I want to talk a little bit about film and television adaptions, and why, at least in the last ten to fifteen years, they've done such a bad job at adapting the source material. The first guilty party on this front, is of course Nolan's Odyssey, which I saw this past Tuesday. While entertaining and beautiful to look at, this film failed completely to capture the experience of reading or listening to the poem it's based on. The dialogue was flat, wooden, and filled with exposition dumps. The gods aren't present in any meaningful way, other than through storms and other weather events, which can easily be interpreted through the eyes of atheist Christopher Nolan as natural phenomena. And most importantly, the characters and themes are unrecognizable. Odysseus is just Matt Damon who feels bad about being Matt Damon: there's none of the flirtatious, prideful intelligence that defines his character in the poem. Because of this subversion of Odysseus, Telemachus's character also falls flat— how can you have an effective coming of age story when you subvert and deconstruct every part of what it means to be a man/king/father figure by tearing down Odysseus?
I don't think this phenomena is limited to the Odyssey. The newest version of Wuthering Heights is basically a porno. The final seasons of Games of Thrones devolved into a nihilistic gore-fest, which the source material most certainly is not. Even the Hobbit all the way back in 2012-2014 tried to make the charming, relatively low stakes kids book into another version of The Lord of the Rings.
It's tempting for me to blame woke for a lot of these changes, and that's undoubtedly part of it. If many of the values that were historically important in Western Civilization are now taboo, of course there will have to be heavy modification of the source material. However, I don't think this is the full picture. Many of these movies are doing really well at the box office, and I don't think woke has that much cultural appeal to the average American. Rather, I think a combination of the inherent limitations of visual storytelling and the dumbing down of stories in general because of reductions in attention spans is a more likely set of culprits.
Neil Postman wrote extensively about the first problem in Amusing Ourselves to Death. Visual media neither gives us the interiority that allows us to understand a point of view from the inside, nor really forces us to engage with an artists arguments: the movie will play on with or without our engagement in it.
I don't think this critique is entirely fair. You can certainly do a lot of subtle storytelling with television and film. The problem is now that people's attention spans are so fried that you need to beat them over the head with the themes of the work through dialogue and exposition dumps. The Odyssey is extremely guilty of this, which is probably part of the reason I had such a hard time watching it.
Why do you think visual media, specifically adaptions, have declined in quality over the past decade?
thejdizzler
21d ago
- Work: Got the job for next year which is nice! Doesn't pay amazing (62k to start, rising quite a bit every year to a max of 80k after 5 years), but I will either be transitioning to industry or taking a faculty position after 3-5 years, so it's fine. I'm excited about the project too and having a cut-off for the end of my PHD.
- Fitness. Another week another 60 miles. Think I could be eating slightly more as my sleep and anxiety have been a bit worse than usual. Returned to swimming this week too. Hours: 8.3 running, 1 swimming
- Intellectual stuff: Wrote a blog post on my Spanish learning journey. Finished our summer novels for philosophy book club and we are returning to philosophy, with a focus on historical materialism reading either Lenin or Peter Turchin. Spanish Immersion hours last week: 8. Blog posts this month: 2
- Finances: Just trying to keep spending below 4k. Next month is going to be great with reduced rent and utilities and hopefully a large ZIM divvy because they had some good earnings. Now that I'm going to be staying in Baltimore, I'm going to be house (and car) hunting. This should help both my finances and dating. Monthly spending so far: 3340.
- Dating. Went on a date with a girl Sunday. Have another one this Sunday. Was fun, but I think I may find her to be too boring.
- Tarot. No session this week
- Socializing: Ran with the pacemakers Saturday, which is a group of a bunch of old people. Nice change of pace to hear from some boomers. Also got dinner with my lab mate Thursday and saw the Odyssey with some friends last night.
- Screen time: 1.4 hours.
- Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority.
thejdizzler
23d ago
I'm intrigued. Tell me more about this trilogy.
thejdizzler
23d ago
AFFC and perhaps to an even greater extent ADWD are much better written, at least at a prose level than the first three books. Much better dialogue, much more beautiful descriptions, much more interiority for all of our characters. The problem with both books is that they don't advance the plot very much and they completely explode the number of POV characters. Which would be fine is GRRM was willing to just Wheel of Time it and write 14 books, but he clearly isn't, so here we stand.
thejdizzler
23d ago
Dance used to be my favorite book in the series. Last reread I could not stomach most of it. I think the Mereenese Blot (Adam Feldman) does a good job at unpacking the themes, and there is a lot of good stuff there. It's just not engaging in the way that the King's Landing stuff is. The North Plotline in that book is pretty good, but again it's because as you say, that George is focused on plotting and backstabbing.
thejdizzler
23d ago
A Feast for Crows. Favorite ASOIAF book hands down. Don't mind the plot slowdown as much as some others, and although I clearly recognize that it is an inferior book to ASOS, I really enjoy the deeper interiority we get with the characters and the general theme of the book (what happens to a kingdom country when all the competent people are gone).
Also reading Los girasoles ciegos (the blind sunflowers) which was a gift from my Spanish friend. Definitely a challenge for my Spanish, but also enjoying it.
thejdizzler
24d ago
Also don't feel bad, although I worry that his death will shield him, and academia, from a reckoning with DEI and productivity in general.
thejdizzler
27d ago
Hope you’re doing okay man. Sorry to hear about the relationship end!
thejdizzler
28d ago
- Work. Going to take a postdoc job here in Baltimore next year to give myself a bit more experience working with bacteria to pivot to industry after.
- Fitness. Workouts are very up and down depending on the weather, but I hit 60 miles last week and had a great long run. 9 weeks until chicago. Weekly hours: 8.1 running.
- Intellectual stuff: Now that I'm pretty much definitely not moving to Germany, I can really focus on Spanish. Wrote a blog post last week on my 6 years of Anki usage that got some traction. Spanish Immersion hours last week: 10.5. Blog posts this month: 1
- Finances: seems like the roommate isn't coming until the end of this month, so finances will continue to bad this month, especially since I bought two new pairs of running shoes ($350) and train tickets to Boston Labor Day weekend ($400). Seems like I'm going to be way over budget this month. Monthly spending so far: 2988.
- Dating. Nothing.
- Tarot. No session this week
- Socializing: Ran with my friend Monday morning and had a board game night with my lab yesterday.
- Screen time: 1.4 hours. That's more like it
- Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority.
thejdizzler
30d ago
A Storm of Swords for my third reread+ a Spanish audiobook about the Isabella of Castille learning chess (El tablero de la reina). The former is as awesome as I remember it, and Tywin comes off worse and worse on each reread. The latter is okay, but very Ken Follett-coded and I don't believe the characters are real medieval people.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
I'm not sure why you're being so obtuse about this point. The phone is specifically designed to make it very difficult for you to avoid hyper stimuli. Yes you can change the settings to turn off notifications, make the phone greyscale, restriction app usage, etc. When I have done those things they make me use my phone less, because, perhaps unsurprisingly, it's much more pleasant to read on a physical book or e-reader than on your phone, it's much more pleasant to write essays on a laptop or physical notebook, and its much more pleasant to talk to people in real life (or call them without the screen on). When you remove the super stimuli, the phone is not that useful, so I don't see a very big difference between what you recommend and locking it up.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
- Work. Work has been going well. I have been both much more productive and much less stressed. Turns out doing one thing at a time and taking frequent breaks means I get more done and am not exhausted during the day.
- Fitness. Unfortunately most of the weight loss was completely ephemeral (likely a combination of water loss from reduced glycogen stores and less fibrous shit sitting in my gut). However, I am feeling great running wise and have crushed my workouts last weekend/this week. 10 weeks until chicago. Weekly hours: 7.66 running.
- Intellectual stuff: Finished Foundation. Way more entertaining than Blood Meridian and I think it'll make for some great discussion in philosophy book club. I do have some very strong disagreements with the author's worldview, but that is not unexpected given when he was writing the book. Now am focusing very hard on Spanish (frustrated that my grammar and output seems to be so stuck) and economics.
- Finances: new roommate finally moves in this month which will help out finances ALOT. Ended up donating about $250 last month. 110 went to a yearly subscription to a substack I like (with no paid articles). The rest went to the guaranteed income program I'm part of. Monthly spending so far: $1703.
- Dating. Nothing.
- Tarot. Good session this weekend with my ex-roommate. Asked the deck about career moves and about my friend's romantic life.
- Socializing: Ran with my friend Monday morning and had a board game night with my lab yesterday.
- Screen time: 2.5 hours, need to get out of the bad habits engendered by the trip.
- Meditation: 5 minutes 4x last week. Little by little.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
I've had one of these for about 5 years now. They are amazing. Don't always use it (because my discipline is weak) but it makes it much easier to resist temptation because you only have to make one decision (rather than many). Cold Turkey for laptops helps a lot (you can make it so your computer auto-shuts off after a certain time).
thejdizzler
1mo ago
This is a good idea. I used to give to my Catholic Church quite a bit, but I am put off by the tithe to the Vatican and the stupid spending habits of my pastor.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Ahhh okay thanks for the terminology clarification!
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Yes, corrected.
You can get 3 month treasury bonds....
That’s why I would suggest a bond fund: it’s liquid in a way that individual bonds are not and has a pretty comparable yield. Yes you need to sell it but credit should be able to tide you over if it’s truly urgent
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Sorry can you explain this a bit more?
thejdizzler
1mo ago
What does theMotte think might be some good charity EA options? I'm skeptical of a lot of the EA suggestions for a number of reasons. Things that have a very direct impact, like Malaria nets, I like in theory but I worry about the downstream consequences (do we really want a lot more Africans who can't feed themselves when the global fertilizer crisis really hits). Other charities that I like in theory, like the Good Food Institute, which is working on making people's diets more plant based, seem to just be paying some CEO's salary with the donations.
Right now I'm trying to donate about 10% of my net savings each month to something that I feel is good/worthwhile. Some of this will go to the guaranteed income program I participate in in Baltimore, but I'd also like to give some money to charity whose cause I agree with and has a direct impact on the world (i.e. not just paying a think-tank salary). Some causes I care about are veganism (reducing animal suffering), environmental clean-up in the US, encouraging urban agriculture/local manufacturing in general, and second language education. Would appreciate any advice.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
Treasury bonds could be a good option that's better than savings bank rates and is basically risk-free (if the US government goes belly up, none of your money is worth anything anyway). You can also suggest things like bond funds, which are more liquid and have slightly higher returns than just normal treasury bonds.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
I think it's a combination of smaller portion sizes, and walking about 25k steps/day. Walking is much more pleasant and feasible in Europe, so I tended to do it more than here.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
I think I will once your comp ends! Your posts are very high quality and I appreciate them a lot.
thejdizzler
1mo ago
- Work. Back from Europe. Excited and motivated to wrap up the end of my PhD. Job interview in Germany went well, and have another one here in Baltimore in two weeks. Will probably make a bigger post on wellness Wednesday in a few weeks about my decision to get your guys' advice.
- Fitness: Mileage was fairly low over the course of the trip (43,43,51). Hoping for 55 this week. Came back to a nice surprise: I've lost 5-7 pounds, which is about ~50% of all the weight I wanted to lose. Unfortunately I currently feel terrible because of the jet lag, but I'm sure I will recover soon. 11 weeks until Chicago.
- Intellectual stuff: reading Foundation for philosophy book club and enjoying it. Actually got a lot of Spanish practice on the trip, and thinking I should preemptively switch my L3 focus from Italian to German. Otherwise am starting a few economics books (Great Crash 1929, Pocket Picketty) which I am excited about, as this is an area of weakness for me.
- Finances: work covered most of my trip-related expenses. I also got an unexpected $2k from a student loan law suit, my salary got bumped by about $150/month, and I earned about $500 in interest/dividends from my investments. So actually ended up being an incredibly positive (35+% savings rate) month. Thinking about giving 10% of my net savings each month away (either in the form of paying for substack subscriptions or increasing the amount I donate to my income sharing club), so would also appreciate any thoughts on this.
- Dating. Nothing. In too much of a liminal space in terms of careers to dedicate much time to this now.
- Tarot. Will have a session this weekend!
- Socializing: Was very social my first few days in Germany. Haven't done anything since I got back, but hard to do so when I crash at about 7:30 pm.
- Screen time: 3 hours, but makes sense given travel!
- Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Hoping for every day this week.
I liked Hitchhiker's Guide for capturing the atmosphere of the book(s) really well. The Lord of the Rings I also really enjoyed. Anything Kubrick has done (other than Clockwork Orange) is a good adaption in my books. The first Jurassic Park movie is a really good adaption as well.
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