Competence Porn

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This is a community for discussing media, that scratches that specific itch of watching bright, talented people plan, banter, and work together to solve problems.

Fiction or Nonfiction. Books, audiobooks, comics, movies or TV Shows.

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Emotet

What are your favourite examples of competence porn in media? (self.competenceporn)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by Emotet to c/competenceporn

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Here are some of mine:

Movies:

12 Angry Men, 12 jurors debate whether the defendant is guilty of murder or not. Not really competent as in professional, but rather a great depiction of overcoming differences and working together
Ocean's Eleven, a group of con artists working together to rob a casino
Apollo 13, astronauts and mission control working together to overcome a life-threatening situation
The Martian, a stranded astronaut on Mars utilizes everything at his disposal to survive until he hopefully can be rescued

TV-Shows:

The West Wing: a president and his staff do their jobs
Star Trek: TNG, a starship crew takes on all kinds of problems and situation as a group of professionals with a minimal personal drama

Books:

Project Hail Mary, the protagonist wakes up on a spaceship on a desperate mission gone completely wrong and has to manage it
The Martian: Same as the movie, a stranded astronaut on Mars utilizes everything at his disposal to survive until he hopefully can be rescued
Red Rising Saga, the protagonist discovers the truth about his interplanetary society and does something about it
Commonweath Saga, competent space opera, great world building
A Fire Upon the Deep
The Lost Fleet series, a commanding officer gets woken up after 100 years of cryo sleep in a lost escape pod to find his intergalactic society has been at war all this time and lost their competence on the way

What I didn't like/didn't really turn out to be competence porn imo:

Seveness, book by Stephenson. Competent people handle a civilization ending event. A lot of competence until the author decides the plot needs some very dumb decisions. DNF.
Theirs Not to Reason Why, book series by Johnson. A very literal Mary Sue has the ability to see the past and future of pretty much everyone among a host of other paranormal abilities. Uses her abilities to shape and save the future amid an intergalactic society. Military SF, kind of annoying at times, but still enjoyable. Currently on book 2.

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[–] pius_q_bird 3 points 4 months ago

Abbot Elementarty

[–] 5wim 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This looks like your thing, can you give some examples?

[–] Emotet 3 points 4 months ago

Added some to the main post!

[–] 5wim 2 points 4 months ago

As far as movies are concerned, I feel like competency is a salient feature of Michael Mann's work, at least that which I connect with most about your prompt.

In "Collateral", Tom Cruise is a highly competent contract killer. Mann showcases Cruise' dedication to training realistic compenent combat skills, and the character's professionalism-at-cost is a developing theme.

In "Heat", De Niro's career criminal is pitted against Pacino's (somewhat unhinged) detective. The iconic action scenes make high-stakes, professional armed robbery look so excellent that the film was an inspiration for the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout.

[–] ProdigalFrog 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The Professionals - An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four mercenaries to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.

I'm not usually into vintage westerns, but this was so superbly well written, acted, and filmed. It easily became one of my favorite films, and part of why I liked it so much was that it avoided unnecessary drama between the characters. All of them are professional (hence the name), while still being interested in their own right.

Along the same lines, Where Eagles Dare is a similar set-up. Per wikipedia; It follows a Special Operations Executive team of men attempting to save a captured American General from the fictional Schloß Adler fortress in WWII.

Highly recommend both films.

I think No Country for Old Men would qualify as well: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.

I used to read a lot of young adult fiction when I was younger, and in particular took an interest in Apprentice stories. Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan and The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney both feature competent mentors to the main character. I had a blast with both. Ranger's might be a bit more juvenile now, but The Last Apprentice, I suspect, would still hold up even as an adult, as it was incredibly dark material.

[–] Emotet 2 points 4 months ago

Awesome, now I've got two new entries for my watchlist!