Why are we so obsessed with TV jerks?
Jessica Jones, Tyron Lannister, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. House…What do they all have in common? They’re all talented, funny, witty, intelligent… and also happen to be class A jerks. They’re blunt, direct, sometimes foul-mouthed and have very little regard for other people’s feelings.
I have never been a big Marvel or superhero fan, yet I recently found myself voraciously binge-watching all 3 seasons of Jessica Jones’ Netflix mini-series and realized a few episodes in that I wasn’t really watching for the superhero action and fantasy. In fact, I don’t really care for adult men dressed in costume jumping off buildings or using their super-powered fists to save lives — which makes heroes like Daredevil, Iron Fist or Luke Cage only mildly interesting to me. It hit me that the main reason I was enthralled with this particular marvel was my fascination with Jessica jones’s character. Just like I was hooked on House not for the medical drama — which is an overused premise in TV shows anyways — but for the cutting sarcasm of Gregory House.
So what is it about these characters that make them so unlikable yet so fascinating?
For one, the TV jerk is super smart and competent, or sometimes a straight-up genius. Intelligence is impressive. There’s something vicarious about watching a genius at work. You can’t help but admire it, be inspired by it and envy it. Spend a few hours watching these mavericks solve problems or get their way in life, and you’ll start believing you’ve gained a few IQ points while you were laying in bed stuffing your face with Doritos. What makes Jessica Jones fascinating resides less in her ability to beat up a man three times her size, and more in her superior perceptiveness, her ability to read people and put clues together in her job as a Private Investigator. House shares similar traits and puts the same skills to use in arriving at incredibly rare and complicated medical diagnoses.
His extraordinary talent usually gives the TV jerk permission to be a total a**hole, which is more often than not wildly entertaining. The TV jerk is not always mean for the sake of being mean as much as it is to point out people’s stupidity and social hypocrisies. The TV jerk has no filter and gets away with saying things you could never dream of saying. He gets right to the point and has no time to waste in formalities or social niceties, which makes for refreshingly hilarious and straightforward dialogue.
Beneath all the layers of sarcasm and wit, the jerk has a complex emotional life and deep inner turmoil that often serves the plot and makes the jerk all the more compelling, human, and relatable. Behind the cold mask often hides a decent person with noble intentions trying to find hope in a dark, cruel world. “With great power comes great responsibility” — these anti-heroes are all too aware of the weight that rests on their shoulders, yet they reluctantly embrace their duty to make the world a better place. Their pessimistic outlooks on life often prompt them to seek relief from the realities of the world through some form escape — whether it be full-blown alcohol or drug addiction (Jessica Jones is a notorious drunk while House is a junkie) or literature (Fran Lebowitz is a self-proclaimed bookworm).
Their misanthropy also adds to the appeal of TV jerks. These anti-heroes are either underdogs who live at the margins of society or they choose to isolate themselves from the rest of the world as they usually despise the company of other humans. Getting to follow along on their journey feels like a privileged window into a life only a lucky few have access to.
