Variety has word that 1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content are working together to adapt The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin to television. Theo Downes-Le Guin, son of the author, is also par…
In the books, the anarchist society is more or less portrayed as veryy functional and good. Le Guin isn't shy about showing where her sympathies lie, it's not subtle. Anarres is good, with some challenges. A-Io, a transparent stand-in for the USA, is pretty awful. Yeah, Anarres has problems but personally I got teary-eyed reading it, it made me sad thinking we could maybe if we're very lucky, get something like what Anarres has. But I sure won't see it in my lifetime.
My prediction is they'll both sides it. Anarres will be portrayed as having a collapsing economy because communism no food; while A-Io will be shown as unequal but having more material wealth, even for the poorest.
Edit: Jfc this is gonna be bad, how can you read the book and come away with THIS conclusion: "David Levine added that the novel was “[…]a well-crafted exploration of the current schism in our society and can offer us a path of reconciliation without accusations, condescension, and judgement"
Edit2: I'm getting angry now. They're portraying it as "two worlds at odds who hate and distrust each other, but they can come together with the power of love". That's some bullshit right there, the two planets are barely aware of each others' societies! Shevek has no idea what life is like outside of Anarres, that a HUGE part of the story dammit.
Yes, very impoverished. They even have a huge famine. But importantly, it's not because of the economic model, it's very clearly because of the harsh environment they live on. Le Guin talks about how they basically have no trees or animals other than some fish in the oceans, and that stuff is hard to grow there. And what little natural resources they have get shipped off to the other planet in trade (and IIRC Le Guin implies if they didn't trade, they would likely find themselves invaded). I fully expect this TV to find a way to blame the anarchist economic model for the impoverished conditions, not the natural environment.
Yeah I think they will fuck it up, you are right. But I think you are recalling Annares overfondly. It is paradise politically by comparison to its mirror (or the Terrans), but the Annaren system is still viewed pretty critically by the main character, who sees it destroy artists and coldly separate lovers, and crush the spirits of misfits. I think the ultimate take of the book is Annares, like Urras, also needs another revolution in conciousness. The journey to change Urras cannot be complete until Annares also changes
Yeah I think the problem is, I'm admittedly very sympathetic to the Anarresti society, and those issues don't particularly bother me. Of course I'm not saying I'm right, just that that's my own bias in reading the book.
In the books, the anarchist society is more or less portrayed as veryy functional and good. Le Guin isn't shy about showing where her sympathies lie, it's not subtle. Anarres is good, with some challenges. A-Io, a transparent stand-in for the USA, is pretty awful. Yeah, Anarres has problems but personally I got teary-eyed reading it, it made me sad thinking we could maybe if we're very lucky, get something like what Anarres has. But I sure won't see it in my lifetime.
My prediction is they'll both sides it. Anarres will be portrayed as having a collapsing economy because communism no food; while A-Io will be shown as unequal but having more material wealth, even for the poorest.
Edit: Jfc this is gonna be bad, how can you read the book and come away with THIS conclusion: "David Levine added that the novel was “[…]a well-crafted exploration of the current schism in our society and can offer us a path of reconciliation without accusations, condescension, and judgement"
Edit2: I'm getting angry now. They're portraying it as "two worlds at odds who hate and distrust each other, but they can come together with the power of love". That's some bullshit right there, the two planets are barely aware of each others' societies! Shevek has no idea what life is like outside of Anarres, that a HUGE part of the story dammit.
Annares is extremely impovrished in the book, I'm sure they'll fuck it up but it is materially very far behind Urras
Yes, very impoverished. They even have a huge famine. But importantly, it's not because of the economic model, it's very clearly because of the harsh environment they live on. Le Guin talks about how they basically have no trees or animals other than some fish in the oceans, and that stuff is hard to grow there. And what little natural resources they have get shipped off to the other planet in trade (and IIRC Le Guin implies if they didn't trade, they would likely find themselves invaded). I fully expect this TV to find a way to blame the anarchist economic model for the impoverished conditions, not the natural environment.
Yeah I think they will fuck it up, you are right. But I think you are recalling Annares overfondly. It is paradise politically by comparison to its mirror (or the Terrans), but the Annaren system is still viewed pretty critically by the main character, who sees it destroy artists and coldly separate lovers, and crush the spirits of misfits. I think the ultimate take of the book is Annares, like Urras, also needs another revolution in conciousness. The journey to change Urras cannot be complete until Annares also changes
Yeah I think the problem is, I'm admittedly very sympathetic to the Anarresti society, and those issues don't particularly bother me. Of course I'm not saying I'm right, just that that's my own bias in reading the book.