Links and Updates

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, as there’s really not a lot to look forward to, is there.

Still no confirmation on a third season of Shadow and Bone, which would finally give us the Ice Court heist, and given that there’s a major writers’ strike going on, chances are Netflix will drop it. For the record, I fully support said strike, but... well, maybe we should start getting used to the new normal: stories that simply don’t have an ending. 

Heck, they’ve already cancelled Cuckoo Song before it even got into production.

On the horizon is a whole heap of nothing: a reboot to the DC Cinematic Universe (a new Clark and Lois were announced today), more meaningless Star Wars movie sequels (sorry, but given Disney’s track record I’ll only believe they exist when they’re actually in theatres), and a Harry Potter television show (guess that five-film plan for the Fantastic Beasts movies didn’t pan out).

There’s going to be a Frozen 3 (inevitable), a Zootopia 2 (meh), a Toy Story 5 (how many bittersweet endings do they plan on giving this franchise?) and a Shrek 5 (I would have been indifferent except that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was unexpectedly delightful). Twilight is getting turned into a TV show. And superheroes. So many more superheroes.

I AM BORED I AM BORED I AM SO SO BORED. Remakes and reboots and sequels and prequels and mid-quels and legacy-quels and an ever-spiralling, never-ending assembly line of live-action reimaginings of stories that were animated in the first place for a reason. I mean honestly, a live-action Moana announced only seven years after the original was released? Are you shitting me??

This is where our obsession with nostalgia and the capitalization of stories has brought us. Why invest in something new and exciting when we’re apparently happy to watch regurgitated sludge for the millionth time?

And what’s the point of getting excited about stuff like a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender remake anyway? Netflix is just going to cancel it after the first season. And with the onset of A.I. created art and ChatGPT written scripts, I can pretty much guarantee it ain't gonna get better.

So, on that cheerful note, here are some other things to get annoyed about:

Shippers are getting worse. Yes, I realize that’s hard to believe, but the levels of delusion (before their ships get sunk) and rage (after their ships get sunk) is getting increasingly worrying. Now look, I’ve been a disappointed shipper in the past – Rey and Finn got totally shafted in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, for a hot second I was rooting for Mary and Tom over on Downton Abbey, Kate and Sayid remain my favourite pairing in LOST, and Allan and Djaq in the BBC’s Robin Hood comprise my greatest OTP of all time, and that canonically never advanced past some flirting.

And yet, I can’t imagine feeling depressed or betrayed that any of these ships didn’t happen. Usually my irritation is saved for much more egregious writing sins. And yet some people seem to be having genuine mental and emotional breakdowns over their characters of choice not hooking up by the time the final credits roll.

The most recent example has been Ted Lasso, in which contrary to popular belief (and I’ll admit, I also assumed that’s where it was going) the titular Ted and Rebecca did not end up together. In many ways it’s refreshing – as one of the writers mentioned on Twitter, we’ve all been conditioned to believe that male/female leads are designed to hook up with each other, and it can come as a surprise when they don’t.

But the histrionics are... something else. So far my favourite argument against Rebecca ending up with the Dutch pilot she had a one night stand with earlier in the third season is that because the same actress was used to play both the pilot’s daughter and Rebecca as a child, there was incest involved. Not that the writers were simply attempting to form a visual link between a little girl and a woman who always wanted to be a mother, but that there's a danger Rebecca and Dutch pilot are actually related.

Then someone wrote this:

Which brings me to the comments on this article that argues Mike and Will should hook up in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. As you can see, they’re vaguely terrifying:

This can’t be healthy, right? The last time I saw this sort of thing, it was when Sherlock fans were desperately trying to convince themselves that there was going to be a *secret fourth episode* that would make Johnlock canon and that the show Apple Tree Yard was just a front for its surprise reveal. Their evidence? That the wallpaper in the baby’s bedroom had apple trees on it.

Over in Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom, the Zutara shippers are still going strong, and keep coming up with new ways of describing how the end of the show isn’t just a disappointment, but an aberration (did you know Aang shows all the signs of a domestic abuser and Katara ended up as a broodmare? I sure didn’t!)

There’s been an increase in activity on this front what with the promotion for Netflix’s live-action remake, and there’s always a chance Zutara will end up happening in what’s sure to be a subpar adaptation of the far superior cartoon. Maybe they’ll even pull a Reylo – make it canon in such a stupid and unsatisfying way that all the shippers immediately lose interest.

(Okay, I have to admit – I really want this to happen. I would laugh for years).

I mean, it’s possible that the animators went with this allusion in order to better capture the anguish of a loved one over the death of a living god, but no – clearly it’s proof that two grown men have an Oedipus Complex with their mums. That stokes a shipper’s sense of personal grievance, so it’s the only correct interpretation.

And that’s what I find so frustrating about this specific kind of shipper – that absolutely everything has to be viewed through the lens of shipping (and sprinkled with a heavy dose of bitterness if it doesn’t go their way). I mean, how can anyone enjoy stories with that mentality? When everything is just a competition with writers over whether or not you get what you want? I’m a "do whatever makes you happy" kind of person, but this over-investment in ships is clearly making people miserable. So why do it?

What I find most interesting is that when it comes to rationalizing a ship that almost certainly isn’t going to happen, the same arguments are used every single time. That if the ship doesn't happen: "the story just doesn’t make any sense!" and it's "bad writing!" (Completely coincidentally, a good story is one that capitulates to shipper demands. I know, I'm shocked too). That getting what they want will literally “make history” and be some sort of cure for a larger societal problem. That tiny little details are imbued with profound symbolic meaning that only the shippers are intelligent enough to notice. That it’s all a competition that needs to be won against some amorphous enemy that's persecuting them. A fixation on the opinions of the actors or actresses playing the characters they’re shipping, and a tendency to over-analysis their comments.

There will be highly fraught and emotive language. Frequent mentions of queer-coding or media literary or toxicity or whatever other current buzzwords will elevate their arguments to the status of a Very Important Issue, even if the definitions of these terms are warped beyond all recognition (never forget that Kylo Ren was apparently “female-coded”). With one breath they’ll announce “it’s just fiction” and with the next they'll be claiming that their ship not being canon constitutes a hate crime.

It's “people see what they want to see” taken up to eleven...ty thousand. At some point, it feels like they’re watching something completely different from the rest of us, where the canonicity of their ship is the only thing that matters, regardless of what the actual point of the story is. And it happens over and over again.

In short, the ongoing drama of fictional entities and their love-lives continues to rage on in the hearts and minds of fandom. And I ask this with absolute sincerity and genuine curiosity: WHY? Why are we collectively so obsessed with romance and love and sex in our stories? Why does shipping dominate the discourse, regardless of what the story might actually be about? Why don't these people just read a romance novel, which will provide them with plenty of the content they're exclusively interested in? Why are honest-to-God meltdowns happening when they don’t get what they want in stuff that isn’t actually real?

I mean, there’s obviously some powerful psychological charge going on here that I’m not privy to. Like I said, I’ve definitely been disappointed when my personal ships don’t sail off into the sunset, but not to the level of histrionics that I’m currently seeing on-line. And it does seem to be getting worse, though whether that’s because the fourth wall gives viewers a chance to campaign for their personal preferences, or that creators are now more involved with fandom dramas, or that the state of current affairs are making people all the more invested in imaginary worlds, is the question that remains.

It's fascinating, but exhausting. Not for the first time, I really wish someone would give this serious academic study. The links to real-life conspiracy theories alone would constitute a thesis.

***

On another note: is it just me, or are there massive amounts of recastings going on throughout film and television franchises? Like, so much more than feels normal?

Recasting has always been a thing, from Michael Gambon replacing Richard Harris as Dumbledore after the latter passed away, to Jason Connery becoming the new Robin Hood after Michael Praed decided to go back to Broadway, to The Other Darrin eventually becoming the name of the trope after Dick York was replaced by Dick Sargeant in Bewitched.  

There numerous reasons why a character might be recast, from the original actor’s literal death, to them having issues with the production, to being fired due to bad behaviour, or simply wanting to move on, as well as a variety of ways in which their departure can be handled.

Sometimes a different actor is playing the exact same person (there’s a good chance a line of dialogue will sneakily reference this, like Don Cheadle saying: “look it’s me, I’m here, let’s deal with it and move on,” when he first appears as Rhodey after Terrance Howard departed over salary issues) and other times they take over the original character’s role in the story without being that exact character (when Javicia Leslie replaced Ruby Rose, she was the new Batwoman, but not the new Kate Kane).

In the cases of Carrie Fisher and Chadwick Boseman, their characters aren’t recast, as they were so deeply associated with the roles of Leia and T’Challa that there probably would have been outrage if someone else had stepped in, which leads to the unforeseen deaths of the actual character. Then of course, there’s stuff like Doctor Who, in which the “regeneration” of the title character has not only become an intrinsic part of the role and ongoing storyline, but something to celebrate and look forward to.

But whichever way the cookie crumbles, it always kinda sucks. I’m a stickler for continuity, as it demonstrates care and attention to detail, and when a brand-new face takes over for a character that we’ve grown attached to, it’s well... aggravating and disruptive.

Shit happens. But my issue is that there’s so much of it going on these days. Perhaps this is down to the fact that there’s simply much more material being churned out, so naturally cast turnovers increase as well. But can’t production companies... I don’t know, vet their actors before casting? Make sure they’re being mentally and physically looked after? Draw up decent contracts so they won’t bounce at the merest sniff of a better offer? Make sound casting decisions the first time around so they won’t feel the need to employ a “bigger name” if the project takes off? Be more flexible in filming around the schedules of other projects? Give a quick questionnaire to make sure the actor/actress isn’t an anti-vaxxer looney before they sign a contract?

Because just off the top of my head, recent years have recast Capheus in Sense8, Cassie in Ant-Man (what the heck was wrong with Emma Fuhrmann? She was a much better physical match for Abby Ryder Fortson), Mat Cauthon in the Wheel of Time, Jenny in Outlander, Jonathan Kent in Superman and Lois, Adar in The Rings of Power, Mrs Brown in Paddington 3, Dawn Schafer in The Babysitters Club, Claudia in Interview with the Vampire (surely the whole point in casting a young teen was so she wouldn’t prematurely age out of the role), Thaddeus Ross in the MCU, and of course, the big one: Henry Cavill as Geralt in The Witcher. How on earth do you mess that one up?

I get it, sometimes needs must. But it feels like almost everything I’ve been enjoying lately or meaning to catch up on can’t hold onto their own cast members. And that sucks.

***

Some links that back up some of the stuff I’ve been complaining about:

The Inescapable Inevitability of Fan Service Fatigue

Frequent Cancellations Aren’t Just Hurting TV, They’re Hurting Viewers

Twitter Thread on How Television is So Much More Difficult to Watch

Save the Movie! A Depressing Look at Why All Movies Feel the Same

Should Scripted TV Shows Make Changes Based on Audience Feedback?

AI Can Fix Game of Thrones’ Ending, Says OpenAI Co-Founder

A Reader is Not a Consumer of Books

Every Sci-Fi & Fantasy TV Show Netflix Cancelled Too Soon

Social Justice, Shipping and Ideology: When Fandom Becomes a Crusade, Things Get Ugly

And because this has been quite a miserable post, here are some fun links:

The 20 Best Arrowverse Characters Ranked (I don’t actually care that much about the ranking, only that they get #1 exactly right).

It Took Me Nearly 40 Years To Stop Resenting Ke Huy Quan (Film critic Walter Chaw comes to terms with the legacy of Short Round).

What the Original Star Wars Trilogy Tells Us About Storytelling (An interesting look into the fact that Star Wars isn’t about what it’s about. Makes sense in context).

House of the Dragon: Season One (A rare thing: a review that is both even-handed and insightful, which pinpoints the show’s feminist subtext, but also many of its flaws).

How Andor Broke Star Wars Rules to Reinvent Sci-Fi TV (No, I have not yet finished praising Andor, and this is a fascinating look into the brainstorming, design and filming of Narkina 5. It also includes this harrowing quote:

Looking back, Gilroy sees Andor as a minor miracle. Given its steep cost (estimated at $250 million), franchise-expanding tone, and intensive mix of practical and special effects, it probably never would have been greenlit earlier — and probably wouldn’t be ordered now, either.

“We got lucky making this during the gold rush a few years ago. A lot of people now have cold feet, and you can’t do this show inexpensively,” says Gilroy. “I’m just so relieved at the reaction because we were making this huge, obscure thing and we knew it was crazy. Like, ‘Is this too much? Have we gone too far?’ There were no focus groups or test audiences. Now it will be good if we can stick the landing and go out strong.”)

Andor and a Short Note on “Saying It Without Saying It” (I may have linked to this article before, but hey – it’s worth a reread. There is so much to learn about dialogue from watching this show). 

As for me, the end is in sight for my daily binge of Spooks, and there's a ton of other (more recent) shows I need to catch up on: Nancy Drew, The Great, Perry Mason, Evil... and one of them has already been prematurely cancelled. 

Still working through my Slavic Fantasy pile of library books, and putting together another themed reading list: Old English Children's Fantasy. This is a very specific niche genre, in which normal (even bland) English youngsters end up getting too close for comfort to the primal forces of the land upon which they live. Think The Dark is Rising, The Weirdstone of Brisingaman, The Owl Service, Moondial, Tom's Midnight Garden, Fire and Hemlock, The Time of the Ghost, The Snow Spider, and anything by Catherine Fisher. It's a very specific vibe, but once you've read it, you never forget it. My reading pile in this regard is steadily growing.

I'm also nearly finished with my write-up of King's Quest III: To Heir is Human, and am really looking forward to the next in the series, which stars the very first playable female character in an adventure game. 

And hopefully I'll get to Nimona this weekend!