House: the Anti-Hero as Caregiver

Procedural shows, those about solving mysteries, are usually made to a formula. The main character discovers a mystery. In the context of a television series this often happens as part of the character's job. The character finds clues that lead in a certain direction. Then a final discovery reveals that the character is on the wrong track and leads to the correct solution. While most criminal and medical mystery shows focus on the process, Fox's House makes another choice. It focuses on the character of an unusual protagonist, and the results turn a routine hospital show into painfully delightful black comedy.

Turning the medical stereotype on its head

Fiction focused on medicine tends to feature doctors with a pleasant and reassuring manner who genuinely care for their patients. House has such characters. Team member Dr. Allison Cameron is a prime example. In the early years of the show she is often the voice of humanity and medical ethics. House's best friend Dr. James Wilson is another example, as is hospital administrator Dr. Lisa Cuddy.

For the main character, though, the shows producers went in another direction. Dr. Gregory house is a crotchety pain in the neck whose one redeeming characteristic is his diagnostic genius. The same brilliance that lets him find the source of a medical condition also shows him the psychological weak points of those around him, and he probes and exploits them mercilessly.

The impression of Dr. House as a bullying misanthrope is so overwhelming that when, at some point in each show, he reveals a touch of humanity in choices or advice in the best interest of another character, the contrast actually makes him endearing.

The producers employ a second mechanism to gain our sympathy for House. He suffers continual pain and decreased mobility due to a misdiagnosis of a condition in one leg. House's pain leads him to Vicodin addiction, and his struggles with his physical challenge and with the pills form a psychological backdrop to the mystery element of each episode.

Literary antecedents

House is definitely not the stereotypical television doctor. Instead he alludes to a much older archetype, the trickster, the clever and competent character that makes others look foolish. House is the literary descendant of Loki, Coyote or Anansi, a cousin of the Biblical Jacob who tricked away his brother's birthright and his father-in-law's cattle. House is less akin to fictional heroes like Achilles and Star Trek's captains, and more like Ulysses or the mercurial Q. His likeness to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes does not seem accidental: both live at #221B, for example, both are addicts, and both are fascinated by problems rather than by people.

The genius of House as entertainment lies in placing a trickster character in a role normally filled by a trustworthy caregiver type. The continual contradictions of expectation make the show a delight to watch.