Don't get me wrong, Lord of the Rings is absolutely more majestic and powerful than the nerdy roleplaying games it inspired, even if said roleplaying games are pretty fun.
But here's the thing: Just based off the trailers, this new Dungeon & Dragons flick looks a heck of a lot more fun and adventurous than the fanboy series Amazon's Jeff Bezos is funding.
[Trigger Warning for Baptists: Dungeons & Dragons Ahead]
There's so many things to unpack.
As someone who has had a character torn apart by an owlbear, I winced at that part of the clip.
[My poor bard...)
Now compare this to the "Rings of Power" trailer:
Yes, the LOTR venture looks beautiful and epic.
But for all the sweeping vistas and dramatic music, the storyline isn't clear – partly because they are condensing thousands of years of lore into a streamlined series that takes place at the same relative time.
It also takes itself much more seriously than the D&D film (as it should), but it remains to be seen if there will be competent storytelling to make that gravitas hit you in all the feels like Peter Jackson's work...
...or if it will simply make you laugh because its so corny.
(Wheel of Time, anyone?)
See, in great storytelling, you need to focus on things that really matter to people – things they feel deep down.
In order to do that in fantasy, you need to have two things:
- A cohesive world with cultures, traditions, and beliefs that are unique and help readers/viewers escape to another universe.
- An understanding of reality, morality, and human nature in order to help people identify with the struggle of your characters and clearly define good and evil.
The woke cult, of course, understands none of this.
Many modern movies jar audiences out of the world by inserting modern ideologies into the mix, like creating black female Viking lords, or scenes like the one in Disney's "Jungle Cruise" where there's a long, awkward scene of a British man in 1910 telling the Rock he's not accepted because he's gay.
The "Rings of Power" series is definitely leaning into woke ideology (for a great breakdown of the above trailer and how some of the language leans into Critical Race Theory and other post-modern trash, see here)
Let me just point out one quote from the trailer to prove it:
The past is dead. We either move forward or die with it.
Sound familiar?
Welcome to "The Last Jedi" in Middle Earth!
Now, I have no clue how good the storytelling in "Dungeons & Dragons" is going to be, but the whole thing has a "Guardians of the Galaxy" vibe where the viewer understands that the movie is supposed to be a funny and ridiculous adventure.
And maybe our paranoia about "Rings of Power" is wrong. Maybe it will be great, and it's only Chris Pine's star power that makes the D&D romp seem so much more fun.
But I will note this:
When you know you're getting a formulaic heist story with '80s Rock and wizards fighting dragons, it can be profoundly satisfying.
When you get the corrupted version of serious lore – arguably the most epic piece of literature invented in the last century – that exists to preach woke screeds about intersectional power hierarchies and the patriarchy – all you feel is disgust.
And I'm not the only one who thinks Amazon's venture is gonna be the latter 👇
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