execution and ambition -watching, and the "right" way to tell a story
Art is hard to grade.
The types competitive artistic sport that I know of use this bifurcated scoring system, with execution being one aspect of the scoring process and difficulty being the other. And this makes sense, right? If you do two minutes of bland kiddie-pool shit but do it perfectly, or if you try a lot of really hard stuff but fall all ( Read more... )
I took a few moments to think about it before replying and I'm definitely more of a concept viewer. I've never given a damn about a tv show that is "excellent" if it doesn't do anything with it's narrative (albeit I'm much more flexible with film in this regard; I'm willing to put aside my biases and be entertained by vapid empty stories with shit exploding everywhere...not for television however haha).
For me, my standard of "good vs bad" is how a show subverts norms and actually challenges systems of power. Lets take 'Pretty Little Liars' as an example. As an execution show, it fails terribly. They haven't solved a single issue and the characters make dumb decisions and it's sometimes painfully stupid and frustration. But then, as a concept it's genius and I love it. A film-noir-esque feminist story about four young women working together, loving each other, etc. It's takes the social idea of women's issues belonging in the "private" and exploits that, having the entire narrative take place in that domain in a subversive way. Plus it plays with sexuality, gender, race and classism within this noir world as well as doing themed narrative-screwing episodes that make you question the viability with what is going on. It has its problems for sure, but at least it's trying something.
As a viewer, I respect that more than a show that is executed well.
I've always been a huge proponent to popular culture and the mass structured way we tell stories (which was a point that continually kept coming up in grad school hahah). I think a formula is good because I'm the type of viewer that believes it is the content more than the medium that provides the message. If we have a language for telling stories (as is the 3-act style of tv) than we can do things with that, tell different stories, ask people to think harder about their identity and the world, and because they already know the language, the messages are easier to convey. And this is where I see the value of television.
And then that is why I put shows like PLL, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, Extant (which I am going to call as progressive this early into it's run), Scandal and Devious Maids, etc as *better* shows than things like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. Those shows are doing things that fundamentally challenge the systems of power in society and tell different stories of different people...whereas shows like BB and GoT are telling stories that uphold the current power systems and are ultimately the stories of white cis gendered straight men (which is rarely subversive. Though I will give Iron Man 3 the credit for being a subversive story about a white guy...and there are others of course).
I want shows that challenge me, ask me to think about someone else for a change, and not just something that is done well. Of course, some shows manage to do both successfully (Buffy, BSG, and Elementary).
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Same! And if a show loses or proves itself not to have had that spark, then I'm out. I've given up on shows mid-episode. There's so much great stuff out there!
Lets take 'Pretty Little Liars' as an example. As an execution show, it fails terribly. They haven't solved a single issue and the characters make dumb decisions and it's sometimes painfully stupid and frustration. But then, as a concept it's genius and I love it.
Do you mean that PLL is poorly-executed for those reasons, or that it's a show that doesn't impress people who like shows to go according to a predictable ~plan? Because I don't know that these are necessarily flaws in a narrative, you know? A show can still be a well-executed story about people who are struggling within a system they can't wrap their minds around enough to maneuver intelligently (see: all Greek tragedies).
With PLL I notice the execution even less than I normally would, because of all those things you've listed. It really is doing something different, and because of that I happily catch all the new episodes even if there's a blah couple of weeks.
that is why I put shows like PLL, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, Extant (which I am going to call as progressive this early into it's run), Scandal and Devious Maids, etc as *better* shows than things like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. Those shows are doing things that fundamentally challenge the systems of power in society and tell different stories of different people
YES, I love this way of looking at it. I think Scandal is a really interesting match with Game of Thrones, in that the two shows are ultimately operating in 'verses with much the same opinions about power and hierarchy and human nature, but in such different contexts. And Liv is one of the great post-Tony television antiheroes, IMO, in part because of exactly what you've said: she's someone we haven't seen before.
shows like BB and GoT are telling stories that uphold the current power systems and are ultimately the stories of white cis gendered straight men (which is rarely subversive.
I'm less sure about Game of Thrones, actually? I think it is definitely telling the stories of people in power who look a lot like the people in power in our world, but I think it is pretty ruthless in deconstructing that as a way to run a society.
I'm curious about the Extant rec, because I haven't seen much conversation about it! Should I give it a try?
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