So I just finished watching the 2022 adaptation of Persuasion and like
It's a good film. It was fun and enjoyable.
It was also a TERRIBLE adaptation.
It would have worked so much better if they'd just used original characters. 'Inspired by Jane Austen' stories exist in the hundreds if not thousands. It wouldn't have been a reach to say "oh hey we took inspo from Persuasion for this new thing" and no one would have batted an eyelash and the film probably would have done better. Because it feels like an original story. It has the bare bones of Persuasion, yes. Also the character names. But so many of the characters feel so divorced from their novel counterparts that I kept forgetting that this was supposed to be Persuasion until someone got addressed by name again. Half of the motivations feel different, some of the changes to the storyline are baffling if you're making it an adaptation rather than just loosely inspiring it and the kitschy "talking to the camera thing" would have worked so much better if it had been literally any character other than Anne, like, say an original character. Also, the anachronisms would have been much more accepted in any film that was not an attempt at a Jane Austen Adaptation (see: the Bridgerton series as just one example)
If this film had been an original film that was only inspired by the plot of Persuasion it would have been well-loved. As an adaptation, I was cringing in minutes.
"AM provided punk and we burned it, sitting huddled around the wan and pathetic fire, telling stories to keep Benny from crying in his permanent night."
A devastating and confusing thing about the Fallout setting, when you explore the pre-war aspects, is what the creators think about pre-war America. In the first games we only get hints of the pre-war world, but they seem to be some sort of wild fascist nation invading Canada. In Fallout 1, the first thing we're introduced to of the pre-war society is seeing a soldier shoot civilians and laughing.
Now, for the first 2 games and New Vegas we don't really know much. What we know is that there's a fascist military group known as the enclave who were a sort of US deep state even before the war, and that the government teamed up with corporate interests to preform vaguely MKULTRA-ish experiments with the Vaults. Basically, the government was an extreme version of the 50s American jingoism and McCarthyism.
This is well and dandy, I guess issues come up more when we get to the later games, especially 4, where it seems like none of this extreme plotting and societal civil unrest which would exist is seen. The society as presented in 4 also seems quite progressive, gay people are featured in the opening, and none of the baggage of say, civil rights not existing are included. Now on a baseline, I don't want settings to be more conservative, homophobic and sexist etc., but it becomes a very confusing setting when it's displayed both as this jingoist extreme thing with fascist tendencies aswell as a progressive place where everyone is seemingly equal. If you're focusing on the 50s as your setting, and American nationalism in the 50s, then you can't have McCarthyism spoofs and anti-communism as a societal paranoia norm while also general equality is the norm without misunderstanding why McCarthyism and nationalist jingoism is bad. A massive harm done in anti-communist paranoia is how it degrades and vilifies any progressive movements (women's rights, civil rights, homosexuality) as being morally un-American and therefore connected to communism. To ignore this just makes any critique of MacCarthyism and jingoism weird!
Basically, pre-war America in Fallout 4 becomes this both sides thing where America is both pure and equal and white fences in every instance that we see as the player (the intro), while also supposedly being this dystopic MacCarthyist hellscape that's broadcasting gladly about their war crimes in Canada, and wants to root out communism. I guess the only fix for this issue without getting into the fine print like they had to do is just not to focus too much on the pre-war world.
one thing i havent seen anyone talk about yet in dungeon meshi is how sometimes the party just fucking. forgets important info. and usually it bites them in the ass but it feels so natural and human. like yeah my ass would probably forget what namari said about senshi's pot too. and then whatever plans the party makes are always built on half-remembered info, autism sauce, luck, and a solid chunk of actual dungeoneering expertise at its core
it's actually what really makes me wonder sometimes if dunmeshi was based on an actual dnd campaign, because the goofy fuck ups just SCREAM "pack of dipshits playing dnd together and NO ONE is taking down notes"
and then ryoko ties it all together into a unique sequence of events that never perfectly resembles A) whatever the reader thinks they might do or B) whatever the party had planned in the first place and turns it and its just augh. its so good!! i wanna see what these freaks think of next!!! what fucked up shit are you guys gonna do to get out of this one!!
I’ve replayed enough Control to not be surprised, but I’ll never forget how magical it was to first uncover small details like the previous director, Northmoor, being in the power plant, all the security cameras following wherever you go, Ahti responding to Jesse’s thoughts, or the book club papers corresponding to deaths you come across in the game
hot in the day, hot in the night, hot as the coal
coming to tread, light on your bed, here we go
oh, listen whistle roll
(baby the, the sun is getting low)
the bucktommy cowboy au nobody asked for part two (part one) (part three)
so when are we gonna start appreciating undertale AUs for fueling a metric fuck ton of the creativity and longevity of the fandom because if i see one more person calling them the cringiest part of the last 8 years i might lose it