Random Film Critique: The Witcher

[eller]

So yesterday I was reminded of the existence of these classical fantasy books... And that they've been made into a series, and that I (although I rarely watch series or films) wanted to at least give it a chance... So today I did just that. I didn't watch it in the right order, just random episodes and scenes here and there, but that's enough to form a first impression.
They changed a lot when comparing the whole thing to the books, but, I mean, that's normal...

Best thing about the series? Clearly, the guy playing Geralt. Awesome actor (pretty famous too, apparently, but I didn't know him because I don't watch American media much), and... Yeah, basically, he is Geralt. Perfect choice for the role, really outstanding acting job.

Also, I really liked that they gave the female characters some depth. I mean, the original Witcher books are nice enough, but they suffer from the same problem as most nineties fantasy: the female characters, even the supposedly "strong women", tend to be male wanking material stereotypes. The series manages to actually make Yennefer an interesting character. Thanks for that!

Also, I've figured out why so many people in fandom ship Jaskier and Geralt: from the books only, that would be a pretty unlikely ship (with Jaskier a fairly minor character, and both Jaskier and Geralt being very much dick-driven into ladies), but in the show
- the actor playing Jaskier is extremely charismatic (which would make the character popular in fandom), and
- he clearly interprets his role as having a massive crush on Geralt, which, I mean, why not? As a narrative choice, that's actually an improvement. Their relationship really makes more sense this way! Amusing if you've read the very very much aggressively heterosexual books, but if you're introduced to the story with the series, the ship, at least in a one-sided version (though if you're looking for it, sometimes Geralt almost flirts back, which, cool), is actually canon?!? XD

Ciri is still boring, but, I mean, she's the worst Mary Sue in anything I've seen that's actually been professionally published, so I suppose making her an interesting character would have taken a miracle.
(Let's face it: she
- is the literal "magical child" trope played straight and without any detectable irony
- has ridiculous mystical heritage, complete with ridiculous "elvish" name
- also, needless to say, tragic backstory
- is ridiculously superpowered even in comparison to other superpowered characters
- is loved by everyone
- ....
...basically, she's a huge storytelling f*-up by the book author, and unfortunately she's a major character too, so she couldn't be changed too much without drawing fandom ire.)

I liked less that... how to explain this? The books are Polish, and the fantasy world and fantasy elements are very much inspired by Polish folklore. The series removed most of that and Americanized the whole thing. That's... actually pretty major. Cultural appropriation at its worst. Basically, the fantasy in the series is now your standard Western European and US American collection of tropes, because almost everything distinctly Slavic was carefully eliminated. Yikes! The original books lean pretty heavily on (and sometimes even parody: one of the things that made me keep reading the books because that's really well done!) Slavic mythology and folk tales. Oh, and even if the world is fictional and the countries have fantasy names, the characters are culturally distinctly Polish. I suppose they thought they could market the story to an American audience better if they minimize that (and just keep some Slavic mythical monsters, but have the characters behave culturally US-American, or, more precisely, the fantasy standard of How-US-Americans-Imagine-Medieval-Western-Europeans) - and, unfortunately, they're probably right about that, too - but really, this is not the way to treat literature from another culture. Not even when it's, let's face it, pretty straightforward unapologetic power-and-wank-fantasy stuff from another culture.

Basically? If this were my first introduction to The Witcher, I would have loved the show. The actors are all excellent, and in many ways the quality of the storytelling surpasses the entertaining but ultimately trashy original. It was just a bit disappointing to see a very American retelling of a very Polish story. Will probably not watch the whole thing, although I now have "Toss a Coin to your Witcher" stuck in my head. (Awfully catchy song! XD)

Comments

[yhlee]

My sister adores the books and the video games, although I'm not sure if she's seen the TV show. (I haven't read/seen/played any iterations of the Witcher.) I'm sorry that they Americanized the TV show, because I thought it would be really neat to see a Polish take on fantasy on the screen!

[eller]

It's probably better you didn't watch it: the main character does struggle with depression. (It's not named as such, but it's clearly there, and yep, the clinical thing.) They even resisted the temptation to cut that from the TV show. I mean, I don't mind - it actually makes Geralt a pretty interesting main character, especially for genre standards - but, eh, his main problem is himself, and that might be triggering.

(They didn't just Americanize the thing, they removed some other things from the stories as well - like the... episodic (?), intentionally-disjointed and quite unique storytelling style that actually influenced me a lot - but I'll admit it would have been impossible to translate that to the screen.)

[james]

I do wish I could read the books in Polish, or they could get a competent translator to re-do the series in English. I know a lot of what I dislike about the books wouldn't change (the treatment of women, the writing style (the one book with Ciri in the swamp with the hermit and each section of writing has the same paragraph which says 'and they continued to talk, and the swamp was empty and it was quiet and nothing stirred and they kept talking.'

Also, oh my god, the bit where Geralt has lost his swords and is supposed to be getting them back and he decides heck, why not have sex with this woman for three days instead?

[eller]

I actually loved the writing style of the books! (Or stories, because the whole saga started as short stories.) It's pretty unique in its intentionally-disjointed and surreally repetitive way, and has actually influenced my own writing style a lot. (I've read it in the German translations, which are said to be pretty good.) I mean, it's not usual novel-writing style, but I thought that was okay. (One of the things I knew couldn't be translated to the screen, which is also okay.)

"Also, oh my god, the bit where Geralt has lost his swords and is supposed to be getting them back and he decides heck, why not have sex with this woman for three days instead?"

If we assume the target audience to be depressed 16-year-old boys, that's a perfectly reasonable choice! ;) The narrative doesn't even try to be coherent, or logical, and in a way I can admire that.

[james]

The English translations are said to be very, very bad. Also, I read the books in order of 5, 4, then 6. So I don't know if my tolerance for the writing style would have been helped by reading 1, 2, and 3 first in order.

I don't know if the writing style works better in other languages, but I sure hope so, because a lot of people really, really like the books and I'm left wondering why. ;-)

I do think I need to try again with the earlier books, but I really don't like repetition when it serves no useful purpose (I get impatient and skim the paragraphs until something happens.

I did like the Dark Horse comics, although the naked women thing got really old really fast. They really only focused on Geralt, but it was a really interesting introduction to his character. (Old man has been there, done that, is very tired and done with your bullshit.)

[eller]

I haven't seen the English translations, nor the comics. ^^° (If the comics have naked women, they're... at least in the spirit of the books? XDDD)

The writing style is clearly intentional and even a part of characterization - and it's not bad writing, just unusual... But, I mean, if you don't like it you don't like it. It is repetitive (because Geralt's life is repetitive, and so is the history of that world! And Geralt's depressive episodes are repetitive, too.) and I don't think another translation would change that. In the German version, I'd say the use of language is excellent, even surprisingly outstanding for something that's simple teenage escapism stuff plot-wise, and it's supposed to be close to the original, so... I guess it comes down to stylistic preference.

"I get impatient and skim the paragraphs until something happens"

Ah - I think that might be the issue: if you're looking for plot-driven storytelling, that's just not what these books deliver! They're not about the story at all! XD I guess... you love them or you hate them.

[james]

I also skim chapters in Lord of the Rings so I don't have to read about trees yet again. ;-)

So I feel like these books are not really my kind of books - but I do like getting the tidbits of characterisation here and there. (If I were better at video games I would just play those, but I borrowed TW3 from my library and couldn't get past the training stage without getting super frustrated. (I also don't like games which talk to me, like Vesemir asking me what are you doing? when I fail to use the sign he told me to use and I just yell back that I'm new and I don't know what I'm doing could he just leave me alone.)

;-)

[eller]

AHAHAHA! XD

I mean: that's perfectly legitimate. Sometimes, the style of something is just not right for you. (I haven't played the games, either.)

[yhlee]

Aww man, I wish I had more than first-year German to my name. I wonder if there's a good French translation...? I'm fluent enough in French to read in that with the aid of a dictionary...XD

[minoanmiss]

Ah, my country. I apologize.

I figured people slash Geralt and Jaskier because 1) two cute White dudes and 2) obvious top-bottom hunk-twink dynamic is obvious.

(Henry Cavill is Geralt's actor and he is quite good.)

[eller]

Heh. For me as someone who knows the fandom from the books only, Geralt/Jaskier at first sounded like a crack pairing. (Jaskier isn't even all that important for the plot: he's mainly there to give the author an opportunity to play with the Fourth Wall, because Jaskier, as a bard, is sometimes almost-but-not-quite aware he's in a story...) In fact, any Witcher slash is a bit surprising because the books... Heck, they're something like ten thousand pages of heterosexual male wish-fulfillment. (I think the only named female characters Geralt doesn't sleep with are his mother and his stepdaughter.) I would have assumed the fandom to consist of, like, 99.99% heterosexual guys. LOL

Clearly, the show made some different choices. ^^ Having Jaskier (who, in the books, sleeps with all the unnamed ladies Geralt somehow misses) as a bisexual guy pining after Geralt... I mean, why not. It's just not book canon.

[yhlee]

I'm amused that my sister talked a lot about the world and the ambience and the setting of the books without once mentioning all the sexyfuntimes. Probably an awkward topic. XD

[eller]

Hey, the world and the ambience and the setting are pretty cool! XD I mean, I kept reading... With some eyerolling, but still. Despite the main character getting distracted from his mission by spending time in bed with a strange beautiful) woman while very conveniently forgetting (yes, literally!) about the other legendarily beautiful lady he's in a (mainly sex-based and they both happily cheat on each other so it's fine LOL) relationship with. (Also, he met his girlfriend while accidentally exorcising a genie by telling it to f*ck off. It goes wrong. They then proceed to screw in the rubble of the destroyed building. Yes, literally. I'm amazed the author took this as a good basis for a long-term relationship. It might be the least toxic romance in the novels, too.)
The amazing things?
- This isn't fanfic, they're actually books.
- Not intended as satire, either. They're just... the male equivalent to the usual fantasy romance stuff for female readers? You know: the ones where the plot is only there to provide some context for the sex scenes? Same thing, just male perspective, and it's mixed with some monster fighting in between. A rare genre.
- They're actually exceptionally well written, which is not what you'd expect from the plot.

[rodo]

I definitely agree with you on the criticism re: the Americanization of the series. It made me kind of sad because even though the series is Polish, it kind of felt more relevant to me in a German context than American or British fantasy usually does. I liked the series, but they did remove one thing that really, really spoke to me in the books and games.

[eller]

For me, I guess it's not that I could relate better to Polish Fantasy than to British fantasy - it's all culturally foreign, but as long as it's good, I will somehow be able to relate - just that... These books just happen to be Polish, and deeply rooted in local folklore, and changing it feels wrong. Writing a new (American) story would have been better. Maybe I would even have liked it, too.