That’s cause the product we’re consuming isn’t the conscious content. It’s the unconscious content. We think we respond to plot but we actually respond to the textural elements of narrative: all those little details that we barely notice. Whether or not a story successfully creates the illusion that you’re invested in the plot rather than the details, is the difference between a successful story and a failed story.

It’s a bit like putting icing on a cake. We may think we want to eat the cake because the icing looks good, but the fact of the matter is 90% of that cake is cake batter. If the batter is bad, then the cake is bad and if the batter is good, then the cake is good. The icing is only valuable in that it creates the illusion of a cohesive whole cake, allowing you to misattribute the deliciousness of the cake to a combination of flavors rather than the individual parts.