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Here's a very quick rant
Nov. 22nd, 2018 09:00 amStar Trek: Discovery has just been released on DVD and Blu-Ray (and the iTunes store), which means a fresh wave of reviews. And I swear to God, if I see the words "dark and gritty" one more time--
It's just a really lazy way to describe the series. (Although apparently the CBSAA stream was darker than the Netflix version, depending on your connection speed and the hardware you were using. Which ... yikes.) It certainly starts off that way, and I think would have wound up much darker if Fuller hadn't left -- I think we dodged a major bullet there -- but Disco, to me, is profoundly optimistic. It just doesn't wrap its story up in forty-five minutes because that's not how television works anymore.
Anyway, I could rant more, but here's a short, excellent Tumblr thread on the subject -- hey, look, I'm in it! But I'm mostly drawing attention to it because radioactive-violet's additional remark about small acts of kindness really touched me.
...okay, I do have to rant just a little bit more, because I keep seeing people lament that all SF right now is dystopic. And I'm like, hello, have you not looked at The Expanse? That is a profoundly optimistic series -- yes, people do terrible things, they're blinded by ambition or prejudice or greed or rage, but there is always room for redemption.
The TV adaptation has barely scratched the surface of where the books have gone in that regard, but so far it's been a close enough adaptation that I'm pretty sure we'll get there. Clarissa Mao can repent and redeem herself. So can [spoilery book character whose crimes are even worse than Clarissa's]. And it's hard work, and not everyone is eager to offer forgiveness, but ... that's life.
The Expanse is more realistic than Star Trek's fuzzy post-capitalism, but it's very far from grimdark.
Just because a series isn't beige doesn't mean it's Dark And/Or Gritty.
(OTOH, I may be biased, because I also don't think A Song of Ice and Fire is especially grimdark, and I've hated nearly everything recommended as "optimistic and hopeful speculative fiction" in the last few years. I like my worldbuilding and situations complicated! I want characters to make mistakes!)
It's just a really lazy way to describe the series. (Although apparently the CBSAA stream was darker than the Netflix version, depending on your connection speed and the hardware you were using. Which ... yikes.) It certainly starts off that way, and I think would have wound up much darker if Fuller hadn't left -- I think we dodged a major bullet there -- but Disco, to me, is profoundly optimistic. It just doesn't wrap its story up in forty-five minutes because that's not how television works anymore.
Anyway, I could rant more, but here's a short, excellent Tumblr thread on the subject -- hey, look, I'm in it! But I'm mostly drawing attention to it because radioactive-violet's additional remark about small acts of kindness really touched me.
...okay, I do have to rant just a little bit more, because I keep seeing people lament that all SF right now is dystopic. And I'm like, hello, have you not looked at The Expanse? That is a profoundly optimistic series -- yes, people do terrible things, they're blinded by ambition or prejudice or greed or rage, but there is always room for redemption.
The TV adaptation has barely scratched the surface of where the books have gone in that regard, but so far it's been a close enough adaptation that I'm pretty sure we'll get there. Clarissa Mao can repent and redeem herself. So can [spoilery book character whose crimes are even worse than Clarissa's]. And it's hard work, and not everyone is eager to offer forgiveness, but ... that's life.
The Expanse is more realistic than Star Trek's fuzzy post-capitalism, but it's very far from grimdark.
Just because a series isn't beige doesn't mean it's Dark And/Or Gritty.
(OTOH, I may be biased, because I also don't think A Song of Ice and Fire is especially grimdark, and I've hated nearly everything recommended as "optimistic and hopeful speculative fiction" in the last few years. I like my worldbuilding and situations complicated! I want characters to make mistakes!)
