AAAAAAAAAAA MY REPLY VANISHED AND I HAVE TO REDO IT AND IT WAS WELL WRITTEN AND LONG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmojave_wolfMay 20 2018, 05:51:15 UTC
Attempting to ignore frustration and resurrect my reply from memory:
Taking the second and easier question first:
Westworld starts from the same premise but is multiple layers of reality different from and superior to the 70's film starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. That was a B-movie with an interesting concept and absolutely no self-awareness about how cringe-worthy much of the execution was. The first season of the TV series took the same concept and turned it into an incredibly complex, thoughtful and thought-provoking virtuoso work of art. If you cringe during it, and you possibly will, it will be at the depiction of human nature and the ranging from thoughtless-to-brutal way they treat the hosts.
I believe it led the field in Emmy nominations last year, for what it's worth, and Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright,Ed Harris, Thandie Newton and Evan Rachel Wood were all brilliant, as was the supporting cast, the writing, absolutely everything. Possibly the best single season of any television show ever (I probably would give it the nod for that spot,though would need to rewatch Breaking Bad and The Wire to be sure).
Okay, the harder question. The Handmaid's Tale is also extremely well done, definitely a very good show, but I'm maybe not the best person to sell you on it. I would never describe it as "appealing to watch." It is excruciating to watch. It is hour after of hour of people being miserably oppressed. What you have to find to make something like this worthwhile in such a long form is pleasure in the characterization and how resilient people can be in the face of oppression and/or the efforts to show how the world wound up like this and how oppressive societies are maintained, and the similarities/differences between how people treat each other there and now. And it does all that well. But...
What else I would normally want to see are glimmers of hope and fun and a sense that at some point, there will be some relief or surcease or better yet massive retribution along the lines of the slave rebellion in Spartacus. And there are glimmers of this in the Handmaid's Tale but too few for my personal taste. I have no idea if I would continue watching this if my wife wasn't a fan, though it is a terrific show.
and fwiw I *think* it won the Emmy for best series of 2017 over Westworld and Better Call Saul and Stranger Things, tho the first two are leaps and bounds better than anything else including Handmaid's Tale, and Stranger Things was a helluva lot more enjoyable for me to watch. I would also put the fourth season of Black Sails, which sadly didn't get nominated, solidly in front of it. But it is a very good show.
See also: House of Cards. Another very well done show I would never have kept watching but for my wife. It's incredibly well executed and the acting is flawless and it's probably a very insightful and fairly accurate representation of the majority of the people who shape our politics, but I spend every single episode hoping someone will show up with an Uzi and murder every single major character. That would make my day. Handmaid's Tale is kinda the same, except you get to watch the people you want to see get killed mistreat people who are actually sympathetic. Oh, and at least in Handmaid's Tale you're probably *supposed* to want to kill the oppressors. In House of Cards I'm not entirely sure . . .
Re: AAAAAAAAAAA MY REPLY VANISHED AND I HAVE TO REDO IT AND IT WAS WELL WRITTEN AND LONG AAAAAAAAAAAdisorderataMay 20 2018, 06:07:44 UTC
Thank god you went to all that effort to re-write the reply, even though what you lost was BIG and possibly epic THIS is just ..... an EPIC response considering you lost your first one, and so thoughtfully written ...
thankyou!
Now I have to think about chasing these two up at some time...
Re: AAAAAAAAAAA MY REPLY VANISHED AND I HAVE TO REDO IT AND IT WAS WELL WRITTEN AND LONG AAAAAAAAAAAmojave_wolfMay 22 2018, 05:23:35 UTC
As I'm preparing to watch ep 5 of 13 Reasons Why, had to say: surprised my description of Handmaid's Tale made you want to watch it. Interesting.
As far as depressing sad-making things where events frequently happen which might make you wish to cry or commit murder upon evildoers, 13 Reasons Why is way more enjoyable to watch, IMO. And also very good.
Taking the second and easier question first:
Westworld starts from the same premise but is multiple layers of reality different from and superior to the 70's film starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. That was a B-movie with an interesting concept and absolutely no self-awareness about how cringe-worthy much of the execution was. The first season of the TV series took the same concept and turned it into an incredibly complex, thoughtful and thought-provoking virtuoso work of art. If you cringe during it, and you possibly will, it will be at the depiction of human nature and the ranging from thoughtless-to-brutal way they treat the hosts.
I believe it led the field in Emmy nominations last year, for what it's worth, and Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright,Ed Harris, Thandie Newton and Evan Rachel Wood were all brilliant, as was the supporting cast, the writing, absolutely everything. Possibly the best single season of any television show ever (I probably would give it the nod for that spot,though would need to rewatch Breaking Bad and The Wire to be sure).
Okay, the harder question. The Handmaid's Tale is also extremely well done, definitely a very good show, but I'm maybe not the best person to sell you on it. I would never describe it as "appealing to watch." It is excruciating to watch. It is hour after of hour of people being miserably oppressed. What you have to find to make something like this worthwhile in such a long form is pleasure in the characterization and how resilient people can be in the face of oppression and/or the efforts to show how the world wound up like this and how oppressive societies are maintained, and the similarities/differences between how people treat each other there and now. And it does all that well. But...
What else I would normally want to see are glimmers of hope and fun and a sense that at some point, there will be some relief or surcease or better yet massive retribution along the lines of the slave rebellion in Spartacus. And there are glimmers of this in the Handmaid's Tale but too few for my personal taste. I have no idea if I would continue watching this if my wife wasn't a fan, though it is a terrific show.
and fwiw I *think* it won the Emmy for best series of 2017 over Westworld and Better Call Saul and Stranger Things, tho the first two are leaps and bounds better than anything else including Handmaid's Tale, and Stranger Things was a helluva lot more enjoyable for me to watch. I would also put the fourth season of Black Sails, which sadly didn't get nominated, solidly in front of it. But it is a very good show.
See also: House of Cards. Another very well done show I would never have kept watching but for my wife. It's incredibly well executed and the acting is flawless and it's probably a very insightful and fairly accurate representation of the majority of the people who shape our politics, but I spend every single episode hoping someone will show up with an Uzi and murder every single major character. That would make my day. Handmaid's Tale is kinda the same, except you get to watch the people you want to see get killed mistreat people who are actually sympathetic. Oh, and at least in Handmaid's Tale you're probably *supposed* to want to kill the oppressors. In House of Cards I'm not entirely sure . . .
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thankyou!
Now I have to think about chasing these two up at some time...
Wonderful review, I give it five [*****] stars
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Was best recreation I could do; the content is at least same as before tho wording somewhat different.
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As far as depressing sad-making things where events frequently happen which might make you wish to cry or commit murder upon evildoers, 13 Reasons Why is way more enjoyable to watch, IMO. And also very good.
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