#media commentary – @horizon-verizon on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

Hi! You mentioned that you don't mind if we compare characters to other shows?

I kept thinking about why Rhaenys/Alicent/Rhaenyra don't work for me but I think Augusta/Agatha/Charlotte from Queen Charlotte does, even though both show have some of the same flaws.

If you're not in the Bridgerton fandom It is a multi-season show set in the Regency era with a colorblind cast. One might expect a bit of misogyny to thin out the tropes of the genre, but the show was infamous in Season 2 because it proved incapable of allowing female friendships and It has a good dose of racism that the producers and writers DON'T seem to notice and think they're being woke.

QC is in some ways worse on the racism part. The character with the darkest skin is shown being raped several times on screen and is the only one not allowed comfort in none of their relationships, whether romantic, friendly or family (which always drives me crazy, especially since her plot is used to help the white woman who is the only one who is an indisputably good mother).

Now, despite its flaws, this is my favorite season. First, I really enjoy the main romance, but I also really enjoy those three women, and I think QC succeeded where HotD failed.

The three women belong to the nobility having different roles within it, none is really friends with the other and all three have their own agendas that lead them to be allies or oppose each other. And that to me is what makes them fascinating, each one doing their own thing with their spheres colliding and each one fighting for their place and power.

Augusta is the king's mother. She is ruling alongside the cabinet and the chamber using her son's name and therefore his power to get her way. There are certain moments where she uses misogyny to her advantage to get more time or get her way.

Agatha has just recently won her title and has the most to lose because of how unstable her situation is. That means helping, manipulating, and getting in the good graces of the other two.Since it's a prequel we know that she ends up being an important figure in society.

Charlotte is a newly arrived princess who didn't want to get married at first and her struggles are mostly about her marriage and slowly grabbing and using her own power that her mother-in-law wants to take away from her.As long as Charlotte is not acting as queen, Augusta has more freedom as the king's mother.

All three also have complicated relationships with their children, what they expect from them and what they get from them.

QC allowed its women to be unapologetically ambitious, to go after what they wanted, to have complicated feelings about motherhood even if they are more implied than literal, and have complex relationships with each other and with how they gain and exercise power. Sometimes they are cruel, sometimes they are kind. Charlotte is allowed to be selfish, spoiled and self-absorbed.

HotD was afraid of making Rhaenyra really spoiled and entitled so it's all about the prophecy. Alicent does not know how to use the patriarchy and the rules of her society to her advantage, even though she presumably did so in her favor and against Rhaenyra for 20 years. Rhaenys lost all ambition after losing the crown. They are all involved in politics for the good of the kingdom and not for their ambitions and none of them has discovered how to not let themselves be trampled on for being women rather than the problems they face being due to political reasons.

QC ends up being a romantic story that coincidentally has complicated women and women with power. HotD ends up being a story about female suffering without catharsis.

Anon is talking about this post.

I think this is a good comparative analysis, too. I've watched Bridgerton and I've watched Queen Charlotte despite the weird thing it has about race--even on the premise of racism being "done" when these are not dealing with unreal characters, in a world where Queen Victoria doesn't exist, apparently colonization isn't happening?hmmm--and can confirm that they manage to write women pretty well and QC is where they shined.

I wouldn't say I'm a part of the fandom, because I don't engage with its fans at all. Like nothing.

#asoiaf asks to me #hotd critical #media commentary #media comparison #queen charlotte #character comparison #hotd writing #bridgerton #asoiaf #hotd

horizon-verizon reblogged

spirit-meets-the-b0ne

I actually had someone say to me yesterday that watching House of the Dragon as a book reader is a bias and the fact that it’s an adaptation means it can go “any direction” from the source material and if this is a sentiment shared by others Jesus Christ are we in trouble

I understand an adaptation is never going to be 1:1 but can we collectively as a society agree on what the fuck an adaptation is? Through different mediums things are going to have to be reworked. To discount the majority or the original intended fan base however, is insane. This was my same issue with ATLA adaptations - you can’t tell me to abandon what I know and love about that story/characters and see it warped in an unrecognizable way and still applaud. The reason these adaptations even get made and get funding is because there is a TARGET audience and your fundamental basis for this are those who were invested in the source material. This happened with Witcher, ATLA, every Disney live-action remake, etc.

We can either commit to adaptations that are faithful to the source material, ergo faithful to the fans or we can just fuckin quit adaptations all together. It’s wild to purport that an invested audience member is inherently bias and should have their opinion discounted simply because they had knowledge and investment in characters from the source material which was abandoned or altered by a sub-par writer trying to “shock” audiences or reinvent the wheel.

#fandom critical #house of the dragon #hotd fandom #fandom commentary #media commentary #asoiaf fav posts #fav post #book vs tv comparison #media adaptations

horizon-verizon reblogged

awildwickedslip

Anonymous asked:

I think back a lot to what you said about so much of what ppl really love in shows being accidents, or done by the actors/not intended by the writers. Like at the end of the day, there are so different ppl working on a show, with so many different POVs that like, even as show runner, if what you intended doesnt come across that way to viewers, then is it really canon? idk maybe im deluding myself, but if the general viewer would hear his take and go, "huh?!", is it really canon?

awildwickedslip answered:

in my opinion, no. the only canon is what is on my screen. whatever people say behind the scenes is so much noise, because like you say, television is a huge collaborative business and they simply often contradict themselves. we also had sara hess saying daemon and rhaenyra are meant for each other with a primal bond that goes beyond love that no one else can understand, which is deeply at odds with ryan saying that daemon views rhaenyra as an extension of his brother/some kind of consolation prize since he can’t have viserys. so which is the truth? that is pointless to determine - the only thing i can do is watch what is put on my screen and make my judgement of the characters and relationships for myself. i think it’s clear based on this blog which writer’s take i favor more, but i know other people disagree. we can mutually think the other is wrong and bad at watching TV or whatever and move on with our lives, but i will never take a showrunner’s word as gospel over my own eyes and brain because the magicians season 4 episode 13 radicalized me and i now understand all TV writers are stupid and sometimes yes, i do understand their show better than they do, because sometimes they are simply very bad at their jobs and what they intended does not make it to my screen, or they fucking straight up lie to you about what they intended. they sometimes very much do that!

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