• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

GoT Showrunners new project, Confederate, what if slavery never ended

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I mean, GoT is a fantasy show in a pseudo dark ages setting, inspired by the War of the Roses, not the most peaceful times.

Yeah and they aren't very good at actually having to create material from scratch or depicting very sensitive subjects with any kind of tact or insight. Did we really need an added rape scene?
 

entremet

Member
Eh there is two black folk as Exec Producers... but it's telling that this is announced as D&D's show.
It’s better for hype and promotion.

GoT is huge.
Yeah and they aren't very good at actually having to create material from scratch or depicting very sensitive subjects with any kind of tact or insight. Did we really need an added rape scene?

Isn’t this brand new material? Doesn’t sound like an adaptation.

The added rape scene was poorly done but they came back to form last season. I’m not gonna skewer them for one bad scene. You’re not gonna bat 1.000 in storytelling.
 

entremet

Member
I mean it's also because it's you know going to be their show. They're the showrunners and they've been "talking about the idea for years". It's their idea



Meh... I imagine in the end D&D will have final say... So I wouldn't hold your breath
Sorry, who are they? D&D?
 
I'm sure their ideas include a lot of rape as the only means of character progression for women as well, considering all the times they strayed from the GoT source material to include rape.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
It’s better for hype and promotion.

GoT is huge.


Isn’t this brand new material? Doesn’t sound like an adaptation.

The added rape scene was poorly done but they came back to form last season. I’m not gonna skewer them for one bad scene. You’re not gonna bat 1.000 in storytelling.

That is not the only shitty scene. In general that stuff they add isn't very good but then again I've not been a huge fan of how those two have been handling he show for years now. I've little faith an entirely original series on such a sensitive matter in this current climate is going to turn out well.
 
While I think the showrunners are hacks, the overreactions to this are pretty laughable. There are multiple (talented) black writers involved (which you'd know if you read the article instead of clicking "post" immediately). The general idea isn't far off from Man In The High Castle and various other alternative history sci fi/fiction concepts from the last...70 years. And while I dislike Benioff and Weiss, they aren't alt right idiots. That has nothing to do with the show, and I'm going to assume the theme of the show won't be sympathetic to pro-slavery views.

I have a feeling the show will be an attempt to fabricate the complexity of Game Of Thrones' characters with lazy "grey" characters...like sympathetic slave owners, a black slave owner, poorly done Nat Turner-type rebellion figures, etc. But hey what do I know, we don't have any details or character lists.
 
While I think the showrunners are hacks, the overreactions to this are pretty laughable. There are multiple (talented) black writers involved (which you'd know if you read the article instead of clicking "post" immediately). The general idea isn't far off from Man In The High Castle and various other alternative history sci fi/fiction concepts from the last...70 years. And while I dislike Benioff and Weiss, they aren't alt right idiots. That has nothing to do with the show, and I'm going to assume the theme of the show won't be sympathetic to pro-slavery views.

I have a feeling the show will be an attempt to fabricate the complexity of Game Of Thrones' characters with lazy "grey" characters...like sympathetic slave owners, a black slave owner, poorly done Nat Turner-type rebellion figures, etc. But hey what do I know, we don't have any details or character lists.

Ummm the bolded is exactly why folks don't want this show.
 
Amazon: What if Nazis won

HBO: What if the confederates won

I wonder which villainous side is going to win a war for Netflix.

I'd love to see "the soviet union won the cold war, and the US fell into decline" myself.

Biggest problem is time: It was a fairly recent event.

Another fun one: Christianity never became the religion of rome. As a result, paganism of various sorts is still the more popular religion.
 

Kreed

Member
Seems HBO gets some serious backlash for this..
https://www.google.no/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/money/2017/07/19/media/confederate-hbo/index.html

I don't really get it..? Both 12 years a slave and Django are hugely successful movies about slavery, which didn't garner any backlash like this?
Der Untergang is another example, albeit a different theme.

Its a sensitive issue yes, which story must be handled with taste and care.
Who's to say the creators can't handle it as such?

Should we not create media based on horrific events and history?

12 Years a Slave isn't a good comparison since it is based on a true story. This show would be mostly fiction similar to Django Unchained, however while Django Unchain focused on a hero fighting and winning against villains, you're talking about a story where these horrific events are being celebrated in the form of a fictional scenario where the villains "won" and their crimes continued into modern society. It's already difficult for the average person to watch these events in a historical context, let alone a context where the events are still going and the perpetrators have been rewarded.
 

NastyBook

Member
As an American, I think studios can make whatever type of show they want and let public decide if it's worth it or not. Creators should be completely free to do whatever they want - whether I agree with them or not.
We need a White Man's Burden TV series.
 
Ummm the bolded is exactly why folks don't want this show.

From my understanding I actually think there's room for this. There were laws in some states prohibiting slave owners from freeing their slaves, mandated punishments and prohibited educating slaves. The punishments for breaking those laws could be very harsh for the owners, and of course even harsher for the slaves.

Here in South Carolina there's a plantation that was converted from rice production to a open-to-the-public garden where the slaves were secretly educated and treated as well as legally allowable. Following emancipation the slaves all had the option to leave or continue on as paid employees with housing on the grounds. Some of that housing was used by those families until the 80s, and the head groundskeeper until that time was a descendant of those families (he died in the '00s and welcomed people to the gardens until his death).

Was that story washed out some by the current property owners? Probably but I don't know to what degree.

Was the system horrible? Of course. Were there people engaged in the system who were still sympathetic (edit: due to their recognition of the system's human failings)? Maybe. There's room to explore the idea of it.
 
I'm sick of depressing as hell shows. Real life sucks enough we don't need to fantasize about it being even worse. I suppose it could be done well but I really have no interest.
 
How would it have continued from an economic perspective? Wouldn't slavery have lost out to industrialization eventually? Even countries like China which had / have a sort of slave labour have experienced rising wages.
 
As an American, I think studios can make whatever type of show they want and let public decide if it's worth it or not. Creators should be completely free to do whatever they want - whether I agree with them or not.

...uh, yes, and then what happens is people discuss whether it's a good idea or not, which also happens if someone makes a superhero movie and we talk about casting, etc. Why do we always want to conveniently pretend criticism and response is somehow not part of free speech? If they have the money and backing, they can make the show, and I'm totally able to say "yo, in the current climate, that sounds like a terrible idea."

I mean, GoT is a fantasy show in a pseudo dark ages setting, inspired by the War of the Roses, not the most peaceful times.

The added rape scene was poorly done but they came back to form last season. I’m not gonna skewer them for one bad scene. You’re not gonna bat 1.000 in storytelling.

GoT doesn't have to be peaceful. No one here is asking that it be less brutal. But the choices that are made in developing characters from the book, in casting, in shaping scenes, those all lend toward a vision of D&D who may not be able to do this without basically producing white savior porn.
 
This better have a black main character with a mostly black supporting cast, or no deal. Not interested in a white savior storyline
 

Media

Member
I’m all for media that keeps hammering home how the Confederate flag represented pro-slavery.

This.

I could see these as good thing depending on how it's handled. If it hits people over the heads "these are your heroes, this is your so called heritage" I will watch the ever loving shit out it.
 
Amazon: What if Nazis won

HBO: What if the confederates won

I wonder which villainous side is going to win a war for Netflix.

House of Cards is basically What If Trump Won But He Was Actually Kinda Sorta Competent, so they got both HBO and Amazon beat there.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
This.

I could see these as good thing depending on how it's handled. If it hits people over the heads "these are your heroes, this is your so called heritage" I will watch the ever loving shit out it.

Yeah just like all those dudes took the message of Fight Club to heart.
 

Media

Member
If they have a Khaleesi-esque white savior I swear to God

I think as long as they mix it with more black people doing the work it'd be fine. In a situation like that, as in history, the slaves needed white allys simply because of the massive power imbalance.

I say this as a Native Woman that never really did get white allys until it became trendy (like last year, still didn't do shit though)
 
How would of all this work, story wise? Does this take place in present day? If so, wouldn't rapid industrialization/automation make the notion of slavery kind of moot or will the story make it such that agrarian culture is still thriving?

I mean, if a Klansmen
gets his head crushed by a 8ft giant, I am ok with that.
 
Top Bottom