The Plumber Problem
18th August 2023
“The Plumber Problem” is a phrase I coined to describe the experience of watching a movie that touches on some subject area that you know way more about than the average person, and then some inaccuracy in what’s depicted distracts you and takes you out of the movie. (This can occur in any work of fiction, of course: movies, TV, books, etc.)
Here’s an example. A plumber is watching a movie with a scene where something having to do with pipes is integral to the plot. But it’s all wrong, and the plumber’s mind rebels. No one else in the audience is bothered. They’re all still wrapped up in the narrative. But the plumber has a problem.
Readers of speculative fiction have this all the time. Historians have this problem all the time with ‘historical’ fiction & movies. Military people especially have this problem all the time.
The Plumber Problem is loosely related to the “Gell-Mann amnesia effect” which is “the phenomenon of experts believing news articles written on topics outside of their fields of expertise, yet acknowledging that articles written in the same publication within their fields of expertise are error-ridden and full of misunderstanding.”
August 19th, 2023 at 13:33
Tim… as soon as I started reading this post, I thought of the Murray Gell-Mann effect.
Great minds. 🙂
Regards,
Debby
August 19th, 2023 at 16:43
Me, too. 🙂