rainwaterspark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rainwaterspark) wrote2015-04-16 07:37 am
rainwaterspark) wrote2015-04-16 07:37 am
Daredevil (TV series)
General feelings: ...Meh.
Not "meh, that was mediocre," but rather "meh, I don't know what to think of this."
Now, Daredevil does have a lot going for it. The actors are great. I really loved Matt Murdock and Matt's relationship with Foggy in particular.
That said, I really, really did not care for how much the narrative focused on Kingpin, especially his relationship with Vanessa (whoop de doo, I really can't care less about his romantic life). The series might as well be called "Daredevil and Kingpin." Okay, I get that plenty of people love horrible people, but the entire time I really wanted to grab Vanessa by the shoulders, shake her, and ask her, "First, why do you love Fisk again? I still don't get it. And second, do you really not care about the fact that he's murdered lots of people in his quest to improve Hell's Kitchen??!"
I really disliked Fisk's character. I know the audience is supposed to hate him, which made the attempts to humanize him all the more infuriating (you had an abusive childhood and you love your mother? Okay. Nope, you're not excused for decapitating a man). But what I really hated was his hair-trigger temper. I just...even if it's a result of his childhood abuse or whatever, it made it hard for me to take him seriously as a crime lord at certain points. Killing all your henchmen makes you terrifying, but it also makes you seem animalistic rather than human and also not that intelligent. (And it's kind of a masculine violent stereotype taken way to the extreme.)
I had some issues with the final episode. For a series that's so grimdark (which I'll get back to in a second), the final episode almost seemed...too neat and triumphant. Like after an entire season of things going badly for the protagonists, suddenly everyone wins (well, everyone who's still alive, I guess).
But I wanted to get to the grimdark issue.
I don't like grimdark stories. I do like stories with darkness, and I strongly believe it's possible to write a dark story without straying into grimdark (Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is my archetypal example). Daredevil felt to me like really dark Batman (Hell's Kitchen is on par with, if not slightly worse than, Gotham, and that's saying a lot) crossed with Game of Thrones, and that's not a combination that makes me happy.
I don't like grimdark stories because, as someone who has dealt with and continues to deal with depression and other personal issues/hardships, I don't find stories about violence, hopelessness, and the worst sides of human nature appealing. I don't find it "deep" at all (anyone can write a grimdark story; most don't not because they're not smart or brave enough, but because they don't see the point), and sometimes the nihilism seems downright childish to me, an attempt to overcorrect for "happily ever after." If I want to feel depressed, I'll go back to contemplating real life, thanks. The point of consuming fiction, for me, is not to see a verbatim repeat of reality.
Daredevil isn't the worst example of grimdark that I've seen. The writing was overall pretty good, and Matt's relationships with his friends were emotional and compelling. But I'm tired of grimdark being praised as exceptional or "mature" or what have you. It's not any more "realistic" than a "happily ever after" story.
Not "meh, that was mediocre," but rather "meh, I don't know what to think of this."
Now, Daredevil does have a lot going for it. The actors are great. I really loved Matt Murdock and Matt's relationship with Foggy in particular.
That said, I really, really did not care for how much the narrative focused on Kingpin, especially his relationship with Vanessa (whoop de doo, I really can't care less about his romantic life). The series might as well be called "Daredevil and Kingpin." Okay, I get that plenty of people love horrible people, but the entire time I really wanted to grab Vanessa by the shoulders, shake her, and ask her, "First, why do you love Fisk again? I still don't get it. And second, do you really not care about the fact that he's murdered lots of people in his quest to improve Hell's Kitchen??!"
I really disliked Fisk's character. I know the audience is supposed to hate him, which made the attempts to humanize him all the more infuriating (you had an abusive childhood and you love your mother? Okay. Nope, you're not excused for decapitating a man). But what I really hated was his hair-trigger temper. I just...even if it's a result of his childhood abuse or whatever, it made it hard for me to take him seriously as a crime lord at certain points. Killing all your henchmen makes you terrifying, but it also makes you seem animalistic rather than human and also not that intelligent. (And it's kind of a masculine violent stereotype taken way to the extreme.)
I had some issues with the final episode. For a series that's so grimdark (which I'll get back to in a second), the final episode almost seemed...too neat and triumphant. Like after an entire season of things going badly for the protagonists, suddenly everyone wins (well, everyone who's still alive, I guess).
But I wanted to get to the grimdark issue.
I don't like grimdark stories. I do like stories with darkness, and I strongly believe it's possible to write a dark story without straying into grimdark (Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is my archetypal example). Daredevil felt to me like really dark Batman (Hell's Kitchen is on par with, if not slightly worse than, Gotham, and that's saying a lot) crossed with Game of Thrones, and that's not a combination that makes me happy.
I don't like grimdark stories because, as someone who has dealt with and continues to deal with depression and other personal issues/hardships, I don't find stories about violence, hopelessness, and the worst sides of human nature appealing. I don't find it "deep" at all (anyone can write a grimdark story; most don't not because they're not smart or brave enough, but because they don't see the point), and sometimes the nihilism seems downright childish to me, an attempt to overcorrect for "happily ever after." If I want to feel depressed, I'll go back to contemplating real life, thanks. The point of consuming fiction, for me, is not to see a verbatim repeat of reality.
Daredevil isn't the worst example of grimdark that I've seen. The writing was overall pretty good, and Matt's relationships with his friends were emotional and compelling. But I'm tired of grimdark being praised as exceptional or "mature" or what have you. It's not any more "realistic" than a "happily ever after" story.