Book Talk: The Original Power

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss Here!

[Paloma]

I read the book a few months ago and loved the original concept. Girl power in every sense! But it will be interesting to see how the darker aspects of the book are addressed in this series. I imagine that the series will not include the most graphic scenes from the book, but it should at least suggest them.

[ursula]

As someone who read the books and loved it, I'm disappointed. I know adaptations are not perfect but.. the show runners and writers don't seem to understand the theme of the book which is that women are not inherently better or worse than men and that's what makes this feminist literature.

Book Margot was a savvy politician who was both looking out for her daughter but also taking advantage of her to further her (Margot's) career. She wasn't "evil" or "good".  Show Margot is  an altruistic politician who wants to make the world a better place while pushing against her petty, sexist, incompetent boss.

Book Tunde was a brave, curious young man who followed the story because of his interest in it. Show Tunde is a slimeball who steals the story from his ex and exploits her for clicks and views. The show is pre-emptively justifying what Nina does to him at the end of the book and again, misses the point. When Tunde and Roxy ask each other why Nina and Bernie hurt them, the only answer they come up with is "because they could". Turning this into karmic retribution misses the point.

It's on Prime and they're not as trigger happy about cancelling shows so hopefully, we can get another season where the writers get back on track. Because right now the story has no buzz and I don't really blame anyone. It was packaged as a YA series, and is. leaning hard into the "women are better than men" ideology that the book actually speaks against. 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by ursula

[revbfc]

I just watched episode 4, and am a little disappointed that they didn’t go as dark as the book did.

I also wish they had the budget for the entire mob of Saudi women to Palpatine out.

[ursula]

5 hours ago, LtKelley said:

There might be budgetary and possibly political reasons not to graphically depict the fall of the House of Saud

Yeah I rolled my eyes hard at the speech "I don't want to run away from my country, I want to save my country" the need to defend the show from something that the book didn't imply. None of these women are running from their homes - they're fighting for control - first for their own lives and autonomy, but as the story unfolds, they're fighting to control everything else. Even the victims of trafficking don't use their power to run away from the places they were held captive. I still remember that line - "they killed every man in the building and they were still not satisfied". 

It's ironic that the show made a big deal of having an all-female writers's room but they seem unable to depict women as truly ruthless. 

[revbfc]

It’s not just the issues the Saudis may have, it’s probably dudes at Amazon scared of the material and demanding it be toned down.

Yes, the book is frightening, and that’s what makes it worthwhile to adapt properly.  Budgetary constraints are understandable, but compromising the material could turn this into another V For Vendetta.

[laprin]

On 4/2/2023 at 12:33 PM, ursula said:

As someone who read the books and loved it, I'm disappointed. I know adaptations are not perfect but.. the show runners and writers don't seem to understand the theme of the book which is that women are not inherently better or worse than men and that's what makes this feminist literature.

Book Margot was a savvy politician who was both looking out for her daughter but also taking advantage of her to further her (Margot's) career. She wasn't "evil" or "good".  Show Margot is  an altruistic politician who wants to make the world a better place while pushing against her petty, sexist, incompetent boss.

Book Tunde was a brave, curious young man who followed the story because of his interest in it. Show Tunde is a slimeball who steals the story from his ex and exploits her for clicks and views. The show is pre-emptively justifying what Nina does to him at the end of the book and again, misses the point. When Tunde and Roxy ask each other why Nina and Bernie hurt them, the only answer they come up with is "because they could". Turning this into karmic retribution misses the point.

It's on Prime and they're not as trigger happy about cancelling shows so hopefully, we can get another season where the writers get back on track. Because right now the story has no buzz and I don't really blame anyone. It was packaged as a YA series, and is. leaning hard into the "women are better than men" ideology that the book actually speaks against. 

 

I agree with your entire take. I also miss how the book sets up the historic intrigue of the story. These events happened more than 1500 years ago. Why not have the series open with someone reading from historical text? 

[Paloma]

On 4/8/2023 at 10:52 AM, laprin said:

I also miss how the book sets up the historic intrigue of the story. These events happened more than 1500 years ago. Why not have the series open with someone reading from historical text? 

This is exactly why the show is not as compelling to me as the book. The show makes it look like all of this started in our present day, but (IIRC) the book was framed as a thesis or research project on how society developed as one based on female power. I remember that there were drawings of historical or archeological finds that dated long before present day (maybe 1500+ years as you mention), although much of the narrative did seem to take place in a modern context (the storylines we see in the show). 

  

[ursula]

1 hour ago, Paloma said:

This is exactly why the show is not as compelling to me as the book. The show makes it look like all of this started in our present day, but (IIRC) the book was framed as a thesis or research project on how society developed as one based on female power. I remember that there were drawings of historical or archeological finds that dated long before present day (maybe 1500+ years as you mention), although much of the narrative did seem to take place in a modern context (the storylines we see in the show). 

  

This. It's interesting to see how much the show loses from dropping the framing device. It's a small part of the story but it grounded it in an unmistakable way. There's an inevitability in the unfolding events ... we already what's at the end. But finding out how the world gets there is the experience.

The TV show makes me wonder what will be at the end, and not in a good way. with all the narrative choices they've been making, I have a horrible feeling we're going to a weak-ass, "And they all learnt to play nice and balance was restored" kindergarten morality tale ending.

[revbfc]

I definitely agree with all the criticisms, but there are two things I really liked.

-Roxy was cast perfectly.

-The boyfriend being intersex was an improvement on the explanation in the book.

Having said all that, it’s obvious how the next two seasons will go (if they even happen):

-Next season ends with Roxy losing her skein.

-Season three will be the big war, with occasional flash forwards to 5000 year in the future.  
 

 

[ursula]

9 minutes ago, revbfc said:

-The boyfriend being intersex was an improvement on the explanation in the book.

The book also implies that the boyfriend was intersex, it just doesn't give him a label. Much the same way that Jo doesn't call herself pansexual but that's also implied. 

[revbfc]

18 hours ago, ursula said:

The book also implies that the boyfriend was intersex, it just doesn't give him a label. Much the same way that Jo doesn't call herself pansexual but that's also implied. 

To you it was implied, from my reading it was merely a possibility.  

[ursula]

8 hours ago, revbfc said:

To you it was implied, from my reading it was merely a possibility.  

Fair enough. I've always preferred stories - books or movies, etc - that respects the audience's intelligence and doesn't feel the need to spell out and spoon feed obvious details. 

[chaifan]

I just finished the series, but haven't read the book.  And this was my first peek at this thread, as I didn't want to be spoiled.  I'm intrigued by the 1,500 years historical perspective.  So you're saying that the book is set 1,500 years in the future, and this is someone's historical look back on how it all started? 

Quick question for the book readers:  Where does the end of Season 1 hit in the book?  Are we at the end of the book, or is there more book material if there is a Season 2?

 

[revbfc]

21 hours ago, chaifan said:

I just finished the series, but haven't read the book.  And this was my first peek at this thread, as I didn't want to be spoiled.  I'm intrigued by the 1,500 years historical perspective.  So you're saying that the book is set 1,500 years in the future, and this is someone's historical look back on how it all started? 

Quick question for the book readers:  Where does the end of Season 1 hit in the book?  Are we at the end of the book, or is there more book material if there is a Season 2?

 

The future in the book is more like 5000 years from now, but I don’t want to give anything else away.  What I will say is that we got maybe 1/3 of the way through the events of the book (with some liberties taken).

If you have time, I suggest you do read it or listen to the audio version (that I’ve been told is really well done).

Edited May 19, 2023 by revbfc
Just tidying up.