Should Franchises Evolve with the Times?

yeah I suppose this may be the ultimate question for almost any long-running franchise preservation versus evolution [Applause] [Music] so I'm gonna do that thing I do sometimes which is where a comment will happen often enough in a video that I'll get sick of replying to it in in every time it comes up and I'll just do a video instead so this in some ways as a follow-up to the video I did about Harry Potter called Harry Potter and the heteronormative standard where I talked about the the under-representation of LGBTQ people in the Harry Potter universe given that the author has said that LGBTQ people do exist in this world if we take that as a given there's a severe under-representation now there was something that came up somewhat continuously in the comments that was an interesting point but also see I think kind of missed one of the elements of something about that I was going for so I want to kind of clarify it here and address that there were more than a few people who pointed out basically the timeline of the Harry Potter franchise both real world timeline and fictional timelines so the books the the first book was published in 1997 official story so far as best I could tell JK Rowling started writing it in 1990 the last book came out in 2007 now setting wise and when I say last book I meant that you know the main Harry Potter series the the seven core books setting wise it starts I believe set either in 90 or 91 and runs through 97 98 so basically regardless of when any given entry in the book was published it is a 90s set story so the result of that is more than a few people you know took note of that both when it was written and when it was set and said well given the time frame is it realistic for there to be noted you know LGBTQ characters because it would have been I don't want to say less appropriate less common let's go with that for anyone not identifying as cisgender heterosexual to be out especially in a high school environment and there's a certain validity to that so I I do want to acknowledge that that's not an invalid argument or question to ask but for me it doesn't fix the main problems that I have because for me that argument only works if you strictly confine it to those seven books and you know if D and by grandfather clause I suppose the v8 films based off that if you can find it to those because if we also contribute in the fact which I've pointed out myself before it is it is a third-person restricted narrative perspective meaning except for the prologue stuff at the beginning of every book basically the entire thing is from Harris point of view it's not first-person narration but he's the only one whose thoughts we are privy to everything all the information we get as a reader is filtered through him so if he was never aware that his classmates were LGBTQ there's no omniscient narration to inform us of that so I do feel that that is a valid point if you restrict it to those seven books the problem is the argument that I was making about representation was looking at the franchise as a whole and not restricting it you to the seven books which is sort of where I found frustration because I got the point that people were making but they were narrowing the view from what I was talking about I was like I'm talking about this and they kind of went well look at this it's fine but I'm like well yeah you cut off the segment's where it all goes wrong so sure it looks fine now and by that what I mean is and I didn't go into as much detail about this as I could have been maybe should have part of my frustration with Harry Potter as a franchise is that it has as it has gone on JK Rowling has had continual opportunities to basically back up her original conviction that's what about a decade old now that gay people exist here be but for her to continue to claim that and yet not only in the books proper but now in things set outside the school with new characters perspectives things like fantastic beasts and where to find them and all of the supplementary material meaning Pottermore cursed child etc if there is any relationship details it's always heterosexual and there were people in the comments who would go well look how do you how do you know that you know people didn't come out after high school I'm like well strictly speaking we don't not for every character we saw but every single character who we know some degree of information about them from post the last book if it puts them in a relationship at all it's always heterosexual every single last one they're either in a heterosexual or they're not another relationship at all or we just don't have the information so that was where my frustration came in because I didn't think that you could defend it when you look at the grander scope of the franchise which was what I was looking at but the reason I didn't take my hat off and go through my whole LGBTQ phase I actually want to expand this conversation out further from that initial starting point because it brings up the question when we're dealing with franchises that go on for decades how much work should be put into preserving the standards at the time it was started or adjusting it for modern standards and this is obviously something people get very invested in especially when it comes to things like representation because you know it as I myself have said when a franchise gets really really big and it continues to exclude you know a fundamental fact of who you are which you know for a lot of LGBTQ fans of a lot of things they find themselves continue to be excluded even as more and more and more more characters get added and and part of the reason I'm bringing this up is because some people made reference in the comments not only to Harry Potter but also brought up Star Wars because I've mentioned that franchises I remember one commenter specifically was like well Star Wars was started in the 70s they wouldn't have had gay characters in the 70s and my media thought was look I wasn't saying they should have had gay characters in the original Star Wars I'm saying the franchise is still going on we're still getting new entries are we supposed to be walking off to a 1970s writing standard and acting as if that's still the time that we're existing in like and I am asking that sincerely is that what people think should happen and I guess opposed to a certain extent I know that some people do think that that should happen because that's often part of the argument against certain changes to a franchise put it back to the way it was and that's not an altogether not understandable thing because sometimes changes that get made go really badly for any variety of reasons characters and stories get taken in directions that are just bad just bad ideas they they ruin things but it's just weird for me the idea that something that is trying to continue to exist and I would think trying to stay relevant in modern times that there would be a defense for continuing to act as if it's still in the case of some of their Star Wars 1970 the case of somebody like Harry Potter like is still 1997 if you want your franchise to remain relevant I'd have to change with the times now that's and I'm sure some people will misrepresent me on this one in the comments as they did last time my little trick to single out all the people who left comments but without finishing the video it worked pretty clearly I didn't pointed them out in any replies but I got to go scroll through and go you didn't finish you didn't finish you didn't finish it in finish that was nice but so much like there I want to clarify here that I am NOT saying that by updating with the times that you know that means a ton more diversity and a ton of this and until that if it doesn't fit so like trying to think of a good example for a long-running franchise I mean I really has I really hesitate to praise Frank Miller because I kind of find the man to be deeply unpleasant but you know it's what's coming to my head someone like Sin City what Sin City is is intended as something very specific and it's it's in a very specific vein and genre and vibe and that vibe is men damaged men and the women around them sometimes but jherich men and other things they do in that sense it that's what it is and to take something like that and I think the comics are still running well they were last I checked it's been a while but those did run for quite a while and if that started updating to reflect you know a more diverse perspective for the the characters who are basically you know the the focal points of the narrator's of the whole thing that would be that would have been a betrayal of what the thing was in the first place but when you look at something like Star Wars where what's the core message rebels fight the Empire way of the Jedi you know kind of chill kind of Zen find your path that Star Wars that knee aesthetic so something like that it strikes me as odd that people say oh you're rooting and again I do understand that anything any new addition of any kind can be handled poorly not every new addition is a good addition it will always come down to execution no matter what it is whether it's a good idea or a bad idea because you can implement a good idea of poorly just as well as you can just make a bad idea worse so it will always be a matter of execution but like to suggest that the reason why it's okay that something like Star Wars or Harry Potter doesn't have LGBTQ characters is because when the franchise started that sort of thing wasn't normal that's a really weird extrapolation to me and it's the sort of thing like I never thought anyone would have made that argument but it came up continuously like enough that I'm making this video because the like I said the reason I do these sorts of I don't want to say rebuttal but response to recurrent comment videos is because it's happening often enough that I get sick of replying to the comments about it and yeah I know I never want to call that people would even be making that argument but I don't know that sometimes subtext is it's odd like I'll get calm and saying boy I I never thought of it that way and I find myself thinking really I didn't think I had an unusual perspective to that my brain might frankly work in a vastly different way than I think it does like in terms of how typical my thought processes are I don't know there's a little philosophical divergence for you but overall it's it's just odd to me to make the argument that something should never evolve because if all you want is the same thing well you have the original just re-watch it if it's going to continue it should evolve in some way shape or form otherwise what's the point and sort of circle back Harry Potter and get to the other side of that critique where people who are saying but it's set in the early 90s it's like well just because something set in a time where LGBTQ people maybe felt they couldn't be out publicly that doesn't mean that you can't have them there or that you can't find some way to confirm to the audience like you can confirm to the audience or at least very firmly indicate that a character is LGBTQ or Jewish or Muslim or you know from a wealthy background poor but you can indicate all sorts of things without having a character actually say it in a way that means that information is out to all other characters that are present so I don't quite get I mean I get the argument that for somebody like Harry Potter said in the nineties that students probably wouldn't be out but that doesn't mean they don't exist again though restricting you just to the books I I do give it a semi pass on the basis of we have Harry's restricted viewpoint but you know I wasn't talking about Justice Holmes just those books I was talking about the whole franchise and the scope of the whole franchise I go back to the video go back to that one and and yeah I stand by absolutely all of that like some people flat out ask me does that change your perspective well no the fact that it was written at a certain time and was set in a certain time doesn't change my perspective because it's still going on we're still getting new entries and so as we continue to get more information that it continues to still be so rigidly unincluded that doesn't change my opinion of why I think that's kinda crappy I think I would give a pass to something that was set that was written in an earlier time and is closed off within that time I don't just mean the narrative I mean the franchise so you know one of my favorite book series efforts to charters guides of galaxy not very diverse there was one female character of note and she doesn't really become interesting at all until the third book and that's really kind of her only time to shine she doesn't do a lot and that you know from my perspective here I'm like boy that's just that's kind of a shame but I look at when it was written in the fact that it was you know too closed off thing I can go well would have been nice if it had been more diverse it's not and you know anyone who wants to adopt it change it do continuations of it which there have been some you know if they want to tinker with that fine but you know the original work that that is what it is or God try I don't know I'm trying to think of the stuff that I read when I was young that didn't become a continually updated franchise you know things like that things that that were done and maybe they had a little series how to run but then they finished they were closed off and they exist strictly in their moment in time when you have a franchise that is continuing to get new entries it no longer exists only in the moment that it was created or the timeframe in which it set it exists now in the time we live now with the standards and expectations we have now so I would feel it kind of has to evolve again the nature of that evolution has got a completely vary from franchise to franchise there's no you know anything being again I'll go back to what I said before I'm not saying that everything being me now must have a minimum diversity quota and this and that no but things should change and evolve if you're gonna continue to be putting it out there cuz otherwise what are you doing from a artistic standpoint I mean from a business standpoint I know exactly what you're doing you're buying another yacht will end on that cynical note so yeah just kind of wanted to follow up on some things from that video and talking general about the franchise evolution as a general concept so whatever your thoughts on what I've talked about here drop something down the comments let's talk about it there's a whole bunch of stuff you can do there's buttons and there's links check them out if you feel like it there's a patreon down there but remember folks you're the council I just run the meetings and until next time this council is adjourned [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Council of Geeks

Views: 8,622

Rating: 4.8403192 out of 5

Keywords: harry potter, star wars, blockbuster, franchise, changes, evolution

Id: n0aWu-GwxVc

Length: 19min 18sec (1158 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 04 2018