Shōgun was commended for its commitment to portraying Japan accurately (and deservedly so). I wish The Sympathizer would get even a fraction of that praise.
Is the lack of interest/praise due to the Vietnam War making people uncomfortable? Was the 70s too recent for people to care about it being shown accurately? Is it because historic Japanese figures seem ~exotic but Vietnamese refugees are too familiar/recognizable?
Whatever the reason, I wish this show was getting attention for more than RDJ's multiple roles.
IA. I'm not sure if it's just an impression and the show is actually getting some traction but even here I'm really surprised these posts have gotten very little comments too. I've been watching every week and the fact that Hoa Xuande and Toan Le aren't getting the same enthusiasm as the cast from Shogun makes me sad. This reminds me of a comment Hong Chau had made about how there is a certain type of Asian representation that is validated and celebrated in HW but in the Asian community as a whole and it always lands on projects from a South East Asian topics or characters.
I think it being on just Max is probably a significant factor unfortunately. If this had even been on HBO standard that would have made a difference. Shogun was on FX so it was available to a much wider audience.
I.e. the replies to this thread have some people not knowing it even exists and others wanting to see it but not being able to
Park Chan-Wook is giving you Robert Downey Jr as “Personified American Evil” and everyone’s not watching for some reason - Andrew (@Swordfish978) May 15, 2024
well tbf the sympathizer is an hbo standard show - it aired on the channel in addition to being available on the max app. as a premium cable channel, hbo will never have as wide an audience that a basic cabel channel like fx will, especially after the mess of the max merger. max did a lot to tarnish the hbo brand unfortunately
While I agree that being on a pay channel can be an obstacle to a show getting an audience, (1) I only have HBO Max because it's free (( think it's because our internet provider is AT&T? I'm not 100% sure - all I know is that one day my husband told me we had this channel for free because of something else we already had) so I'm sure there are others who also get it for free and (2) people are watching other HBO Max shows like Hacks and The Jinx, and I know plenty of people will be tuning in next month when House of the Dragon S2 premieres. For those reasons, I don't think being on HBO Max is the primary thing keeping people from watching The Sympathizer. It also doesn't seem to be getting the massive universal praise from critics that Shōgun received throughout its season.
tbh RDJ's involvement initially put me off this show because I feared it would centre around him, but then I resolved to watch it for the Vietnamese characters and narrative. I like to binge a series like this, so as with Shogun, I've waited 'til the finale to watch in one go.
Feudal era/samurai is probably more familiar and appealing than history especially with the popularity of Japanese culture is my guess. But I think overall as a show, it was consistent strong even if it was really dense.
I loved the book, but I personally thought The Sympathizer had a bit of a shaky first half (some of the errors were a bit distracting for me). But then hit it really hit it off in the second half (finale was very emotional). But I have noticed not many folks were talking about but also I hadn't seen much promotion :/ I did think The Americans, which hits similar themes, executed better than The Sympathizer, and that had quite a successful run (but then again The Americans were about white people).
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Is the lack of interest/praise due to the Vietnam War making people uncomfortable? Was the 70s too recent for people to care about it being shown accurately? Is it because historic Japanese figures seem ~exotic but Vietnamese refugees are too familiar/recognizable?
Whatever the reason, I wish this show was getting attention for more than RDJ's multiple roles.
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I.e. the replies to this thread have some people not knowing it even exists and others wanting to see it but not being able to
Park Chan-Wook is giving you Robert Downey Jr as “Personified American Evil” and everyone’s not watching for some reason
- Andrew (@Swordfish978) May 15, 2024
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While I agree that being on a pay channel can be an obstacle to a show getting an audience, (1) I only have HBO Max because it's free (( think it's because our internet provider is AT&T? I'm not 100% sure - all I know is that one day my husband told me we had this channel for free because of something else we already had) so I'm sure there are others who also get it for free and (2) people are watching other HBO Max shows like Hacks and The Jinx, and I know plenty of people will be tuning in next month when House of the Dragon S2 premieres. For those reasons, I don't think being on HBO Max is the primary thing keeping people from watching The Sympathizer. It also doesn't seem to be getting the massive universal praise from critics that Shōgun received throughout its season.
Reply
Reply
Reply
I loved the book, but I personally thought The Sympathizer had a bit of a shaky first half (some of the errors were a bit distracting for me). But then hit it really hit it off in the second half (finale was very emotional). But I have noticed not many folks were talking about but also I hadn't seen much promotion :/ I did think The Americans, which hits similar themes, executed better than The Sympathizer, and that had quite a successful run (but then again The Americans were about white people).
Reply
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