#seriously imagine going to war over wanting a different flavor of french people

[kiri-instinct]

spain is the funniest european nation because no other country could have invented “carlism,” an ideology that was little more than “we want an absolute monarchy with the VERY SPECIFIC bourbon we like in charge” but still somehow resulted in three wars not only that, but it managed to stay relevant until the spanish civil war, where its believers were a big part of the nationalist side, and continued to be a big deal in spanish politics until franco fuckin’ died fast forward to today and wikipedia lists THREE DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS that still follow the tenets of carlism. so im sorry, but the british monarchy being absolute fucking cretins, while funny, will NEVER be as funny as a far-right ideology that is basically the political equivalent to “which ice cream flavor do you prefer?” causing so much chaos and still having supporters

#spain #carlism #seriously imagine going to war over wanting a different flavor of french people

[kendrixtermina]

So I’ve seen the first episode with Picard

This is the first thing since before the Reboot that actually FELT like Star Trek

Confession time: I hatedhatedhated Discovery. 

So we all know that there has been an epidemic of soulless remakes in the last decade, that much is indisputable. At some point they figured out that they could sell/ disguise those as something relevant (or at least deflect criticism) by casting women. I’m all for representation don’t get me wrong id even say that it has value all on its own even in a bad film - But it does not replace writing. You still have to write. 

That’s also why I hate the word ”diversity” like I hated all phony euphemisms since I could think. Say representation if that’s what you mean, you could have a cast accurately representing the earth’s demographics and still have them be boring samey and predictable as characters. It can certainly LEAD to interestingness if this leads to the discussion of experiences that dont get enough attention or different POVs,  and bias toward giving acclaim to “tried and true” things (or a racism-tinged conception thereof) can LEAD to boring sameyness but they’re not the same things. 

First I was super exited about it including because of the diverse casting because that is a) needed in our times b) realistic for the far future and c) very much in the spirit of Star Trek. They didn’t always succeed, much looks dated now, but they tried. Also it was a super interesting time period of the setting to explore. But rather than building on it and expanding they ignored everything pretty much. Even that they were going to try a different POV other than the captain excited me - they did something like that with DS9 and it was great. 

First it’s this 12 year old writing their first fanfiction thing where the new MC is the fan favorite’s secret little sister like I could have written a better Mary Sue as a teenager, and they undermine the casting by tying her to the popularity of a white man character and not giving her like her own story and background. Remember Benjamin Sisko? He was from new Orleans, his father and son featured prominently etc there was a recognizeable cultural background just like Picard is French and Kirk was ‘merrican. Why not go afrofuturist?   Same thing with the androgynous name - they do it and then they immediately undermine it by having the people in the setting react to it like its weird. 

But what I really cannot forgive them is that they turned something that was always so deeply about humanism into a generic war flic. That the MC is a misunderstood visionary because she advocated for violence. The Klingons are basically Orks. Why not have a new baddie and call them something else? 

They completely forgot that it was supposed to be an utopian vision, a different, future society. A big central plot point, the emotional crux, is that everyone snubs Michael because she’s a convict, and pacifism is universally accepted. Starfleet sees itself primarily as explorers and diplomats though it socially fills the role of a military.  This is supposed to be a future world where the justice system is reparative, criminals get to see shrinks and reintegrated and people are less prejudiced and socially evolved - it can’t all be perfect because there would be no plot, but it still represents the idea that we CAN be better, and the characters try to choose that, or wrestle with the idea of that, when confronted with their own flaws and those of their society. Has the world come to a place where we can we no longer even imagine that? 

I often felt this would be better served by making ripoffs (predictability, which is what they want, plus room for creativity) instead of remakes (bound to piss off the original fans, cheap grab for free publicity) - A Sci Fi war movie about someone who is snubbed for being a convict absolutely could be good and valid on its own and touch on relevant themes, especially given the social problems in the USA where ex-cons can’t get jobs and racism leads to wrongful convictions. But the execution is plain bad!

So, By contrast, Picard

The old star treks had plenty of bad wonky episodes that everyone now rolls their eyes at but the thing is they always at least TRIED to be high-concept, classic-literature like. That took itself seriously when talking about politics, science, ideals and the human condition, and tried to be thought provoking

Something that’s been lost in modern anti/purity culture that acts like there is One Obvious Right Opinion and everything else gets loaded labels, is that something doesn’t need to be perfect to make the audience think about a concept or topic. I don’t expect it to be perfect but I do expect them to TRY. 

It’s only the first episode, I wouldn’t say that I’m blown away by genius, but it’s trying. 

Humanitarian actions are a theme again as well as integrity and utopia. He resigned in Protest.  etc because he felt society shifting away from that utopia

The relevant politcs is there - Refugee crisis, the sense that we’re in a dark place in history where ppl have become cautious stopped daring and trying

but the speculative is also there with the androids

Referencing Sci Fi classics. I see a lot of asimov there, a bit of blade runner. high-Concept sci fi has always assumed a well-read audience since Mary Shelley invented the genre

Picard is really written like Picard. I guess it helps to have the original actor. His dialogues were beautiful and everything that star trek is about. The orchid one is so pretty

It’s also original-like just in simple flavor things without over the top intertextuality/references, like the inclusion of paintings, mysterious beauty, the french countryside, the observation-riddled poker game , the theme of coming back from retirement, recalling the chess game at the opening of TOS etc. 

There was a war involving genetic augmentation and then it was banned forever in a WWII like traumatic reaction so this IS “in character” for that society for all that its always been characterized as neophillic

I already ship Soji with that Romulan. or im just glad to have some romulan MCs really regardless of ship. 

#picard #star trek