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orthoxerox  I realized I can change my flair color to Barbie pink  1yr ago (acoup.blog)   1829 thread views

Collections: Why Rings of Power’s Middle Earth Feels Flat

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Submission statement for Southkraut: Bret Deveraux discusses everything The Rings of Power creators did wrong other than the culture war stuff. TLDR: they understand neither geography nor economics nor anthropology. Also, they are racist towards the Irish.

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I've seen some speculation that it is because they're unknowns, thus will be a lot more biddable to being told what to do and how to do it. A big-name A-list director with an established body of work can walk off set and even if the studio tries to say it's because the guy is an asshole, the director can appeal to what he's done before as evidence of the quality of his work and that the studio wanted a pile of shit which he wouldn't agree to. Hence the usual tactful "creative differences" angle when this happens. EDIT: I mean, look at Henry Cavill and The Witcher and now Superman. Nobody is saying, at least that I can see, that Cavill is in the wrong here. Most reaction has been 'he was a fan of the original Witcher stuff and the writers didn't give a shit about the lore so that's why he was pushed out' and even if reaction to the decision about Superman has been mixed, with some happy about a reboot, nobody says "yeah, that Cavill was rubbish".

A bunch of no-names? They can't afford to do that, because the studio can make it that they'll never work again. So they'll be "yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir" when the ninety dozen producers want this change, that added in, the other thing taken out (seriously, I counted up, and between executive producers and assistant producers and plain producers, there are something like thirteen of them for an eight-episode season, more than directors or writers!) and other executive meddling.

Payne and McKay have no big reputation or record, so if (say) Jennifer Salke says "No toxic masculinity! More women!" then we get Galadriel who can one-shot an ice troll, Míriel is now Queen-Regent, Bronwyn the Village Healer is de facto war leader of the Southlands villagers, and Elendil now has a daughter instead of a second son. "We need diversity!" Black Elves and black Dwarves coming right up, sir! Galadriel/Sauron romance - well okay, they probably thought that one up themselves.

Galadriel/Sauron romance - well okay, they probably thought that one up themselves.

Idk - star-crossed lovers are a staple of the most successful sci-Fi and fantasy movies/TV:

  • Both LOTR trilogies had them (Aragorn-Arwen, Tauriel-Kili)

  • Star Wars trilogies has them (Luke-Leia*, Anakin-Padme and Rey-Kylo - and that's just the 9 main films)

  • Game of Thrones (Jon-Ygritte, Lyanna-Rhaegar, Jon-Daenerys, Jamie-Cersei, Daario-Daenerys*)

Given this, it wouldn't surprise me at all if producers specifically asked for some star-crossed lovers. Assuming the orcs are off the table, that kind of leads to Sauron as the obvious choice (well besides maybe Pharazôn).

** These are stretches

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