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So, I watched the first two episodes of the Rings of Power -- and it wasn't that bad.
For the record, I thought Wheel of Time was pretty horrible, and while it was far from the only problem, the woke aspects (forced diversity, all men have to suck, all women have to rock) was definitely a big part of the issue. RoP has some forced diversity as well, but it's somehow not as bad. The black elf is one of the few elves who actually seems attractive and somehow beyond human -- the others come across as Roman Senator types.
Galadriel is a Mary Sue, but I guess she is in the books too. We'll see how her story develops.
I'm not happy with the proto-hobbits, and of course, the one who pushes the rules and is clever and daring is a woman, but that's mostly okay.
Dwarves -- well, of course the woman gives wise council to her buffoon husband, but it was still fairly well done I thought.
The visuals were great, and you did somehow get a sense of fleshed out, interesting and complex world. I'm very cautiously optimistic. Miles and miles ahead of Wheel of Time.
For the record, I'm /u/The-WideningGyre on reddit, but felt like grabbing one of the more common usernames I use on the new Motte.
I'm really disappointed by the weird groupthink shitshow I feel like 'normal' reddit has become, so I will do what I can to support this new Motte. Thanks /u/ZorbaTHut and other creators!
It's just really boring. The dialogue is wooden and the actors don't help. They recite lines like "this place is so evil the torches give no heat". The peasants sit in bars and are racist against the black elf. I assume this is so we can learn a Very Important Lesson later on. The action scenes look like video game cutscenes. The elf soldiers wear identical uniforms and bitch about regulations like they're 19th century conscripts instead of immortal warrior aristocrats.
It's not so much that anything about it is actively terrible, it's that there's also nothing good about it. Not because it's not faithful to Tolkien but because the writers failed on their own terms.
I am disheartened by all this. Not because I disagree, but because I had really hoped my fears wouldn't be realized.
I am an embarrassingly full-on movie buff, and I have two young sons so I do a lot of casual watching of old favorites by way of indoctrinating them into my tastes, though it's true they have pushed movies on me that I wouldn't have chosen but I enjoyed (the MCU for example). And in watching WandaVision--finally--a month or so ago when I was quarantined, I had a frustrating feeling that the show really shoehorned subliminal and wholly unnecessary messages in, when it was otherwise brilliant. No white male was allowed any leadership role based on goodness, wisdom, or strength. It's to the point where if you do see a white male in a main role you can assume he will become an antagonist to one or all of the female leads (exactly what occurred).
The one exception was the character Vision, played with disarming non-campiness by Paul Bettany, who was nevertheless at best second fiddle to Wanda, though I could accept that based on the premise of the show.
Just a mild rant. But I can't see this going anywhere good. Building confidence in viewers or positive self-esteem or whatever they're calling it these days A)should not be the domain or primary role of film/TV; 2) is not a zero-sum proposition where one sex/race must be degraded to "build up" or empower the others, and D) has a fanbase that will, if time is any teacher, eventually turn on the concept viciously, leaving a lot of works parodied and reviled instead of held as beloved classics.
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