Topic: The TV Show Thread

@Th3solution honestly I always thought they dropped the accent in the films because it sounded a bit rubbish. I've read recently that their offscreen but in universe explanation for dropping the accent was that Black Widow was teaching her accents to be a better spy or something, maybe because she was off the grid after Civil War. I didn't think it was a huge deal that they dropped the accent because she doesn't have much dialogue in Age of Ultron anyway. I think it sounds a lot better when she uses it in this show though.

Aparently when they were devising the accent, they were trying to create one that was a good fit for Olsen's natural American accent and Taylor-Johnsons natural English accent which is why it kind of sounds fake and unnatural. I think they said the settled on an accent that was somewhere between Bulgarian and Slovakian

@nessisonett @ralphdibny Yeah, I guess the fact that the country of Sokovia is fictional means that the accent doesn’t have to sound pure, but it just comes across inconsistent to me. She kind of wavers in and out of it even in the movies. Either way, WandaVision has really endeared me to the Wanda character (and the actress Olsen) much more than the movies did.

So having caught up on WandaVision, I have to give it credit; I really wasn't expecting that. Not sure what this means for the future though. Like, more broadly. Because it'll be kinda disappointing if it, well, doesn't mean much. But that seems doubtful.

And as accents go in the MCU i kinda find the Wakanda one the most off-putting, if only because it's an entire cast of characters doing their own version of this fictional, albeit slightly African accent. Black Panther is great, don't get me wrong, but the accent situation is a little odd. Not sure of any viable alternatives to be fair.

WandaVision is simply amazing

I'll admit my interest in Wandavision has grown with each episode. I'm definitely curious where they are going with it, especially with that final shock/twist/reveal. I wonder if this will finish just when the Falcon and Winter Soldier (might have to start referring to this as FWS or something) starts.

Also I found the theme tune to episode 5 kinda catchy.

Oh boy... Gina Carano. What a way to ruin a good thing. I can respect a person having their own opinions — I would never deny them that right. But it appears she has taken things too far and got on the bad side of not only her employer but also the fan base at large. Such a rapid fall from grace.

Here’s hoping Mandalorian Season 3 is still as entertaining without her.

@Th3solution It’s crazy that it’s taken this long. She’s been airing rubbish that goes way beyond personal views for years now. For her to compare taking flak for supporting Trump to the Holocaust though, that’s career-ending. Good riddance.

@nessisonett @Th3solution yeah she was going out of her way to be, I don't even know what... conservative-edgy or something. Idk but it got hard to watch the episodes she was on.

As mentioned, people are allowed their views. I'm generally okay with that. Lord knows Bill Burr says all kinds of stuff I would think would exclude him from a Disney gig but he's in the show all the same. Which is good because maybe we've reached a point where people can be human and flawed and make jokes and only get fired after some truly egregious comments. Or a pattern of behavior.

One other thing. Was she legit that much of a fan favorite in the beginning? I thought she was meh from the gate but everywhere I read about her the outlet acts like she was the greatest thing since sliced bread at first.

That's a shame, I really liked her character in Mando and she had a good chemistry with Pedro Pascal. I don't tend to pay much attention to what celebrities say or do outside of acting/playing their sport etc. Unless they have done something illegal or so bad it can't be repeated, I'm usually oblivious to it all! 😅

I think it's been an interesting case study for this sort of thing. I mean, I personally disagreed with almost everything she said (or at least the stuff that got turned into headlines) but until this latest example, I didn't want her to get fired for saying it. Guess she just found Lucasfilm's red line (although let's be realistic, Lucasfilm didn't fire her because of what she said; they fired her because the social media conversation surrounding her reached a height where it was starting to damage a brand). It's a far cry from where this whole "weaponised collective opinion" movement started.

I think, in the social media age, every single show must have contingencies for any actor, or for any character, to be suddenly written out, or at least around.

@zupertramp Well, I think @JohnnyShoulder just answered your question! I'll be honest, she was never my favourite person standing in any given shot, but I quite liked the slow-burn potential of her character, and the hints they were dropping about her backstory could've gone someplace.

Yeah, I don’t typically follow celebrity entertainers personal lives and public discourse much either. I had heard she was an anti-masker and of course that made me raise an eyebrow, but didn’t know the extent of her social media rants. Of course the Holocaust metaphor was the final straw, and it almost seems like she was seeing how far she could push things. The irony is that her character and her whole image seemed to me rather feminist and empowering for women; She plays a strong woman with a very different appeal than Hollywood’s usual output, and I think that’s why she attracted some early rabid fandom. I’m sure she’ll find a small corner of entertainment (probably will be something like going back to her WWE roots or something) but I don’t think a major outlet will touch her for a while, given the vocal extreme right-wing and insensitive nature of her public opinions. Again, she’s entitled to have a belief system, I’m all in favor of separating the artist from the art like someone else on here said on another thread, but she’s just learned that there’s a consequence to airing controversy repeatedly.

I guess I can see that. Though I'm not sure why it always has to be a choice between these two opposite poles - hulking MMA/WWE type or supermodel but I should probably just appreciate the effort they made and can it already.

@RogerRoger And yeah, some of her appeal may have come down to how invested one was in the show too. Since I'm basically just there because of my spouse and to see baby yoda, I wasn't keyed into much of the backstory or character chemistry for that matter.

Anyway I went to sleep having just found out Pedro Pascal is gonna be Joel which bummed me out because I just don't see it (and it also makes me wonder what in the world they're gonna do with Tommy and Sarah) but I thought on it over some coffee this morning and eh, they probably could have done worse. First world problems anyway.

Problem is social media. Comparing anything to Nazi Germany is stupid, but so is firing someone because of a tweet or because the toxic part of the fandom doesn’t like her because of her political views. Once again we also see the popular republican being complete Hippocrates again. Republicans hated how dems and anti trumpers compared Trump to Hitler which is also a terrible thing to do. But now that the democrats are in office it seems that comparing them to Nazi’s is fine. 😔 I just freaking hate politics. It’s going to get to a point where every movie is going to have complete Rep or Dem casts because no one can deal with having someone disagree with them.

My final position is she shouldn’t have been fired but what she said was very much so out of line.

It wasn’t just because of public outcry that Gina Careno was fired. She was openly malicious and tone-deaf about trans people and Pedro Pascal’s sister came out as trans literally yesterday. I can’t imagine it would be easy on set with her in the first place, never mind with the crazy stuff she was saying about something that close to Pedro. He tried on Twitter a while back to explain rationally and level with her but she wasn’t having it. At this point it would be like Spurs signing David Icke, the controversy overshadows the actual part to the point it just isn’t worth it.

Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence. Why do people seem to think that someone can publicly say whatever hateful thing pops into their head and not have any ramifications whatsoever? Words are not devoid of meaning or in some bubble. And if someone has a public platform these words legitimise the hateful views of their followers, and can even embolden acts of physical violence - or insurrection, for instance. If an employee at any company started saying those things (especially to their customers) then they would be disciplined and probably end up sacked. That this fool is a celebrity makes no difference whatsoever. Good riddance.

@zupertramp Yeah, I’m not even sure if it was a conscious decision by Disney to cast a ‘different body-typed’, shall we say, actress in a central role simply for diversity’s sake, but I suspect it was part of the allure of her as an actress. They seem to like to portray progressive casting. I don’t agree or disagree with it either way - it makes no difference so long as I like the final result within the show’s narrative, but all things being equal I appreciate the diversity. But a more stout MMA/WWE persona fits the role of her rebellious mercenary character. In fact, when they brought it the other female action-oriented characters (the group of women Mandalorians, I forget all their names) toward the end of the season, they all seemed a little waiflike in comparison and seemed less convincing to be combat specialists (see also Rey... although I can see it make more sense with a Jedi because the lack of reliance on physical strength). Anyways — being a man, I can’t speak confidently regarding how women feel about their representation in action film and TV series, but the inclusion of Carano resonated with some of my female friends.

@mookysam Well said. There are a lot of celebrities with controversial opinions and wacky life theories. (Paging Mr. Cruise...) In fact I’d say that Hollywood has a higher than average density of nut-jobs with unpopular ideals. It’s just most of them keep it to themselves to avoid the consequences.

@Th3solution Fair take. I have no friends (female or otherwise) to bounce opinions off of lol, so my views sometimes lack perspective - something I'll freely acknowledge.

In any case, I'm okay with them cutting her loose. I also got the feeling she was pushing to see where their line was. She found it. What are ya gonna do?

@zupertramp Oh, I agree — I’m always reluctant to speak for a subset of society that I don’t particularly belong in.

But yes, I think she found that line.
And given what @nessisonett said about the anti-trans sentiment on the set, I’m shocked they let it go this long.

“The Daily Wire is helping make one of my dreams — to develop and produce my own film — come true. I cried out and my prayer was answered. I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”

It's funny, I really was trying to give this woman the benefit of the doubt in that I know what it's like to have a knack for self-sabotage. It's like a mental illness and you can't help but constantly shoot yourself in the foot but honestly I don't think that's it with her.

Like many ultra-conservatives... nah screw it ... Like almost all extremists, from either side, she has a persecution complex. It's that simple. She wasn't looking for the line as much as she was trying desperately to cross it with the expectation of consequences that would then reinforce her belief that the system's against her. I get so tired of these people.

Sorry, rant over. Looking forward to a new Servant and WandaVision.

Really enjoyed this week’s WandaVision, a whole lot of questions, answers and amazing nods to the comics. I would love for the characters to move forward in the MCU but I worry that this is the last we’ll see of most of them.