What is wrong with modern Screen Writing, as shown through the awful Wheel of Time adaptation

[jmotivator]

I don't think there is much really political about this review, thought I'd guess the presenter is fairly conservative (this is the first I've seen of him), but he absolutely nails what is wrong with modern screen writing.

In a nutshell: Modern Screen writers don't understand people. They write to the eternally online TikTok generation who, I'd argue, are disconnected as a symptom, rather than a conscious choice.

They write for people who they assume are uninterested in dialogue that isn't leading up to fighting or ****ing, or when it leads to neither, is hammering home some message that will only resonated with about 5% of the viewing audience.

The Wheel of Time series is a classic because it tackles the age old differences in how men and women talk about issues, and process what is said to them, couched interestingly in a magic system that pretty much mirrors those differences. Ironically, that underlying plot to the series was lost when the screenwriter(s) took sides, breaking the very narratives that made the books so interesting.

While the problems in screenwriting are so clearly illustrated with the failure of Wheel of Time, it's persistent throughout modern screenwriting. It's all so boring and predictable and linear because Hollywood no longer understands people. It's the dialogue equivalent of watching a CGI car crash created by people who don't understand physics.

 

[iliveonramen]

Don't even get me started on the adaptation of The Wheel of Time.

One of my favorite series growing up that I read and re-read for over a decade completely butchered with terrible writing.

The worst part, there was a ton of representation in the book. Aiel women warrior societies that were among the best warriors on the planet. An empress in charge of the most powerful empire. A woman dominated set of magic users that ran the world...etc etc etc etc.

 

[jmotivator]

Don't even get me started on the adaptation of The Wheel of Time.

One of my favorite series growing up that I read and re-read for over a decade completely butchered with terrible writing.

The worst part, there was a ton of representation in the book. Aiel women warrior societies that were among the best warriors on the planet. An empress in charge of the most powerful empire. A woman dominated set of magic users that ran the world...etc etc etc etc.

As far as I can tell, modern Hollywood doesn't really feel right about "representation" unless they are making the decisions. They couldn't go with the more organic baked-in representation of the finely balanced book, so they inserted their own, which basically broke the book narrative into tiny pieces.

 

[ASHES]

The game was a try, pretty good for the time. But it was over 25 years ago. Was waiting forever for something, anything, as I watched Harry Potter, LOTR, and more get all the attention. Then when it finally comes, it's trash.

 

[iliveonramen]

As far as I can tell, modern Hollywood doesn't really feel right about "representation" unless they are making the decisions. They couldn't go with the more organic baked-in representation of the finely balanced book, so they inserted their own, which basically broke the book narrative into tiny pieces.

I think they seem to get trapped thinking that a female lead needs to be a Mary Sue, which is just boring. Look at some of the more popular male characters in TV, Walter White, Don Draper, Cassian Andor, most of the Game of Thrones male characters, Carmy in The Bear, and the list goes one. All flawed, all with insecurities and major flaws.

Those all have great female characters as well, Joan and Peggy in Mad Men, Cersei in Game of Thrones, Sydney in the Bear etc. Women with a lot of talent and flaws and entertaining.

The Wheel of Time was just horrendous writing ruining a fantastic series. It pisses me off that Amazon burned all that money for that shit, pretty much ruining the series. It could have been really good, with a lot of season and even spin offs like Artur Hawkings or The Breaking.

I agree for some reason the representation in the actual books wasn't enough. The example given in the video, of the Women's Circle and Mayors council was the first thing I thought of when it comes to how Robert Jordan dealt with the sexes.

Anyway, Jordan was a Vietnam vet and multi-best selling author. His Conan novels are great in case you haven't read them. Really is annoying that some hack decided to stray so much from someone so much more talented than he was to write that trash.

 

[reinaert]

Hated the books. Series was meh.

Can't wait for Joe Abercrombie to adapt his work for the screen. As a rule, I think it's best to leave print to print, and just write original scripts. But JA is a film editor and one of the best living writers.

 

[bythoughts]

"Wheel of Time" was the only book series I can remember running into where I think that the sequel books were literally copy and pasted from the earlier ones for long stretches of text. The lack of screenwriting in Hollywood is palpable, but I'm not going to mourn the loss of that series' purity.