Some years back I had a discussion with somebody about in stories and movies where something weird or bad has happened and either A., the main characters call the police and the cops don't believe them and they're stuck solving the mystery/problem for themselves, or B., they don't call the police and just jump into action.

This person said it works better for them to call the police first, why? Like in the movie The Burbs, they think their neighbor has been murdered by a satanic cult, they don't call the cops, they do their own investigating, which unfortunately results in them blowing up the house, but it wouldn't have been as funny if they'd had the cops come out first. Or like in the book Coraline, her parents are sucked into the 'other' world and are in the mirror, and what does she do? Call the police, why? What does she think they're going to do?

I say why not cut out the middleman since we KNOW the cops aren't going to believe them? I think it makes for more interesting story lines that way that whatever they do instead would be their first instinct instead of calling the cops who are going to laugh their asses off at whatever it is.

People like characters to have react in ways that seem at least somewhat logical, so that their intelligence isn't insulted. There can still be a story with chaos and all that good stuff....but it's actually distracting when characters mentalities are unrealistically dumb. You spend the next few minutes (at least) irritated by their obviously dumb move.

So yeah, call the police....and when the police prove to be too slow, too incompetent or too much of a dick to believe the farfetched scenario....then go ahead and investigate yourself. But at least act like you got some sense at first.

I agree with what Marc said. Plus I think we like to think that if the police can't/won't help us, we possess an inner ability to make choices and take actions to solve the problem. The characters are more sympathetic when they have reached out for help but were denied.

RedBedroom wrote:

I agree with what Marc said. Plus I think we like to think that if the police can't/won't help us, we possess an inner ability to make choices and take actions to solve the problem. The characters are more sympathetic when they have reached out for help but were denied.

I prefer stories where the characters show just how resilient and resolute they are, after touching all the proper bases and playing out all the reasonable beats.

It's lazy story telling to have characters be frivolously absent minded for the sake of plot. If the serial killer is lurking around their backyard, then have them call the police before they try and fight them themselves.

Except it seems to be an unwritten rule, if there's a serial killer involved, the police only get there just in time to be too late.