The politics of Netflix trying to adapt The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
I need a break from the heavy stuff, so let's talk science fiction.
If you haven't read Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem, you really should. It is an outstanding book. The second book in the series-- The Dark Forest-- had some interesting ideas, but some glaring flaws. The third book, Death's End... was a complete disaster. And I'll get to that, along with the problems as they developed into the second book.
In short, read Book 1, I'll make a case for reading Book 2, but don't waste your time with Book 3.
However.
As you have probably noticed, the entirety of the television and movie industry consists of adapting and remaking, because none of them have any original ideas anymore. What number Dune adaptation are they on now? I suppose that depends on how you count Jodorowsky. You know they're going to make a mess of Sandman (which kind of fell into the category of "glorious mess" anyway), and... seriously. Adapting Foundation... oy. If they actually go ahead and remake Buffy, I'll... I'll... I'll post something grumpy about it! So help me, my fingers will type grumpy things!
Notice I didn't even scratch the surface. Because television and movies consist of nothing but adaptations and remakes.
Anyway, I type these things because Netflix is adapting The Three-Body Problem, which... I suppose is better than adapting some annoying fanfic thing about something that sucked anyway that I wish I didn't know existed. So... there's that. Of course, if you start with schlock, there's no danger of ruining a good thing, whereas if you start with a really good book, you run the risk of bothering fanboys like me. Not that I'll do anything more than post grumpy things on a blog that nobody reads, but whatever.
Back on track. Netflix is adapting The Three-Body Problem. And there's some strange pushback from some Republican senators. I say, "strange," because the pushback comes as a result of Cixin Liu's full-throated support of the Chinese government's oppression of the Uighurs. Basically, Liu is a psycho.
On one hand, it is interesting that this is happening, politically. Republicans are trying to cancel Cixin Liu! Aren't they the ones who claim to hate "cancel culture?" Also, for the sake of the Uighurs? Interesting. Or maybe it's just posturing against China because that's the GOP's schtick right now. We're at war with Eastasia, not Eurasia, ya' know... (with a side-helping of hip, hip, hurray for Putin). When was the last time these people stood up for oppression of muslims? [Checks notes, finds nothing.]
Y'all know what my position is going to be here. I oppose cancel culture in all circumstances, and I preach divorcing art from artist. Yes, as it turns out, Liu is a terrible person. That must not guide how we read The Three-Body Problem, how we react to the proposal of a television adaptation of it, nor raise the specter of cancelation. Even though Liu is a bigot and a psychopath. And I'm sick of television producers being lazy and just adapting things.
Do something new, you lazy parasites.
Yet, what's interesting here is that if you read through the full series, you'll know that Liu is a terrible person, but not in a way that would bother the kind of people about to confirm Amy Barrett.
Liu is grossly misogynistic. That comes through in Book 2, and it overwhelms Book 3. So, some Republican senators are reacting to Liu's position on the Uighurs, oddly, but nobody is talking about his over-the-top misogyny! Fascinating!
If you don't want spoilers, because you're going to watch the Netflix show and you want to watch it cold, you have the main point now. Turn away, because now, I'm going to discuss the books. I'll try to do so in a way that is as non-spoiler-y as possible, but some spoilers just can't be avoided. You've been warned.
__________________________________________
So here's the basic set-up, with the bare minimum of spoilers. Physics experiments stop working. Why? Aliens. It is a prelude to a full-on invasion. That's Book 1, and it sounds simple when I put it that way, but it is so much cooler than that. Read it.
The problems come about in Book 2. The Dark Forest meanders rather a lot, as Earth and the aliens-- the Trisolarans-- start preparing for confrontation, and eventually arrive at a very tense detente. The resolution comes when Luo Ji figures out how to deter the Trisolarans from wiping out humanity. Luo Ji is a very interesting character, and very far from a conventional hero, almost an anti-hero in his nihilism, but not malicious enough to fall into the traditional anti-hero category. Yet, we start to see problems with Liu's view of women through him. First, he basically just wants an empty vessel/pretty face to protect, and that's his ideal. Liu treats this as, not something contemptible about him (and he has many contemptible traits), but as just sort of a thing about men and women.
The big stuff, though, comes in Book 3. Your POV character in Death's End is Cheng Xin, and she is a terrible character. Not a villain, but a terrible character, badly constructed from a literary perspective. Liu writes her as a nice person, whose only notable trait is a generic form of "niceness," but contemptibly weak. Through her weakness, she brings about the downfall of humanity. Liu contrasts Cheng Xin's contemptible weakness with a raging, prolapsed asshole named Thomas Wade, who would have been the right person for a critical job, and their contrast is set amid the bemoaning of a future feminization of humanity that includes the physical as well as personality/culture. And the thing is, this just built on themes set up in The Dark Forest. Liu simply took those themes to their extreme in Death's End. There is no reading I can construct of Death's End other than that women are weak and stupid and that their weakness and stupidity will, if unchecked by manly men of manliness who are basically psycho, bring down humanity.
When I said it was grossly misogynistic, I wasn't kidding.
Look, I wrote a long series ranting about virtue-signaling in science fiction and fantasy. I like it when writers take risks and don't just do the lefty pandering thing because that's what everyone is supposed to do now. It's honestly a little tiring for me, as a reader, to see a title getting buzz, know nothing else about it but the fact that it's getting buzz, and be able to predict that I'm going to get lectures about modern identity politics. Sometimes, they'll be good lectures, and sometimes they'll be bad lectures, but either way, it's tiring to know that if you just pick a random book buzzed on TOR.com or some other major site, or go by the awards, that's what you'll get. A bunch of Octavia Butler wannabes, only some of whom even attempt to match her subtlety or nuance. And alas, Jemisin's last book didn't try for that, and yeah, I'm still bitter about that. It was like when Coltrane went completely abstract after A Love Supreme, and those last two years of recordings just sucked. After putting out the greatest album ever. GAH!!!*
Back on track. The point is, I don't like virtue-signaling. But Death's End really was misogynistic. Straight up.
But you know, that series was kinda long. I doubt any of those senators read any of the books, much less read through to the end of death. Or are capable of parsing subtext. Or would have cared.
Anyway, there's a middle ground between the gross misogyny of Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem trilogy, the... whatever we want to call it in N.K. Jemisin's dud, The City We Became, and all of this is worthy of discussion.
But from the perspective of adapting a book to a tv show, take the work on its own terms. I will always oppose this kind of cancel culture. Better yet, though, just do something original. I suppose, though, that asking for originality is as futile as hoping for an end to cancel culture.
*I still love you, Nora. I'm comparing you to Coltrane, and A Love Supreme. I just... can't back you on The City We Became. No. Sorry. Can't do it.
If you haven't read Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem, you really should. It is an outstanding book. The second book in the series-- The Dark Forest-- had some interesting ideas, but some glaring flaws. The third book, Death's End... was a complete disaster. And I'll get to that, along with the problems as they developed into the second book.
In short, read Book 1, I'll make a case for reading Book 2, but don't waste your time with Book 3.
However.
As you have probably noticed, the entirety of the television and movie industry consists of adapting and remaking, because none of them have any original ideas anymore. What number Dune adaptation are they on now? I suppose that depends on how you count Jodorowsky. You know they're going to make a mess of Sandman (which kind of fell into the category of "glorious mess" anyway), and... seriously. Adapting Foundation... oy. If they actually go ahead and remake Buffy, I'll... I'll... I'll post something grumpy about it! So help me, my fingers will type grumpy things!
Notice I didn't even scratch the surface. Because television and movies consist of nothing but adaptations and remakes.
Anyway, I type these things because Netflix is adapting The Three-Body Problem, which... I suppose is better than adapting some annoying fanfic thing about something that sucked anyway that I wish I didn't know existed. So... there's that. Of course, if you start with schlock, there's no danger of ruining a good thing, whereas if you start with a really good book, you run the risk of bothering fanboys like me. Not that I'll do anything more than post grumpy things on a blog that nobody reads, but whatever.
Back on track. Netflix is adapting The Three-Body Problem. And there's some strange pushback from some Republican senators. I say, "strange," because the pushback comes as a result of Cixin Liu's full-throated support of the Chinese government's oppression of the Uighurs. Basically, Liu is a psycho.
On one hand, it is interesting that this is happening, politically. Republicans are trying to cancel Cixin Liu! Aren't they the ones who claim to hate "cancel culture?" Also, for the sake of the Uighurs? Interesting. Or maybe it's just posturing against China because that's the GOP's schtick right now. We're at war with Eastasia, not Eurasia, ya' know... (with a side-helping of hip, hip, hurray for Putin). When was the last time these people stood up for oppression of muslims? [Checks notes, finds nothing.]
Y'all know what my position is going to be here. I oppose cancel culture in all circumstances, and I preach divorcing art from artist. Yes, as it turns out, Liu is a terrible person. That must not guide how we read The Three-Body Problem, how we react to the proposal of a television adaptation of it, nor raise the specter of cancelation. Even though Liu is a bigot and a psychopath. And I'm sick of television producers being lazy and just adapting things.
Do something new, you lazy parasites.
Yet, what's interesting here is that if you read through the full series, you'll know that Liu is a terrible person, but not in a way that would bother the kind of people about to confirm Amy Barrett.
Liu is grossly misogynistic. That comes through in Book 2, and it overwhelms Book 3. So, some Republican senators are reacting to Liu's position on the Uighurs, oddly, but nobody is talking about his over-the-top misogyny! Fascinating!
If you don't want spoilers, because you're going to watch the Netflix show and you want to watch it cold, you have the main point now. Turn away, because now, I'm going to discuss the books. I'll try to do so in a way that is as non-spoiler-y as possible, but some spoilers just can't be avoided. You've been warned.
__________________________________________
So here's the basic set-up, with the bare minimum of spoilers. Physics experiments stop working. Why? Aliens. It is a prelude to a full-on invasion. That's Book 1, and it sounds simple when I put it that way, but it is so much cooler than that. Read it.
The problems come about in Book 2. The Dark Forest meanders rather a lot, as Earth and the aliens-- the Trisolarans-- start preparing for confrontation, and eventually arrive at a very tense detente. The resolution comes when Luo Ji figures out how to deter the Trisolarans from wiping out humanity. Luo Ji is a very interesting character, and very far from a conventional hero, almost an anti-hero in his nihilism, but not malicious enough to fall into the traditional anti-hero category. Yet, we start to see problems with Liu's view of women through him. First, he basically just wants an empty vessel/pretty face to protect, and that's his ideal. Liu treats this as, not something contemptible about him (and he has many contemptible traits), but as just sort of a thing about men and women.
The big stuff, though, comes in Book 3. Your POV character in Death's End is Cheng Xin, and she is a terrible character. Not a villain, but a terrible character, badly constructed from a literary perspective. Liu writes her as a nice person, whose only notable trait is a generic form of "niceness," but contemptibly weak. Through her weakness, she brings about the downfall of humanity. Liu contrasts Cheng Xin's contemptible weakness with a raging, prolapsed asshole named Thomas Wade, who would have been the right person for a critical job, and their contrast is set amid the bemoaning of a future feminization of humanity that includes the physical as well as personality/culture. And the thing is, this just built on themes set up in The Dark Forest. Liu simply took those themes to their extreme in Death's End. There is no reading I can construct of Death's End other than that women are weak and stupid and that their weakness and stupidity will, if unchecked by manly men of manliness who are basically psycho, bring down humanity.
When I said it was grossly misogynistic, I wasn't kidding.
Look, I wrote a long series ranting about virtue-signaling in science fiction and fantasy. I like it when writers take risks and don't just do the lefty pandering thing because that's what everyone is supposed to do now. It's honestly a little tiring for me, as a reader, to see a title getting buzz, know nothing else about it but the fact that it's getting buzz, and be able to predict that I'm going to get lectures about modern identity politics. Sometimes, they'll be good lectures, and sometimes they'll be bad lectures, but either way, it's tiring to know that if you just pick a random book buzzed on TOR.com or some other major site, or go by the awards, that's what you'll get. A bunch of Octavia Butler wannabes, only some of whom even attempt to match her subtlety or nuance. And alas, Jemisin's last book didn't try for that, and yeah, I'm still bitter about that. It was like when Coltrane went completely abstract after A Love Supreme, and those last two years of recordings just sucked. After putting out the greatest album ever. GAH!!!*
Back on track. The point is, I don't like virtue-signaling. But Death's End really was misogynistic. Straight up.
But you know, that series was kinda long. I doubt any of those senators read any of the books, much less read through to the end of death. Or are capable of parsing subtext. Or would have cared.
Anyway, there's a middle ground between the gross misogyny of Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem trilogy, the... whatever we want to call it in N.K. Jemisin's dud, The City We Became, and all of this is worthy of discussion.
But from the perspective of adapting a book to a tv show, take the work on its own terms. I will always oppose this kind of cancel culture. Better yet, though, just do something original. I suppose, though, that asking for originality is as futile as hoping for an end to cancel culture.
*I still love you, Nora. I'm comparing you to Coltrane, and A Love Supreme. I just... can't back you on The City We Became. No. Sorry. Can't do it.
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