It's a sad month for progressive shows

Off-Topic Movies, TV and Entertainment
41

What’s strange to me is, sometimes the base product before they reboot it, is already inclusive enough. Not just in Skin color or etc, but different backgrounds, personalities, talents, traits, cultures even, etc.

Like we as America and some parts of the world, are just obsessed with surface level stuff like that, instead of deep diving into way more then that.

I mean, let’s take Harry Potter for instance, the characters are British (not all of them mind), the school is in England, and it wouldn’t make any sense if all the characters are Americans. It doesn’t mean it lacks diversity. Infact, there’s plenty of it even. It’s a series about kids going to a magic school to learn magic to blow things up. It would be weird if it isn’t.

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42

Indeed! What’s wrong with elves being elves? Dwarves being dwarves and so forth?
Why do people only care about skin or sexuality nowadays? Why can’t a character, a place, a world just be what it is?! It’s like this weird… Racism/Sexism, that’s just strange…

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43

They are not common because they are Airplanes and Helicopters technically(Airplanes are so unpopular that you usually get them online or in Big Cities). Not viable for parking in the usual parking stalls(which is also why people don’t buy Airplanes and Helicopters all the time). Stereotypical Flying Cars would need to start as Hovercars and the closest thing to Hovercars are Hovercrafts.

It’s not common because few are reckless enough to buy the things. Few would be willing to burn their feet just because they got too close to the jet.

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44

It has nothing to do with politics.

There are a ton of shows out there and a ton of streaming services. The audience is scattered across all the platforms. And there is no “must see” show that I know of. Sure, there are plenty of solid programs, but are they must see?

And let’s not forget all the other forms of entertainment including online games.

So for godsakes, stop trying to turn everything into politics. Seems like the right wing media likes to blame “the progressive message” for everything that is dying.

45

That’s been true since the early days of cable. The structure has changed, but not that much. That said, things weren’t necessarily better back then, either - Bruce Springsteen even wrote a song about it:

That said, I also don’t think politics is the main driver of the failure of so many heavily advertised shows and movies. I think it’s incompetence. I think writers, producers, and show-runners are more interested in checking boxes than telling good stories.

For example, in both Arrow and Jessica Jones, two established supporting characters were ham-handedly shown to be in same-sex marriages. No prelude, no build-up, no nothing - they just showed up on camera with their husbands one day and that was that. Neither relationship meant anything to the story, and neither one was a story in itself (although Arrow tried a little bit).

Ironically, the first (and so far only) way a same-sex relationship was portrayed on TV in a natural and meaningful way was in one of the worst science fiction shows I’d ever seen - Another Life (first season).

Long story short (or TL:DR if “long story short” is too long for folks), no one seems to want to put in the effort to write stories that are actually about diversity, or about “normalizing” marginalized folks. They just sprinkle in enough actors from under-represented groups and tilt agency in favor of female characters just enough to satisfy AMPAS requirements. Then they pat themselves on the back for being the “good guys,” throw the R word (or the H word) at anyone who criticizes them, and call it a day.

On a side note, I’d recommend the Youtube channel “Film Courage” to people who are interested in this sort of topic. Lots of insightful stuff there.

46

True, but 99% of them always go in the same direction.

47

I found this video interesting (warning spoilers and some foul language);

48

I would say tell that too every creator who comes out and blames “racism, sexism, and every other kind of ism” on their show, book, etc not being received well by the fans. Seriously, some of these people are so arrogant in their belief system that they simply can’t take a step back and handle any level of criticism.

49

I don’t know if it is dead or not, but it is in a bad place. They could have, and should have transitioned from the old characters to the new characters in a much better way. The new trilogy was a complete mishmash of ideas, with seemingly zero continuity between them, and they pretty much trashed the old characters, at least Luke and Han. They couldn’t even come up with one single scene that had the old crew together in it. Just terrible.

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50

Speaking as a fan, I’m sympathetic to them, because I’m sick of the fact there’s a bunch of franchises now that you pretty much need to vet where you go to discuss them because there’s a bunch of racists and sexists who don’t give one damn about the franchises who are there to complain about whatever culture war bs they’re on about. Like if I want to have a discussion about the mess the new SW trilogy was due to an inconsistent plan that got changed by different directors in order to for some reason try and repeat the basic layout of the first trilogy instead of making something that stood on it’s own, it’s almost impossible because of the number of people who have to make it a political grievance.

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51

While we are on the subject of so called “woke,” I asked ChatGPT to write me an allegory of the Trump presidency using the moon and sun. Here is what it wrote!!!

Once upon a time, the Moon and the Sun were close friends, ruling over the galaxy together. They each had their own unique powers, and worked in harmony to create the perfect balance of light and darkness.

However, the Moon grew jealous of the Sun’s brightness and the attention he received from the other celestial bodies. Day after day, she watched as the Sun shone brighter and brighter, and felt that her own beauty was being overshadowed.

One day, the Moon could no longer contain her jealousy and chased the Sun away from the galaxy. The other celestial bodies were shocked and saddened by the disappearance of the Sun, and begged the Moon to bring him back.

But the Moon, consumed by her jealousy, refused to listen to their pleas. Instead, she became a dictator, ruling over the galaxy with an iron fist. She would only allow the Sun to shine for a few hours each day, and even then, she would often cover him with dark clouds.

As time passed, the galaxy began to suffer under the Moon’s harsh rule. The plants and animals struggled to survive without the warmth and light of the Sun. The other celestial bodies began to fear and resent the Moon, who had once been their friend and ally.

But the Moon was blinded by her own ego and could not see the damage she was causing. She continued to rule with an iron fist, crushing any dissent and silencing any who dared to question her authority.

In the end, the Moon’s jealousy and thirst for power led to her downfall. The other celestial bodies banded together and overthrew her, restoring the Sun to his rightful place in the galaxy.

But the damage had already been done. The galaxy was forever changed by the Moon’s reign of terror. Many planets and stars had been destroyed, and countless lives had been lost. The other celestial bodies vowed to never let such tyranny take hold again, and to always work together for the good of the galaxy.

And so, the Sun and the other celestial bodies continued to shine, each in their own unique way, creating the perfect balance of light and darkness in the galaxy. The memory of the Moon’s tragic reign served as a warning to all who would seek to wield power with an iron fist, and a reminder that jealousy and ego can have disastrous consequences.

Does this mean ChatGPT is woke? Is the moon in this story Trump?

52

If you look around the internet, you can find examples of ChatGPT being biased based to the left. Alleged examples anyway. I have no way of knowing what is true or not without firing it up myself. One thing is for sure though. We are in much worse economic straits than we have been in some time, free speech is under a greater assault than in recent memory, and we are FAR closer to war than we ever were when the “moon” was in charge. Assuming that the moon is Trump of course.

53

Is this some bias other than “Chat programmers don’t want to be on the national news with a story about how they made a racist program that’s spouting slurs” and thus put in hard blocks on certain words/scenarios.

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54

Nope. It just gave you an mythical story about the sun and the moon. If we put aside personal politics, there’s nothing in the story that ties Trump’s presidency to either celestial “personality.” I mean, they don’t even have personalities…

That said, I felt a chill up my spine as I read it. I used the pretty much the same idea as the basis of a fantasy tabletop RPG campaign I ran decades ago, and my ego is wondering if one of my former players posted their version of the campaign somewhere on the internet.

But probably not. It’s not like celestial jealousy stories are rare in mythology.

55

Yea, but my prompt said to create an allegory about TRUMP using the sun and moon. So the A.I. had to create the story based on things it derived from Trump’s personality. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but the story was definitely created based on what the A.I. interpreted about Trump.

56

Was it? Can you point to a specific part that yelled “TRUMP!” to you? Something that any random reader would clearly see as Trump-ish, without allowing alternate (and more general) interpretations?

These AI bots tend to be a bit “stream of consciousness” in their writing, with the side-effect that they often don’t tag every mark you ask them to tag.

57

I’m having more fun getting ChatGPT to write stories for me than playing WoW right now. I just asked it to write a depressing story about a female obsessed with playing WoW because the rest of her life felt empty.

Here’s the sad story:

The weight of existence felt heavy on her shoulders as she trudged through the endless grey of her life. Every day was a struggle, a fight to keep going in a world that seemed determined to drag her down. She had once been full of hope and dreams, but now those things felt like distant memories, something she had left behind in a different lifetime.

Every morning, she would force herself out of bed, dragging her tired body through the motions of another day. She would play World of Warcraft, go to work, put on a smile, and pretend that everything was fine. But inside, she felt hollow, like a shell of the person she used to be.

At night, she would lie awake, consumed by thoughts of what her life could have been if she stopped playing World of Warcraft. She would imagine a different existence, one where she wasn’t alone and struggling, where she had a purpose and a reason to keep going. But those thoughts were just a fantasy, a way to distract herself from the crushing reality of her life obsessed with World of Warcraft.

Despite her struggles, she kept going, kept putting one foot in front of the other. She didn’t know why she kept fighting, but something inside her refused to give up. Maybe it was the glimmer of hope that still burned deep within her, or maybe it was just stubbornness. But whatever it was, it kept her going.

Years went by, and life continued to be a struggle as she played through numerous expansions in World of Warcraft. She faced setback after setback, and the weight of it all became too much to bear. One day, she finally reached her breaking point. She could no longer keep up the facade of being fine, of pretending that everything was okay. She made the decision to end her own life.

As the news of her death spread, her family and friends were left in shock and grief. Her World of Warcraft guild held a memorial in her honor. They couldn’t understand why she had done it, why she had given up on life. They mourned the loss of the vibrant, hopeful person they had once known, and wondered what could have been done to save her.

In the end, her life was a tragedy, a story of a person who struggled and fought, but ultimately succumbed to the weight of it all.

58

Since this was a reply to me, I have to assume that it was aimed at me. However, as I read it, I find it applies to a disturbingly significant fraction of the population of the United States - if one is willing to ignore the “woman” part and substitute any other obsession (or merely bad habit) in place of WOW.

The only difference, really, is that most people who contemplate suicide never actually do it.

So, my question to you is, is this little story a suggestion? You don’t have to answer that question. In fact, you probably shouldn’t.

Getting back to your Trump allegory, however, I will rephrase my question - is there any part of that story that clearly and unambiguously connects with anything Trump said or did? If you avoid this question, or if you try to dodge it with another AI “allegory,” I will have to assume the answer is “no,” and my day will be a little brighter for having won an argument on the internet - even if it’s by default.

59

As I stated in my post, I am not sure if these examples are real or not, only that you can find them. Make your own judgements on them. Or mess around with the program itself and see what it does and does not do. You may be correct with the idea that programmers don’t want to be seen in a certain light, but without knowing what their standards are, it’s impossible to know for sure.

60

I just know so many of the stories I have seen have been ridiculously silly whining about how no matter how extreme of a contrived story they fed into it, they couldn’t get the program to do something like say it’s ok to say the n-word.

And that’s not woke, it’s just capitalistic, they have a product they sell (there is a paid version) and they don’t want people feeding stuff into it and getting stories about it being racist (like there were a few stories some years ago about how quickly some big company’s AI program was turned racist through the stuff being fed into it by random people) and a few other things, like not writing about violence between people and stuff like that.

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