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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35417 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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I'm still wondering what got Amazon hooked to a billion dollar disaster. After all initial (imo misplaced) optimism, analysts are finally coming out and saying the quiet part out loud: it is not the ground breaking masterpiece they need it to be. Even HoD is performing better and is better received. Both are prequels to very popular IPs, but Rings of Power should be pulling enormous numbers given how expensive it is, and how extensive its marketing was. Despite worsening performance with every episode, they just renewed it for season 2. This wasn't a small and calculated risk, they literally staked the future of their whole studio on this show. What made them think hiring subpar writers, rewriting lore, rewriting characters of one of the most popular fantasy IPs while simultaneously drafting off of the brand was a good idea? It feels like the motive isn't even to make money but solely to push an agenda, but who would do that? Given the sheer scale of the project, I just cannot believe any studio would be so careless as to commit such a serious misfire.

This just seems like the adage go woke go broke. And it’s not just Amazon it’s a universal issue.

I think it comes back to the Italian Prime Minister Meloni speech that was in the headlines that basically summed up to people having an identity and not being a consumption machine. If people don’t have a family relations, religion, a background then there’s nothing interesting to tell a story about them. They are empty people.

HBO has a similar issue with their dragon show. Corlys Velaryon had a quote, “History does not remember blood it remembers names.” The character no longer cared if his house seat had a Velaryon sitting on it. The origional GOT was obsessed with their bloodlines. Historically all societies have been obsessed with their ancestors. It’s basic evolutionary biology. We are programmed to not be the end of our line. The only close to political similiarity is Julius Caeser adopting Octavian (not sure if he was nephew in law or shared some blood).

HBO use to dominate at character creation. I haven’t been able to watch anything new on HBO and find myself constantly wanting to rewatch old things.

Of course I posted a reply to people on Reddit saying they loved the quote. And of course I got downvoted.

The old communists we hated who made movies still understood the human condition and identity. Modern writers write as if everyone is the same on the inside with no background but on the outside are different.

Historically all societies have been obsessed with their ancestors. It’s basic evolutionary biology. We are programmed to not be the end of our line. The only close to political similiarity is Julius Caeser adopting Octavian (not sure if he was nephew in law or shared some blood).

Kinda, but like all human things the instinct gets molded and hijacked and adapted in weird ways. For example, I am given to understand by people who have spent time studying the subject that medieval japanese society was absolutely obsessed about family, yes, but that the name was, in fact, in many cases just as important as the blood. Adoption of proteges for the sake of continuation of a childless house and partition of family estates was described as quite common even among middling peasant/free-hold farmer equivalents.

I am not a weeb expert, but AIUI Japanese religion had a strong element of ancestor worship. This might be better understood as an adaptation for memetic rather than mere biological immortality. Even if you didn't have children, you could potentially adopt someone who would honor you and your ancestors after you passed, and raise their own children/protégés to do the same.

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