further explained: "Although many individuals occasionally feel attracted to 'opposites,' attractions between opposites often do not develop into serious intimate relationships and, when they do, these relationships often end prematurely."
To come back to my original example: I don't think that these studies mean that fictional couples are all unrealistic and stereotypical. In fact, I believe their relationships may have a lot to do with the difference between attitude similarities (because those are certainly lacking most of the time) and deeper, sometimes hidden personality similarities.
Because I actually think none of the couples - or friends if you want to - I mentioned earlier are all that different, when you look closely. Both Dr House and Dr Wilson essentially see it as a priority to help others, to right the wrongs of life; both take drugs to cope with their own pain (that's vicodin for House, obviously, and Wilson is actually clinically depressed) and both are terribly alone; unable to maintain serious relationships.
Secondly, it's not like John doesn't want to solve the crimes. Both he and Sherlock enjoy the rush of adrenaline that comes with a mysterious murder.
Both Spock and Dr McCoy try to use science to improve the lives of others, even though Spock's moral principles may not be as obvious. Both are prepared to break rules in order to do good and achieve justice.
Ron and Hermione both care about their families deeply, and they stuck with Harry - until the very end. If you don't get that reference, I can't help you.
Now, obviously I can't think of a witty summary. Basically though - opposites don't attract, they repel. Once again, proof that regardless of how much I wish it could be, life can't be analysed with mathematics and chemistry. Television producers are geniuses, and fiction is generally a beautiful place to be.
