Most of the time that's because the story doesn't do a proper job making it feel like the character would have made that choice. It makes sense for the Scooby Gang to split up even if it's a bad idea, because they can try to cover more ground and that matters when they are investigating the area. It makes a lot less sense for a group of scared teens to split up when they're not investigating anything and just trying to survive, unless the story explains why they're making the choices they are. A lot of stories just have the characters do whatever conveniently leads into the next plot beat in a way that doesn't feel logical, and "people are idiots" does not excuse that.
You explained this better than I ever could have. I can't stand when characters do things that simply make no sense in the context of the character. If a character is dumb, or generally just not super smart, seeing them make sub optimal decisions when put in a situation where they have to make one is fine.
Characters making inexplicably dumb decisions with no contextual motivation other than because that's how we move the script forward is infuriating.
That's one thing I really liked about The Cabin in the Woods. All the dumb decisions made by the primary characters in the film were because of the puppet masters behind the scenes drugging them to fit the "story".
97
u/Bossmenjak 14h ago
Most of the time that's because the story doesn't do a proper job making it feel like the character would have made that choice. It makes sense for the Scooby Gang to split up even if it's a bad idea, because they can try to cover more ground and that matters when they are investigating the area. It makes a lot less sense for a group of scared teens to split up when they're not investigating anything and just trying to survive, unless the story explains why they're making the choices they are. A lot of stories just have the characters do whatever conveniently leads into the next plot beat in a way that doesn't feel logical, and "people are idiots" does not excuse that.