• MemesAreTheory [he/him, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I find this whole thing a little dubious. I like reading, and sometimes I enjoy fantasy. Not uncritically, I'm aware of its tropes and problems, but there's some really quality stories told in that medium all the same.

    I read some oh The Witcher series and it was well above average. The characters were complicated, and the contentious nature between human colonizers and native civilizations wasn't handled with kid gloves. Hell, the entire world is intertwined with magic and the impact of industrialization and expansion of human society causes the monsters themselves to mutate into more horrific and industrial waste appropriate beasts. It's a good story.

    The show's second season was genuinely bad, and that was very disappointing. It broke its own rationale, it turned beloved fan favorite characters into unlikable brutes, and it greatly diminished the quality of the relationships as the characters grow, learn, experience trauma and cope/thrive/recreate it with others. It was just... Bad, even if you weren't a book reader but ESPECIALLY if you were.

    I don't have some reddit hard on for Henry Cavill, but he seems like someone who loved the books and games and was excited to bring that world to life for others. To have it sideswiped and turned into a shallow and generic feeling fantasy is a disappointment to any fan - and I don't doubt someone that close to the process would become more jaded and cold as the program shifted without them. To read into that as sexism doesn't seem like the easiest explanation, rather it sounds like the project shifted and the lead didn't like it. That's naturally going to create strife in teams and professional respect breaks down the longer diverging views of a project are in contention.

    • ProfessorAdonisCnut [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It for sure doesn't help their case against him that he was right about most of his grievances with the way the show was being adapted. The more the show is about a gruff silent type with the politics stripped away, the worse it is; the more it's a pontificating badass learning about the futility of neoliberal passivity and an unsubtle screed about the importance of Ciri's reproductive autonomy, the better. Doesn't change whether he was an asshole or not. Either way the pendulum will soon swing towards people saying he was ostracized by a workplace hostile to his neurodiversity.

      It will be interesting to see how the live-action 40K series he's doing goes since this time he's executive producing as well. I'm almost sure that's about wanting more creative control this time when adapting his special interest.

      • NPa [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Would be funny to see an anti-fascist 40k show, but that's not gonna happen lol

        • ProfessorAdonisCnut [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Honestly "Andor on steroids" could elevator pitch well enough to have a chance. Any antifascism in 40K has to be a defeatist cautionary tale though on account of how the whole setting works.

          • NPa [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            fuck that, Cavill is the villain as a stormtroop- I mean Space Marine, the heroes are explicitly communist Tau and then they defeat fascist nihilism through the power of love and five-year plans. They even devise a way of producing infinite bio-matter for the Tyranid by instantiating Chaos Gods into realspace to be devoured endlessly. The Tyranid-Tau Settlement is signed, guaranteeing that the Tyranid will never expand beyond their borders on pain of getting their infinite food supply taken away. The Orks are given an entire sector to hang out in, where they also send all the space fascists that are still alive to do jolly combat. The Emperor is deprived of his psykers through sanctions (approved by the Commonwealth of course) leading him to get even drier.

            In the end, Blue Khrushchev denounces the "mind-control" of the wily Ethereal Aun O'Tau Steel-Worker of the Central Commitee and the dang rogue traders liberalize the economy. Trillions die.

          • Mardoniush [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            You could have a Tau Collaborator storyline, especially if you leaned into 3rd/4th edition interpretations of the Tau

    • frogbellyratbone_ [e/em/eir, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Henry Cavill, but he seems like someone who loved the books and games and was excited to bring that world to life for others. To have it sideswiped and turned into a shallow and generic feeling fantasy is a disappointment to any fan - and I don’t doubt someone that close to the process would become more jaded and cold as the program shifted without them.

      yah this was my take. he was pissed the show was being ruined and turning into bullshit. might've lashed out and been a prick to work with over it

      who knows. the excerpt is vagueposting rn and need more details

    • PZK [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I feel the same way. I want to like the guy but I honestly haven't followed how he is in person. The whole accusation could be completely true. I could also see how he could start dude-bro strong arming the show away from the show runner because he is a big star and the last season was apparently trash.

      The vibe I got from the whole thing is that he was walking away from the project because he didn't like the direction of it. In conjunction with this, it sounds like he tried to become combative about how the show was being done and he got forced out. The part about the whole thing I found a little suspect was how they went into a tangent that he is "deeply addicted to videogames." as if that itself is a grand reflection of his character as opposed to his actual actions on set or his tardiness (which other movie stars are well known for).

      I know we meme about GaMErs but there are plenty of people who play games that are not chuds. There is certainly a dark hole many gamers can fall down but it tends to be related to hyper-competitive online games with a lot of player interaction.

      I imagine at some point he will have something to say about it.