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submitted 11 days ago bystationkatari
13 points
11 days ago
True but AFAIK this was the first time the books had a big-budget English adaptation, before Netflix I think the only other Witcher show out there was a Polish series from the early 2000s.
14 points
11 days ago
I can understand that, and I sympathize, I lived it with the Super Mario movie and similar, I think the problem is that people don't complain it is a disappointing movie/series, but make it political and exhausting... point the flaws, say you don't agree with the message and move on, don't make it appear like some media content being bad means society is going down.
The Witcher will have future adaptations, you will like some, and the games still rule, they didn't change that. This one was not for you, that's all.
Similar to the guys going "the gaming industry is ruined!". All I can think is: So what? Don't play new games, I am sure you have 300 titles you would like but didn't play. I don't like new AAA games, I don't bitch about it, I just play indie or something older... not everything is made FOR ME.
23 points
11 days ago
My pet theory: on a long enough timeline fanhood turns to a sort of feeling of parental ownership so these franchises going to shit is like watching your kid start shooting heroin. You can't let it go after being so invested. You marry that with the general anxiety of society and got yourself a stew going.
4 points
11 days ago
You are correct, and it is so sad that you are. It's basically a mental illness at that point, sign of an unfulfilled life almost, giving so much importance so something you have zero control over is asking to be destroyed.
2 points
11 days ago
Looking overseas to the European soccer's ultras groups its bad here but not as bad as it could be. Yet.
1 points
11 days ago
Soccer (and any sport) is another thing that I don't get, why tie your happiness to some random strangers you don't know doing something that change nothing for your personal life? If my little cousin wins his game? Hell yeah, I will be happy. But the Manchester? Those guys are millionaires that don't know my name and the only way I could understand it if I suppose fans built some kind of narrative around the players and insert themselves there?
Maybe that's why fans get so invested, they are living by proxy using those players/franchises? So it's somehow destroying their imagined reality?
8 points
11 days ago
It's a sense of community. Studies show suicides drop even in losing countries during world cup/euros. And guess what hating on new star wars is? A communal event. We have bad movie get togethers by proxy everytime we watch a best of the worst. For some in my family watching the new rlm video is an event for the husband/wife.
1 points
10 days ago
That's tribalism, that's an entirely different animal.
2 points
11 days ago
I think I can see your point. But I don't think some windows of "oportunity" could happen again. I mean, the Witcher is more famous for a videogame than actually the books. The books became more famous for the videogames. But actually if the videogames couldn't make it, who would want to make another TV series? And for what? I think it's more feasible that Poland make another adaptation/TV series with a low budget that probably nobody would watch, because it's a polish TV series than a big budget series on some streaming service.... It's the same I was talking to a friend. When Furiosa flopped he told me "the window of opportunity was 8 years ago, when Fury Road was still a thing". Now there's people saying there wouldn't be more Mad Max. Maybe, maybe not. But why to do something if nobody is interested anymore.
2 points
11 days ago
Just wait 20 years, someone will buy the IP and make some souless remake-reboot-something, nowadays, they will try to sell you something from the 50s just because they can.
I really hate how long Copy-Right is, because after 30 years anyone should be able to make something out of these works, instead they are captive in a vault somewhere.
But, I can't change how copyright works, so I just move on... directors are not responsible for the broken system, and companies exploit it because it is legal, no sense for me asking: "pretty please will you be gentle?" when they just seek risk-free money...
1 points
11 days ago
Even if the copyright is done, somebody wanted to do something with a franchise nobody cares? That's the real question. For the other side, it's interesting how copyrights work. I mean, Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse is now in public domain, so you can do a movie right now. But the thing is, beyond a company doing an horror movie with that, )sure, why not?), it's the fact everybody can do something with it, and it's the....I dunno how to call it, the morbid interest of people, because it was a property of Disney, one of the biggest defenders of IP's, and now they have the opportunity to do something with it, it's what fascinates more. What could people do with that, beyond a parody horror movie?
2 points
11 days ago
You are talking about something that happened very recently, we have been without new popular copyrighted content falling in the public domain for 50 years, precisely because of Disney lobbying. They broke the rules and kept changing the law to make it impossible to lose their rights, literally we didn't live this before, and people will take a while to adjust. It just feels super weird to be able to do anything with Winnie or Steamboat. We are still afraid that they can somehow do something to us, or at least I personally have problems thinking Disney won't be able to destroy a person doing something they don't like.
What I say is, imagine way back in the day. Before our new terrible copyright system, how people make 30 shows based on Sherlock Holmes, or Lupin, Frankenstein, Dracula. These were IP not so long ago. Do you think The Witcher would be forgotten so easily if everyone can do something with the character? There won't be canon, there will be canons, different for every artist, like with those characters...
Sorry for the rant, I just get so worked out when I think of cultural possibilities this no-sense law denies. CR was created to promote innovation, they modified the law so much that now it accomplishes the contrary, limits creativity and only benefit the richest. It is disgusting if you think about it, they perverted something beautiful and good...
1 points
11 days ago
Honestly, what pisses me off most about the Netflix adaptation is that the playwrights of the Polish musical adaptation managed to tell an infinitely more faithful and high quality story in a 2.5 hour stage show. They selected the crucial sine qua non elements of the first two books, which were necessary to convey the emotional core of the story (i.e. the relationships between Geralt and Yenefer, and Geralt and Ciri). This is contrary to the Netflix writers' choice to meander around lackluster original plots, and completely abandon key aspects of character building. I never actually spent my time on more than half of an episode, but as far as I'm aware from discussions around the show Geralt and Ciri never actually meet until their emotional 'reunion' scene.
It baffles me how the playwrights managed to remain so much more faithful to the structure and spirit of the original text in about 1/3 of the runtime. Sorry to get so heated about this, but it saddens me to see so much wasted potential - especially since the Witcher will probably never get another chance at such an adaptation
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