You know, what you're saying about House's manner with patients is utterly true. And it's something that I hate and despise in real life. In real life, my fantasy would be to be on the other end, using the sharp edge of my tongue to tell off the doctor.
And yet, it doesn't bother me in the show. I'm willing to give him a dramatic pass, and I'm not entirely sure why. It's partly, I suppose, because over the past few years I've met more people that I'd have simply pegged as assholes in the past, whom I now find to be "bright but deeply troubled." The fact that it's pretty much always "showtime" for House argues that he's one of these people; clearly, to him, patients are not really in a separate class, the way they are to many doctors. They are one with the rest of the world, the world he tries so assiduously to avoid.
I don't know if that's it entirely for me, but that's certainly part of it. If I only knew House as a patient, I'd walk away muttering under my breath. But if I had to spend days and days with him, I'd see him quite differently. As the audience, we're privileged with that overview the characters within the reality don't get -- in that, the writers of the show are using the same successful dramatic technique that's been used forever for the good old "dark lord" archetype. He allows people to think he's a schmuck when there are times he could easily set them straight -- but pride will not allow it -- and he'll often do terrible things for a good reason that not everybody can see.
Now that I think about it, it's kind of a classic. :)
Of course, I recently had a conversation with a colleague that went:
Colleague: "You're the only person I've met who ever speaks of that man with anything but hatred." Me: "Well, he is kind of a sociopath. But he was always willing to push the envelope for the sake of the project." (As they look at me funny:) "Hey, I don't ask a lot of the people I work with."
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-17 03:49 am (UTC)And yet, it doesn't bother me in the show. I'm willing to give him a dramatic pass, and I'm not entirely sure why. It's partly, I suppose, because over the past few years I've met more people that I'd have simply pegged as assholes in the past, whom I now find to be "bright but deeply troubled." The fact that it's pretty much always "showtime" for House argues that he's one of these people; clearly, to him, patients are not really in a separate class, the way they are to many doctors. They are one with the rest of the world, the world he tries so assiduously to avoid.
I don't know if that's it entirely for me, but that's certainly part of it. If I only knew House as a patient, I'd walk away muttering under my breath. But if I had to spend days and days with him, I'd see him quite differently. As the audience, we're privileged with that overview the characters within the reality don't get -- in that, the writers of the show are using the same successful dramatic technique that's been used forever for the good old "dark lord" archetype. He allows people to think he's a schmuck when there are times he could easily set them straight -- but pride will not allow it -- and he'll often do terrible things for a good reason that not everybody can see.
Now that I think about it, it's kind of a classic. :)
Of course, I recently had a conversation with a colleague that went:
Colleague: "You're the only person I've met who ever speaks of that man with anything but hatred."
Me: "Well, he is kind of a sociopath. But he was always willing to push the envelope for the sake of the project." (As they look at me funny:) "Hey, I don't ask a lot of the people I work with."