Are characters in thrillers / horror stupid?

[Mulder]

When you're watching a thriller or horror film there is usually a moment when you think 'what sane person would actually do that?'. Classic examples include; the hero goes to confront the villain on his/her own, unarmed and without telling anyone where they're going. Another is when someone is all alone in a spooky situation, often knowing full well there is a villain / monster abroad and they hear a noise. What do they do? Shout out 'Who's there?' This, of course, alerts the villain to where their next victim can be found. I'm sure you can think of many more examples.

So, my question is this. Are these characters particularly stupid purely for the purposes of the script or would real people behave like that?

[Admin]

I tend to notice this and have trouble suspending disbelief!

Like a young woman who's in bed, with hair done and full make-up, hears a noise in the cellar which is haunted, then she decides to get up wearing a skimpy nightie (I don't have too much of a problem with this aspect for some reason) and goes down to the cellar to have a look.....

I wonder if skeptics in general are more prone to think like that rather than just accept it at face value.

It's not just stories and films though.

I look at adverts like the Citroen transformer ones where the car changes into a figure and skates around etc. Yes, it's clever use of graphics etc. but it tells us nothing at all about the car! As such, it doesn't make me any more interested in the car itself.

But, advertisers have found that in general adverts like this one do work. People see the advertising as being 'clever' and equate this cleverness to the product (I read this in a report but can't cite it at the moment).

So I don't know whether skeptics inherently see things differently by nature or whether learning critical thinking leads us to use it by habit thus negating a lot of symbolism and unrealistic plots and such like.

So, my question is this. Are these characters particularly stupid purely for the purposes of the script or would real people behave like that?

I would guess that it's written purposely that way as most people can accept what they see on a screen as being real (i.e. suspending disbelief) without too much effort.

[ZERO]

I drove down a quiet, country road at night one time because I saw a strange light in the sky and wanted to see what it was. I bet I would not have done that if there was scary suspense music playing at the time.

The point I'm making is that these scenes are set up to be scary and the viewer has information the movie character does not have. Whereas in real life there is no music and you don't know what events have preceded the "noise".

But, yeah, these characters usually do dumb things.

[Tony Williams]

The ones in films are not just dumb, they're unbelievably lucky. My suspension of disbelief is badly dented every time the hero drives through a crowded city and instantly finds an on-street parking space exactly where he needs it.

[Maritz]

Yeah they generally are really stupid. Thing is, if you apply a strong, common sense, survival instinct to a character, they inevitably get away from the danger that is facing them with a minimum of fuss. Or at least they would as the 'danger' is drawn up.

I've noticed cars rarely start on demand...

[Mongrel]

Yeah they generally are really stupid. Thing is, if you apply a strong, common sense, survival instinct to a character, they inevitably get away from the danger that is facing them with a minimum of fuss.

It'd be a short film though

Another one that gets me is how many people don't seem to have a mobile in the films

"The car's broken down, we're in the middle of a storm we have woods to the left and a creepy looking house to the right...."

"Shhhh, I'm in the queue for the recovery service"