For a long time I've believed that a good story has a beginning, a middle, and crucially: an end. And it's that last part that I feel a lot of media doesn't deliver today: it's all about franchises that just go on forever, constantly pumping out more sequels, dragging something that was once great throught the dirt to try to squeeze a little more profit out of it.
It's gotten to the point that many shows don't seem to pay any attention at all to wrapping up story arcs and giving any kind of closure; all they care about is constantly creating new narrative hooks to try to bait the audience into clicking the "next episode" button. Entire movies are made with the apparent singular purpose of transitioning the audience over to the replacement protagonist when the original actor is too old, so they can just keep churning out more and more sequels and spinoffs.
But we all knew that, we've all known that for a long time. That's not the point of this post. The point is I can't seem to find a good metaphor. Here's one I came up with today:
"A good story is like a good meal. It might just be a single course, or it might be several: starter, main, desert. But eventually the meal has to be over. You can't just keep adding more courses forever, instead focus on preparing a new meal."
OK, it's not a perfect metaphor. I think the problem is that you can take a property, like say the Avengers, and tell good stories for a very long, rotating characters out of the limelight and even the story as a whole as they complete their narrative arc. So if you see "The Avengers" as a story, then yes, in theory "a story" can go on for a very long time. But I think you have to break it down more: not everything written about the Avengers is a single story; the team can keep reinventing itself, serving as a framework for many different stories. And even then I'm not sure it doesn't get tired eventually; even then it might be better to end it all and start something new at some point.
Anyway. The point is, there are a lot of properties that I wish had gone out while they were on top, rather than trying over and over to go back to the well in increasing stale attempts at recapturing the magic of the original. The Terminator franchise should have stopped at the second - or at least it should have stopped trying to remake the second and continued to advance the story; I'll take Salvation over any of the later entries any day.
Perhaps the real problem is that motivations behind the endless instalments. Perhaps they are just not being created for the right reasons, the people in charge are making the wrong decisions because they have the wrong motivation - wrong for creating something great at least?
Eh, what do I know.
Friday, December 2, 2022
Monday, November 28, 2022
I Tried Watching Dexter: New Blood
I never finished the original series of Dexter. I thought season 1 was great, season 2 was good, I didn't really enjoy season 3, and I hated season 4, quitting just before the end. This was a while back so I couldn't tell you why I stopped enjoying it, but I randomly decided to give the new series a go. I didn't make it through the first episode.
First off, I didn't appreciate the constant forced "fakeouts". Dexter gets pulled over by a stone-faced female sheriff, he's confused and worried, nervously covering up the rolls of knives on the seat next to him, and then... it turns out they are lovers. Really? You don't smile when you see your lover? Yes, I am familiar with the concept of roleplay, but that didn't really seem to be what they were doing? Like, the whole act lasted about a minute before they broke down; if it was roleplay, wouldn't she, I dunno, cuff him or something? Plus I would expect him to at least smile briefly before he "steps into character" or whatever. It just felt like a cheap, forced attempt at fooling the audience.
This kinda happens a few more times, each time feeling weaker and more pointless. Did you really expect anyone to believe he was going to murder that butcher (who I guess doesn't sharpen his own knives)? Please. I dunno, maybe it's trying to lull the viewer into a false sense of security? I was just rolling my eyes.
We see Dexter running through the snow with a rifle on his back; he stops and shoulders the gun, taking a bead on a deer. Now I've never been deer hunting, but I'd always heard it involved stalking (i.e. moving carefully and quietly) and/or camouflaging yourself and hiding near places where deer are likely to pass, waiting for deer to come to you. I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve running noisily through the forest looking for the highly senstive animals, then trying to take a clean shot while you're gasping for breath.
Later in the episode we start to see some guy with his face hidden shadowing Dexter. When Dexter goes running in the forest with a rifle a second time, his stalker somehow spooks the deer. How? Dexter running around didn't spook the dear, but the other guy moving did? And why was that guy level with Dexter? If he was tailing him, and the deer was directly in front of Dexter, shouldn't the stalker have been farther away from the deer than the Dexter was?
So yeah, right off the bat there was just a lot of stuff that felt forced to me. But none of that was what really turned me off. Because right from the start something else had started to bother me. At first I tried to dismiss it; I figured maybe I was just being too sensitive, looking for problems when there weren't any. But it kind of kept happening. Each individual thing was small, harmless perhaps in a vacuum, but altogether it just started to build up. I think the best thing is to walk you through the beginning of the show.
We see Dexter lining up a shot on a deer, his finger starting to tighten on the trigger. But he doesn't take the shot. It seems he can't bring himself to? This is the guy who used to kill animals when he was young, and killed humans for YEARS, purely because he felt the need to kill! I'm not sure what they were trying to say about Dexter here; initially I assumed they were saying his drive to kill was gone, but then when he's dealing with the rich punk later it seems like he's struggling to control his murderous desires? And from the dialogue it didn't sound like this was sudden resurgence of his desires, it seemed more like they never went away
I assume there will be some sort of payoff later, maybe he finally kills a deer signifying that his killing instinct is back or something, I dunno. The issue I have is that it kinda sorta feels like it's... throwing shade, let's say, at hunters. If Dexter, the serial killer who gets his kicks from chopping people up, can't bring himself to kill a deer, what kind of monsters does this show think actual deer hunters are?
On his way to town Dexter meets the sheriff. The sheriff (the person in a position of highest authority that I saw in my brief time watching) is a Native American woman. She's played by Julia Jones, who I think is a great actress and I was enjoying her in the role. So that's great, I was happy to see her cast in what seems to be a major role here, and so far I like the character.
He gets to town where he runs into a friend, who, let's say, seems to come from a hotter climate. A climate where people are naturally more tanned. Dexter then delivers a knife to an African-American client. He then arrives at the shop where he works, where his overtly gay boss tells Dexter about how him and his husband are adopting a dog.
Wow, this small rural American town sure is diverse, huh? That's nice, I like diversity, as long as it's not forced. But no need to worry, here's some white guys now (because "diversity" these days is code for "anything other than straight and white"). A couple of white kids walk into the shop to buy knives and guns. It's hunting season or something, but these are the only two we've seen who actually seem to be interested in hunting; everyone else we've seen is talking about dancing and stuff like that. One of the white kids immediately sets about making sure the audience knows he's a rich spoiled brat. He chooses a combat knife over the practical hunting knife Dexter recommends, because it looks cooler. He passes over a traditional hunting rifle that Dexter says would be perfect for his needs, and fixates on a "scary military-looking" rifle that Dexter says is "more than you need for any hunting" (or something to that effect). The kid says he wants to impress his friends with it, and tries to buy it, positively drooling over it.
But he can't because he's flagged in the FBI check. So Dexter tells him he needs to wait for the check to clear. He's not happy and tries to get Dexter to break the law and sell him the rifle. A few minutes later Dexter is at the sheriff's office, where the cops say that the FBI is swamped so a lot of these checks just get cleared up without actually being processed, so a lot of guns are being sold to people who shouldn't have them (something I find questionable, especially in a restrictive state like New York where it seems this is set).
It's not too long before the FBI check clears up and Dexter is able to hand over the rifle to the rich white kid. At which point we learn that he's not only a complete jerk, but also an actual murderer. His father, who we learn through an environmentalist protest is a bigwig in an oil company (which obvious makes him evil because oil is killing the planet), paid everyone off to keep his son free.
That sure is scary, huh? All these scary military-style rifles in the hands of all these scary white nut-jobs? These rich jerks with their white privelidge, buying off the corrupt police force? Sigh. It's all just so woke.
I've never hunted an animal and don't plan on it, because I'm too soft for that. But I eat meat and I have absolutely no issues with animals or people who hunt - as long as they do it responsibly and legally and the meat does not go to waste. I'm not white and I do like to see people of different cultures and ethnicities in the media, as long as you don't sacrifice good writing for the sake of diversity - and I DON'T have anything against white people. I support Greenpeace, I've joined in marches against oil companies, but I also realise that oil is essential to the world we live in, phasing it out is a herculean task, and working in the oil industry does not make you evil - even if a lot of oil companies have done a lot of bad things.
Again, maybe I'm being too sensitive. But this was all just the first half hour, and they hit so many of these woke political talking points, in a way that felt at odds to the setting. This is a small rural town, surrounded by forests, where we're told that hunting is popular - Dexter works in a hunting supplies store. Yet the only people going hunting are the "bad guys"; Dexter (who, once again, is a serial killer) can't even bring himself to do it. The show made a point to say people don't need military-style rifles, and to suggest they are being sold into the wrong hands over-the-counter. We see climate activism against the oil-company bad guy. All the characters we've seen so far that we're supposed to dislike have been white (and male). It felt deliberate, an injected political agenda.
Yes, I'm aware of the fact that I'm starting to sound like that some of those guys on social media that people like to casually belittle with terms like "far right". Look: I've always written rants complaining about problems I see in media. Bad writing, questionable morals, excessive reliance on sequels and reboots rather than taking risks on new properties, endless cliffhangers and dangling plot threads instead of self-contained story arcs and actual closure; there are a great many issues I see that ruin movies, TV shows, and videogames. The recent trend of writers focussing more on certain political issues at the expense of writing a good story is just one of my many problems with modern media.
First off, I didn't appreciate the constant forced "fakeouts". Dexter gets pulled over by a stone-faced female sheriff, he's confused and worried, nervously covering up the rolls of knives on the seat next to him, and then... it turns out they are lovers. Really? You don't smile when you see your lover? Yes, I am familiar with the concept of roleplay, but that didn't really seem to be what they were doing? Like, the whole act lasted about a minute before they broke down; if it was roleplay, wouldn't she, I dunno, cuff him or something? Plus I would expect him to at least smile briefly before he "steps into character" or whatever. It just felt like a cheap, forced attempt at fooling the audience.
This kinda happens a few more times, each time feeling weaker and more pointless. Did you really expect anyone to believe he was going to murder that butcher (who I guess doesn't sharpen his own knives)? Please. I dunno, maybe it's trying to lull the viewer into a false sense of security? I was just rolling my eyes.
We see Dexter running through the snow with a rifle on his back; he stops and shoulders the gun, taking a bead on a deer. Now I've never been deer hunting, but I'd always heard it involved stalking (i.e. moving carefully and quietly) and/or camouflaging yourself and hiding near places where deer are likely to pass, waiting for deer to come to you. I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve running noisily through the forest looking for the highly senstive animals, then trying to take a clean shot while you're gasping for breath.
Later in the episode we start to see some guy with his face hidden shadowing Dexter. When Dexter goes running in the forest with a rifle a second time, his stalker somehow spooks the deer. How? Dexter running around didn't spook the dear, but the other guy moving did? And why was that guy level with Dexter? If he was tailing him, and the deer was directly in front of Dexter, shouldn't the stalker have been farther away from the deer than the Dexter was?
So yeah, right off the bat there was just a lot of stuff that felt forced to me. But none of that was what really turned me off. Because right from the start something else had started to bother me. At first I tried to dismiss it; I figured maybe I was just being too sensitive, looking for problems when there weren't any. But it kind of kept happening. Each individual thing was small, harmless perhaps in a vacuum, but altogether it just started to build up. I think the best thing is to walk you through the beginning of the show.
We see Dexter lining up a shot on a deer, his finger starting to tighten on the trigger. But he doesn't take the shot. It seems he can't bring himself to? This is the guy who used to kill animals when he was young, and killed humans for YEARS, purely because he felt the need to kill! I'm not sure what they were trying to say about Dexter here; initially I assumed they were saying his drive to kill was gone, but then when he's dealing with the rich punk later it seems like he's struggling to control his murderous desires? And from the dialogue it didn't sound like this was sudden resurgence of his desires, it seemed more like they never went away
I assume there will be some sort of payoff later, maybe he finally kills a deer signifying that his killing instinct is back or something, I dunno. The issue I have is that it kinda sorta feels like it's... throwing shade, let's say, at hunters. If Dexter, the serial killer who gets his kicks from chopping people up, can't bring himself to kill a deer, what kind of monsters does this show think actual deer hunters are?
On his way to town Dexter meets the sheriff. The sheriff (the person in a position of highest authority that I saw in my brief time watching) is a Native American woman. She's played by Julia Jones, who I think is a great actress and I was enjoying her in the role. So that's great, I was happy to see her cast in what seems to be a major role here, and so far I like the character.
He gets to town where he runs into a friend, who, let's say, seems to come from a hotter climate. A climate where people are naturally more tanned. Dexter then delivers a knife to an African-American client. He then arrives at the shop where he works, where his overtly gay boss tells Dexter about how him and his husband are adopting a dog.
Wow, this small rural American town sure is diverse, huh? That's nice, I like diversity, as long as it's not forced. But no need to worry, here's some white guys now (because "diversity" these days is code for "anything other than straight and white"). A couple of white kids walk into the shop to buy knives and guns. It's hunting season or something, but these are the only two we've seen who actually seem to be interested in hunting; everyone else we've seen is talking about dancing and stuff like that. One of the white kids immediately sets about making sure the audience knows he's a rich spoiled brat. He chooses a combat knife over the practical hunting knife Dexter recommends, because it looks cooler. He passes over a traditional hunting rifle that Dexter says would be perfect for his needs, and fixates on a "scary military-looking" rifle that Dexter says is "more than you need for any hunting" (or something to that effect). The kid says he wants to impress his friends with it, and tries to buy it, positively drooling over it.
But he can't because he's flagged in the FBI check. So Dexter tells him he needs to wait for the check to clear. He's not happy and tries to get Dexter to break the law and sell him the rifle. A few minutes later Dexter is at the sheriff's office, where the cops say that the FBI is swamped so a lot of these checks just get cleared up without actually being processed, so a lot of guns are being sold to people who shouldn't have them (something I find questionable, especially in a restrictive state like New York where it seems this is set).
It's not too long before the FBI check clears up and Dexter is able to hand over the rifle to the rich white kid. At which point we learn that he's not only a complete jerk, but also an actual murderer. His father, who we learn through an environmentalist protest is a bigwig in an oil company (which obvious makes him evil because oil is killing the planet), paid everyone off to keep his son free.
That sure is scary, huh? All these scary military-style rifles in the hands of all these scary white nut-jobs? These rich jerks with their white privelidge, buying off the corrupt police force? Sigh. It's all just so woke.
I've never hunted an animal and don't plan on it, because I'm too soft for that. But I eat meat and I have absolutely no issues with animals or people who hunt - as long as they do it responsibly and legally and the meat does not go to waste. I'm not white and I do like to see people of different cultures and ethnicities in the media, as long as you don't sacrifice good writing for the sake of diversity - and I DON'T have anything against white people. I support Greenpeace, I've joined in marches against oil companies, but I also realise that oil is essential to the world we live in, phasing it out is a herculean task, and working in the oil industry does not make you evil - even if a lot of oil companies have done a lot of bad things.
Again, maybe I'm being too sensitive. But this was all just the first half hour, and they hit so many of these woke political talking points, in a way that felt at odds to the setting. This is a small rural town, surrounded by forests, where we're told that hunting is popular - Dexter works in a hunting supplies store. Yet the only people going hunting are the "bad guys"; Dexter (who, once again, is a serial killer) can't even bring himself to do it. The show made a point to say people don't need military-style rifles, and to suggest they are being sold into the wrong hands over-the-counter. We see climate activism against the oil-company bad guy. All the characters we've seen so far that we're supposed to dislike have been white (and male). It felt deliberate, an injected political agenda.
Yes, I'm aware of the fact that I'm starting to sound like that some of those guys on social media that people like to casually belittle with terms like "far right". Look: I've always written rants complaining about problems I see in media. Bad writing, questionable morals, excessive reliance on sequels and reboots rather than taking risks on new properties, endless cliffhangers and dangling plot threads instead of self-contained story arcs and actual closure; there are a great many issues I see that ruin movies, TV shows, and videogames. The recent trend of writers focussing more on certain political issues at the expense of writing a good story is just one of my many problems with modern media.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)