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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Nov 23, 2016 15:06:30 GMT -5
The title was taken from a comment on reddit. Across the fandom I'm seeing an increase in this exact same sentiment - that TWD a show about the dead who...er...walk - is too much doom and gloom and has been for a while now. When I dig deeper I find the complaint is not only about the impact of the deaths we've had in the last couple of seasons, but that the levity and times of calm we used to get in seasons past are now few and far between. Yes, we got the reunions at the end of No Sanctuary, Richonne going canon, and Glenn and Maggie getting pregnant -all great moments - but for the most part they were quickly followed up by misery porn. And then the misery porn is sustained for episodes, or even a half season with only the occasional quick flash of a lighter moment. Where's the balance? Why should I root for these characters to stay alive when they're surrounded by death, rape, and torture at every turn? So my question to y'all is do you agree with this or do you think what we currently have is what life in a zombie filled world should look and feel like? This thread was brought to you by Daryl "I wasn't shot in my funny bone" Dixon.
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Post by reckon on Nov 23, 2016 15:39:22 GMT -5
A television audience is different than a comic book audience.
A television audience is different than a video game audience.
You'd think this would be Television 101 for people in the television industry.
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Post by Ripley on Nov 23, 2016 15:47:30 GMT -5
The title was taken from a comment on reddit. Across the fandom I'm seeing an increase in this exact same sentiment - that TWD a show about the dead who...er...walk - is too much doom and gloom and has been for a while now. When I dig deeper I find the complaint is not only about the impact of the deaths we've had in the last couple of seasons, but that the levity and times of calm we used to get in seasons past are now few and far between. Yes, we got the reunions at the end of No Sanctuary, Richonne going canon, and Glenn and Maggie getting pregnant -all great moments - but for the most part they were quickly followed up by misery porn. And then the misery porn is sustained for episodes, or even a half season with only the occasional quick flash of a lighter moment. Where's the balance? Why should I root for these characters to stay alive when they're surrounded by death, rape, and torture at every turn? So my question to y'all is do you agree with this or do you think what we currently have is what life in a zombie filled world should look and feel like? This thread was brought to you by Daryl "I wasn't shot in my funny bone" Dixon. This has always been a careful balance the show used in the pre-Gimple era to keep the audience at the edge of their seats to find out what happens to beloved characters. Seasons 6-7 have all but dumpled that format in favor of more action, larger cast and more misery porn storylines as Sexual Chocolate and I were ranting discussing quite recently in fact. We are, the fandom, and ahead of the GA at this point asking ourselves "what is the point of surviving if this is all there is with only the calendar year and different big bads separating kidnappings or bad groups? Why bother watching at all, or in the characters' case, why bother fighting to survive at all? Who woudl have thought in season 3 that season 2 at the farm would quickly shift from most hated season to "Golden Age" of TWD due to the Darabont-Mazzara influences? Or that long after the quarry scene, Rock's group's happiness would be a few minutes with an ultrasound image or a kiss instead of of women laughing and supporting each other? I think AMC ignores the fact that most new fans since season 4 have come into the fandom by binge-watching and it was the first 2 seasons which hooked those viewers and kept them watching.
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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Nov 24, 2016 2:10:47 GMT -5
I've been thinking about one of my favorite episodes, Seed. A starving team family is chased out a house by walkers, Lori and Rick are barely talking to each other, Lori's afraid that she'll miscarry and the baby will become a walker and eat her from the inside out, they have to fight a butt-load of walkers to take over the prison, Andrea is on death's door, Hershel gets bit and has to have his leg cut off with an axe, and oh they find a bunch of prisoners still alive in one of the cell blocks.
In the same episode, team family celebrates overtaking the prison, has a sing-a-long around a campfire, Caryl is on top of a bus flirting, Carl, with his slick self, tries to share a cell with Beth and gets cockblocked by Hershel, Carol and Lori have a giggle about how disgusting they both look, and Andrea and Michonne tease each other.
Now that's what I call balance, and it involves every member of team family. When was the last time we got an episode like this? Where we get the gore and the danger but the lighter, calmer moments are not forgotten.
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Post by v on Nov 24, 2016 2:57:28 GMT -5
y'all know how I feel about the misery porn the show has become. We do get lighter scenes but they are few and far between. I miss season 1-3A, hell at this point I am missing 3b. since Gimple took over the formula of misery misery misery, light moment misery misery misery as become so constant that I can count the scenes till we get a lighter scene. Seed is a great example of the balance. the horror of No Sanctuary was balanced out by little moments between tf but the reunions for Ty/Sasha, Caryl and especially the grimes family (and I include Michonne in that) made up for the earlier pain. I wonder how much of the ratings dropping has to do with the constant pain the show is shoving down our throats. People watch tv as an escape and for entertainment. If we wanted constant misery we could watch the evening news...
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Post by Ripley on Nov 24, 2016 10:33:42 GMT -5
'Seed' is one of my favorite episodes for the reasons y'all mention-the cold open is exciting and shows how unified plus trained to work as a unit. Glenn and T-Dog even got a little backstory although those were deleted from the final episode. As Sexual Chocolate points out, many characters were well balanced between action and character development. Several storyline were serviced, well, and the lighter moments very well placed.
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Post by Starlight on Nov 24, 2016 16:29:11 GMT -5
The one big failing on this show is the utter darkness and doom in it... No one wants to watch that stuff every week. Viewers need a variety.They want to watch the characters in sad times, happy times and all the stuff in between.
If zombie / horror movies can fit a variety of emotions into 1h 30mins running time. There is no excuse for a TV show that has 16 episodes a season not to.
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Post by greaterpursuit on Nov 24, 2016 18:03:17 GMT -5
Thumbs up to all these posts. I've been bitching about this for what seems like forever. Without hope for a better, happier life, why would anyone put themselves through all this misery? Except for a few scenes, it feels like TF has been wallowing in misery since the flu outbreak in early season 4. Enough already. Give them some light, happy moments. Give them an actual reason to look forward to making a future for themselves.
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