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HBO orders alternate universe Civil War drama [update: interview w/ producers]

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Goodstyle

Member
They can justify it all they want, I'm just tired of the fact that every "prestige" black tv show or movie has to be about slavery. White men and women get to be conflicted anti heroes, black people have to be slaves, stereotypes, and saints.
 
That is definitely the biggest holdup. In writing realistic characters, you have to get into the banality of evil. But in doing so, you will for sure have characters with slaves that we are relating to in aspects. The only way to avoid that is to not worry about nuanced, real characters and you make every southerner with a slave a frothing-at-the-mouth piece of shit. But then if they are cardboard characters....

Yeah. Not sure how the hell to get around that.

You don't do the show.

Like read that article they never really articulated why they want to do this, and what they want to say. They claim they want to examine unspoken off elements of modern racist America but that's vague as fuck...
 

SheSaidNo

Member
They can justify it all they want, I'm just tired of the fact that every "prestige" black tv show or movie has to be about slavery. White men and women get to be conflicted anti heroes, black people have to be slaves, stereotypes, and saints.

How many prestige black tv shows about slavery are there? I can only think of underground
 
I truly want this show to happen. I want them to take racists who already exist today and put them into a narrative where we see exactly what their words and racist atttitudes mean. Like the Daughters of the Confederates someone posted above...Make these old, white women have slaves, and cram their character's mouths with the same nonsense they spout today, and let the audience see that no matter what southern pride shit they are trying to hide under, they are advocating slavery and supportung southern traitors. So give them slaves, and show them as the monstrous pieces of shit they are.

Not sure that ramble made sense. On my phone.

even Ramsay got fans B
 

inky

Member
They can justify it all they want, I'm just tired of the fact that every "prestige" black tv show or movie has to be about slavery. White men and women get to be conflicted anti heroes, black people have to be slaves, stereotypes, and saints.

We'll have

White liberal guilt hero
Irredeemable villain
Villain with a conscience who switches sides
Rebellious idealistic girl

Oh and some minority charming supporting characters roles too. Who else?
 

LotusHD

Banned
They can justify it all they want, I'm just tired of the fact that every "prestige" black tv show or movie has to be about slavery. White men and women get to be conflicted anti heroes, black people have to be slaves, stereotypes, and saints.

Can't fucking wait for Black Panther.
 

Mister Wolf

Member
We'll have

White liberal guilt hero
Irredeemable villain
Villain with a conscience who switches sides
Rebellious idealistic girl

Oh and some minority charming supporting characters roles too. Who else?

Don't forget the self hating black character who's one of the good ones and fuck the other blacks because I got mine. That one will probably be the most villainous in the whole show.
 
They can justify it all they want, I'm just tired of the fact that every "prestige" black tv show or movie has to be about slavery. White men and women get to be conflicted anti heroes, black people have to be slaves, stereotypes, and saints.
this
imagine a show w/ GOTs budget where the black characters are actually empowered and not held to the same tired ass tropes and stories
 
I like how they got black friends to help them write this show...


why didn't they have black friends to help them write Game of Thrones?


Really, we already live in a damn dystopia...

The fact that people are asking why black people don't want to watch a show where we're still enslaved in the present day...
 

Beefy

Member
I like how they got black friends to help them write this show...


why didn't they have black friends to help them write Game of Thrones?


Really, we already live in a damn dystopia...

The fact that people are asking why black people don't want to watch a show where we're still enslaved in the present day...

We got to give it a chance fam you know
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Would've enjoyed it a decade ago I guess, but not in our current society.

I quite enjoy alt history but between this and The Man in the High Castle I have to wonder why people don't want to envision a future where the fuckheads don't win.
 
I've already seen people bring up Irish slaves...


on fb, lots of people were like "why don't shows about if the nazis won get this backlash?"


some Mexican dude said "Jews got Israel & reparations from America, black people got a mediocre apology"
 
Near exact same modern world, where slavery is a modern enterprise.

Alternate reality where Civil war ended in stalemate, split US for 152 years.

Pick one, both are impossible. A better route would have been a timeline where Lincoln agreed to put slavery in the constitution, as a citizens right, to appease the South. Still stupid, but at least the butterfly effect would be easier to manage.
 

SeeThree

Member
MS said:
I think people have got to stop pretending that slavery was something that happened and went away.

I think Bill O'Reilly when I read this nonsense. That shameless pervert will never change his ways or admit hes done anything wrong.
 
I have very little faith if any at all in this project and I absolutely love GOT. I don’t think this subject matter is going to be handled that gracefully. Still just picturing tuning in every Sunday to see fantasy racism and to hear the n-word. I hope they make me eat crow and produce something truly groundbreaking.
 

Apt101

Member
Near exact same modern world, where slavery is a modern enterprise.

Alternate reality where Civil war ended in stalemate, split US for 152 years.

Pick one, both are impossible. A better route would have been a timeline where Lincoln agreed to put slavery in the constitution, as a citizens right, to appease the South. Still stupid, but at least the butterfly effect would be easier to manage.

There's no open chattel slavery any longer, but in many regions there is plenty of bonded labor, forced labor, domestic servitude, sex trafficking with a healthy overlap of human trafficking, and child recruitment as soldiers.

Just because slavery is no longer an enterprise in the United States doesn't mean it vanished from the world.
 

Dead Man

Member
Would've enjoyed it a decade ago I guess, but not in our current society.

I quite enjoy alt history but between this and The Man in the High Castle I have to wonder why people don't want to envision a future where the fuckheads don't win.
Because in recent Western history, the fuckheads have not won militarily.
 

Aaron

Member
They should write a novel on this idea first over the two years they have to wrap up GoT. Because while they think there are interesting ideas to explore, I really don't think there actually are when you get down to the details. It's not going to hold up when they take it beyond a stark script.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Because in recent Western history, the fuckheads have not won militarily.
True.

If we're talking Turtledove-esque stories I'd love to see Between the Rivers get adapted.
 

Kin5290

Member
This is really fucking stupid.

Here's the thing: chattel slavery was hated and looked down upon in the 1860s by the other European countries. A CSA that is basically the historical CSA in 2017 isn't going to exist unmodified into the 21st century because: 1) chattel slavery was failing as an economic institution back when we fought a civil war over it, so an agricultural slaveowning society would easily be as backwards as North Korea, and 2) half the world would have teamed up to wreck their shit already. All the US would have to do is ask.

Also, it's worth nothing that it was impossible for the CSA to have won the Civil War outright. This is simply basic arithmetic: the Union had the advantage in manpower, armament, industrialization, and infrastructure. All the CSA could hope to do is make continuing to fight the war sufficiently unpalatable in a political sense for the American leadership. The CSA's deficiencies in industry will only get worse as warfare becomes more industrialized (World War I is seen as the first industrial total war), which means that its weaknesses as a military power will only grow worse..

The CSA might have survived a First American Civil War, but it would have gotten slaughtered in a second one, especially if the US were to receive support from the European powers (since the CSA are sure as hell not going to).
 
After Get Out, I can imagine someone like Jordan Peele taking this concept and creating a great show that's a blistering scathing take down of the confederate traitor worshipers and white supremacy as a whole. And to be honest I feel like the country really needs someone to do that right now.

But I really don't trust D&D with this.
 

CloudWolf

Member
This is really fucking stupid.

Here's the thing: chattel slavery was hated and looked down upon in the 1860s by the other European countries. A CSA that is basically the historical CSA in 2017 isn't going to exist unmodified into the 21st century because: 1) chattel slavery was failing as an economic institution back when we fought a civil war over it, so an agricultural slaveowning society would easily be as backwards as North Korea, and 2) half the world would have teamed up to wreck their shit already. All the US would have to do is ask.

Also, it's worth nothing that it was impossible for the CSA to have won the Civil War outright. This is simply basic arithmetic: the Union had the advantage in manpower, armament, industrialization, and infrastructure. All the CSA could hope to do is make continuing to fight the war sufficiently unpalatable in a political sense for the American leadership. The CSA's deficiencies in industry will only get worse as warfare becomes more industrialized (World War I is seen as the first industrial total war), which means that its weaknesses as a military power will only grow worse..

The CSA might have survived a First American Civil War, but it would have gotten slaughtered in a second one, especially if the US were to receive support from the European powers (since the CSA are sure as hell not going to).

The general rule with these alternative history takes are that the setting isn't actually researched any further than "hey, wouldn't this be interesting/cool".
 
I'll watch this, I'm a sucker for alternate history and have read all the Southern Victory books by Harry Turtledove. I was actually hoping it was an adaptation of those as I came into the thread.

I would've signed up for that, because it's a well-defined series.

This? Nope. Not even going to watch.
 

C4Lukins

Junior Member
So will Southern carpet baggers head North? Will Lincoln survive? Will the South figuire out whether or not their battle flag is the actual flag of the South? Stay tuned.
 
The general rule with these alternative history takes are that the setting isn't actually researched any further than "hey, wouldn't this be interesting/cool".

Thats only when it comes to "Confederacy takes over the whole US" scenarios. Anyone who does even basic research would know that it was NOT gonna happen barring a meteor taking out Washington DC or something.

"Nazis take over the world" scenarios are slightly more plausible, though they require the US/UK/Russia to be really stupid and/or incompetent.

I wish we saw more "Napoleon isn't a moron and doesn't attack Russia" AHs, since that really would've changed the course of history.
 
I remembered the outrage with the Roots remake and Underground television series.

And guess what? Those turned out really well.

So although I understand the concern, I plan to at least watch it and see how well it's handled and executed before working myself up for what maybe nothing.
 
The general rule with these alternative history takes are that the setting isn't actually researched any further than "hey, wouldn't this be interesting/cool".

Therein lies both the appeal, but also the inherent problem, with alt-history as a genre in, well, general. It's built on novelty, and it does seem rather apparent that one of the most novel things in the world to Benioff and Weiss is amateur ethical debates, particularly the idea of putting up with the immorality of others because they wield power. The Confederacy surviving the Civil War has an obvious appeal to that kind of mindset, in a 'hey, what if the bad guys won and we had to normalise their shit' kind of way.

I imagine the actual political what-ifs are secondary to all that.
 

jett

D-Member
I wonder if this project actually makes it off this initial stage. That's some backlash this is getting.

I personally have no confidence in D&D handling this shit sensibly or intelligently. GoT is what it is because of the source material.
 

KodaRuss

Member
Read the interview, this is just a terrible idea for a show. Not sure if anyone could pull this off definitely not D&D.
 
After Get Out, I can imagine someone like Jordan Peele taking this concept and creating a great show that's a blistering scathing take down of the confederate traitor worshipers and white supremacy as a whole. And to be honest I feel like the country really needs someone to do that right now.

But I really don't trust D&D with this.

Yeah, Jordan Peele would be perfect for this.
 
I wonder if this project actually makes it off this initial stage. That's some backlash this is getting.

I personally have no confidence in D&D handling this shit sensibly or intelligently. GoT is what it is because of the source material.

They've greatly mishandled the GoT source material. This will most likely be a clusterfuck.
 
They've greatly mishandled the GoT source material. This will most likely be a clusterfuck.

Okay to be fair the seasons where they actually had source material, 1-4, are some of the best TV fiction ever produced. It's Seasons 5-6 after they caught up with the books that dropped in quality.
 
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