Yesterday, I saw that Netflix just launched "Far Drift" and watched three episodes in one go, so this text is for the first three episodes. So much so that after only watching the first three episodes, I felt that I wanted to write an article to talk about my feelings. Let me say a digression first. It is said that Netflix has made rapid progress in recent years and can always provide popular film and television content. One of the reasons is that it has a relatively high flexibility as a streaming media platform. On the other hand, Netflix uses Big data calculates what is the content that the audience wants to see nowadays, and what is the hot topic in the society, so it will naturally be favored by the audience.
"Far Drift" gave me such a feeling, a script written based on data. As a sci-fi drama, the period was filled with countless family emotional dramas, pulling the audience away from the sci-fi atmosphere that was finally established, and then a family sensational drama. Then there are countless flashbacks like "two years ago" and "a month ago", which are a bit blunt, and it's a bit unclear what the director wants. Even thinking, maybe this is a drama in a sci-fi coat.
The first episode that blew my mind was when Emma's husband fell ill and was hospitalized at home because of a reckless act on the way to the stars that made her questioned by two other astronauts. As a result, the heroine even wanted to give up her mission and return to Earth to take care of her family. Not to mention how irresponsible and mindless character motives and emotional settings are not in line with the background of future human landing on Mars. The next line just made my heart WTF. A director far away on the ground persuaded the female lead to stick to the task, stay in the team, and give up, it would be tantamount to burning the efforts of the women who had worked on this project. As a result, the heroine got angry and said "don't talk about the feminist shit" (I forgot what the original sentence was, but the meaning is: don't make me a whole feminist thing). This piece of content not only fails to show the three-dimensional character of the heroine, but makes the audience feel that she is really not suitable for leading this project. I know that the director wants to show how important family is to the heroine, but as the first commander to log in to the Martian character, when he returns to Earth, he returns to Earth? In the same way, I thought of the recent release of Nolan's new film. He was criticized for not mastering the character's emotions and character. There is a similar situation in Nolan's sci-fi theme "Interstellar". Cooper also always misses his daughter Murphy, who is far away on earth. , although there are some shakes, but Cooper at least always sticks to the task. Compared with Nolan, of course, it is much better, and the heroine of "Far Drift" is so emotional, how dare she mention feminism?
In addition, go back to the content of big data computing at the beginning and the diversity and colourful mentioned in the title. It is said that Netflix in the United States has invested $100 million (the exact amount is too lazy to calculate) to improve the screen image of ethnic minorities in film and television works and make its TV movies more diverse. Because the visibility and representation of film and television works can also improve the equality of ethnic minorities in the real society.
Perhaps it is because of this that "Far Drift" was born. The heroine Emma, a white woman as the commander, leads a group of ethnic minorities or people of colour to the Mars exploration plan. In addition to Emma, the team has a female astronaut, Wang Lu from China, and male astronauts from Russia, India and Ghana. Diversity of skin color and gender is basically gathered. However, with the development of the plot, I feel that such a setting is not diversified. It's more superficially colourful than a diverse. Can a few skin colors and genders be combined to show equality for minorities? can not.
Because this "Far Drift" has a lot of stereotypes worth complaining about. For example, Wang Lu, an astronaut from China, showed Wang Lu's patriotism at the press conference before the trip, which was considered a good connotation. But compared with the behavior of the woman who took the initiative to return to the earth, Wang Lu can be regarded as a competent astronaut who carried out the landing on Mars. Then the director deliberately set the role of Wang Lu as a potential lesbian, because from China, this identity was suppressed. However, the love line between Wang Lu and her same-sex partner actually started by learning English, and then the two were still practicing calligraphy at home. This kind of plot has to say that it is really stereotyped. It's not that calligraphy is bad, but in the eyes of the West, the only plot lines that Chinese can develop are some things like learning English, practicing calligraphy, and making kung fu tea. It feels like reading a cultural propaganda ppt, very straightforward. And superficial. Then Chen Mei's gift to Wang Lu was actually a ring that "women hold up half the sky", I don't know if it was romantic or embarrassing. This kind of so-called joining sexual minorities, Asian or black characters, but the content of the plot and the emotional characters of the characters are only superficial, using the stereotypes recognized by Westerners to portray minority groups, this is not true diversity, it is still white supremacy.
In addition, the plot of my second WTF is: after the potential romance between Wang Lu and Chen Mei was discovered, the white heroine Emma, in order to comfort Wang Lu, actually said, "Chen Mei's English is better than most Americans I have met. It's better", I was like wtf?? This is still white supremacy, treating Asians who can speak English as others, and the subtext is: how can you, an Asian, have better English than Americans? Because subconsciously, English is white, and the English spoken by Asians must be unauthentic with an accent. This sentence of the heroine is not a compliment. Especially for many second-generation immigrants, even though their native language is English, they are inexplicably "complimented": "Your English is really good."
In general, after watching the first three episodes, I may continue to watch when I have time, but the overall feeling is that science fiction is not sci-fi enough, and the emotional line is strange and rigid, full of stereotypes. It felt like a script written by a high school student. Like a PPT, this drama lists the contents of one point, two points and three points, and combines several hot topics such as landing on Mars, Asian LGBTQ, and People of Colour. This is white diversity, not universal diversity. What disappoints me is that these sci-fi dramas have begun to show things in the future. Humans are going to log on to Mars, but they are still struggling with these issues of race, skin color and sexuality. Can you give more imagination to the future?
Finally, I would like to say that Netflix should stop using big data to make films. In addition to the popular data, let’s have a more in-depth discussion. Film and television works not only have the desire to express, but also have the desire for knowledge and exploration.
[Update the feeling of watching the fourth episode] as follows: Seriously who cares about your family shit?
[After reading episodes 5, 6 and 7]: Changed the title, the original title is embarrassing enough to laugh, white supremacy diversity or colourful. Because it's really too short. The hostess actually said again: I wanna go back. I know that the director and screenwriter may want to express the abundant emotions and fetters unique to this species in the face of human beings facing Mars, but the filming is really redundant. I'm confused what to say. abandoned.
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