That's it! That's it! Players like Netflix or Amazon don't spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a light hand for the sadomasochistic pleasance of watching their investments be whipped by fan criticism and not only.
The series received evidence low scores from critics who are usually more knowing than fans. Just take a look at the performance in 1 of Rotten Tomatoes' most reputable services, where “Rings Of Power” and “Blood Origin” received historically low ratings from critics and fans! Why, then, do the platforms intend to proceed this apparent farce at least for a while?
In my opinion, this is an investment for the future. An investment in a fresh young viewer – a consumer who grows up with specified a fantasy – mindless, superficial, infantile, inconsistent and most importantly full diversification of fresh ideological trends. Nota bene and HBO, in 2020 there was specified a monster, or “Guard” series based on the prose of a brilliant, unfortunately deceased author a fewer years ago Terry Pratchett.
Oh, my God. I've been waiting for this and how much the first episode disappointed me. The disc planet is simply a universe consisting of dozens, perfect volumes, theoretically suitable for modern realizations. After all, the author himself never hid that with the usage of his imaginary planet – a disk embedded on 4 elephants that stand on a giant turtle flying through the universe – he wants to present the problem to us today! He does this fantastically with a unique sense of humor that touches the atmosphere of "absurd" alive from "Flying Monty Python Circus". And here you could truly be tempted to diversify the various "problems of the first world", but at the same time you gotta give intellectual depth, but to do so you request to realize the specificity of Pratchett's humour. As you can imagine, the creators took care of the diversification, but completely collapsed the intellectual part.
And so it is almost all time now. It is not even about keeping books fanatically and not making any changes to the alleged "public". The point is that these treatments are embedded in history, made intelligently and do not turn plots upside down. Even in “Lord of the Rings” Peter Jackson this was done – 1 of specified treatments was the “fabular reinforcement” of Arwena's character in which Liv Tyler was brilliantly portrayed.
May I? You can! It's just that Peter Jackson and his crew made trilogy for about 10 years carefully analyzing all pros and cons. all time they made a change to the book (though due to limited movie time) they chose to diversify just like that, or to do so in accordance with a good communicative they chose the second, hard way. However, in the productions I discuss, the creators will always diversify from the cap (to check out further points) and always do so at the expense of history. The consequence is this fresh fantasy, which is not akin to knowing and delving into it, whether read or not.
This fantasy is no longer to be embedded in the ‘old’, not to tell stories and be a carrier of values, or at least not those to which we are accustomed. The current fantasy is actually intended to reflect the modern planet and only current problems. all average resident of Warsaw, fresh York, London, Stockholm, Moscow or Berlin is to find himself there. It is to be colorful, diverse, inclusive and "tolerant".
By the way, these are to be productions that are completely unobliged intellectually. “The Witch” I watched with my wife – she was curious, not being a lover of Sapkowski or fantasy at all. I as an absolute nerd, in love with “Sapkosiu” and fantasy from the end of simple school. We were both lost in that, and we didn't know what was truly going on? I tried to choice up pieces of events in my head and remember where the hell the book was, and my beloved was simply lost in subsequent cuts and “teleportations” of heroes in time and space.
While writing the second part of the text, I managed to catch up on 2 episodes of Blood Origin. The creators are masters of “teleportation” that are always on ft – truly the protagonists overcome the colossal distances during 1 episode in complete separation from the timeline! In addition, they have done something extraordinary in the script – it is simultaneously crude, full of curses, idiotic, infantile and at the same time hard to realize it (although it is explained all time there is simply a complexity, it is explained by a phrase specified as "this destiny" or "gods have caused it"). And I think that's how the species is expected to look today...
This is not meant to be a fantasy for fans of books requiring compliance with the source. This is not even expected to be a spectacle for people waiting for decent, as intelligent entertainment. After seeing the previews of production, I besides tried to approach them as a fantasy show, pretending to be in front of me that these were not expected to be adaptations of the most celebrated works of the genre. Even though it is. If in any corner of the planet you ask a random individual about the celebrated works of fantasy, first the “Lord of the Rings”, the Witches, and the “Game of Thrones” will fall. This is truly the biggest caliber, but all right – I tried to measure it as a spectacle, where there will be beautiful effects, good story, sights, fights, monsters, elves, orcs and wizards. That's the satisfaction of my interior boy. You can't. It's so terribly stupid you can't! "Blood Origin" is simply a grim joke. “Hercules” and “Xena” – Class B series from the turn of the nineties and 2 thousandths it works! Netlfix's fresh proposal is practically "Power Rangers".
This is where you request a viewer-consumer, who takes everything, like a clip – changing images and talking heads. – now they're riding, then they're fighting, something explodes here, oh, what a monster, they fight in a castle, colorful flames, cool swords and outfits – everything is to agree. If there is simply a racial diversity, threads of lgbtqxyz and silent women, on whom everything depends we watch it.
When these viewers grow up with specified productions and get into their heads that this is fantasy, why would there be lovers of the genre? “We have our own now, we have raised ourselves, and we have managed to do what we do with another movie genres.” It's all business!
By the way, I'm curious, what do the trackers of ubiquitous cultural Marxism say? What is happening to movie art on steraming platforms in the overwhelming majority is, after all, the employment of culture. All these ideological themes – Cancel culture, Diversification of everything, the translation that in the movie everyone has to find himself, inclusiveness, “goal, rhizome, and controversies” flow now from the west! And the translation that it is truly Marxism, due to the fact that “was erstwhile Alkesandra Kolłontaj’ etc. is embarrassing. This kind of culture is coming from the west and it has its origin there.
This will not change any swearing of reality by a “psycho-right” that is everywhere searching for cultural Marxism, but it is just a small political malice on my part. I'm sorry, and I'm just getting back to the point, going slow to the point.
As I have already written above, in addition to “teaching” a fresh viewer-consumer of the movie manufacture are going to get free of us – fans of the genre, who as 1 of the last in pop culture was a stronghold of normality. It lasted a long time due to the fact that until the tremendous financial success of cult productions no 1 paid attention to nerds reading about dragons and playing games.
Twenty years ago, we abruptly became (wanting it or not) fans of the species that began to conquer the planet and with a bang entered the commercial extraliga. We were very happy due to the fact that let us agree – who of us, erstwhile reading Tolkien or Sapkowski, did not dream quietly, how large would it be if these works had been screened with Hollywood momentum? This is, of course, about me and the older generation of readers. A small younger, already raised on Jackson's books and films simply shaped their taste on something of all means good. Fans of the genre have arrived, but they have besides turned out to be unnecessary, demanding and miserable ballast, and here is the money to earn.
Modern filmmakers of fantasy say to us: “Listen to the sweet nerds. We know that thanks to you, the genre has started to make immense profits in the movie manufacture and you're great. But now the planet has changed, and in order to make even more money, we request to re-enact fantasy and adjust it to the current matrix. We know you read your books and you know what they say, but what we do present is not for you. Go and watch Jackson erstwhile or read your books, and let us make money. After all, you are about to die and you are followed by a fresh generation of consumers.”
Is it after the buyer? There it is! However, we have besides a light in the tunnel due to the fact that it turns out that the developers of the platforms exaggerated a bit. Taking on specified iconic works, possibly they didn't know precisely how immense a fandom they were? I myself was amazed erstwhile hundreds of thousands of critical comments began to appear under the main trailer “Rings Of Power” on YouTube, which, even with the gross and budget of Bezos, they did not keep up with. It seems that the creators themselves did not anticipate specified opposition of matter. They hoped to rapidly cassate an uncomfortable group of enthusiasts of the species and replace it with "fresh blood", and here specified a scandal – and egg...
There are even any leaks that possibly Amazon will discontinue production in its current shape, change the crew and approach the subject again. Neflix in turn, as a platform, is celebrated for the “out” series that do not bring expected influence. In that case, we – viewers and lovers of the genre – stay to express our opinions in public, which I besides do in the pages of Polish thought and express my discontent with the pilot – without seeing these productions. As you can see, this is not without an echo, but can we yet change something? Time will tell.
For now I want you and I (if you besides like this literature) as many good books, movies and fantasy games as possible.
Bartosz Iwicki
photo wikipedia commons
Think Poland, No. 708 (12-19.02.2023)
