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about betrayal and the contract with the audience
[xposted from tumblr]
I’ve been thinking about why the recent interview (x) doesn’t fill me with more confidence, even though the producers are hinting heavily at a redemption arc for Ward, even drawing the comparison with Bucky.
Here’s the thing: The character of Grant Ward was presented to us as a loyal hero type. With flaws and edges and a somewhat offputting personality in the beginning, but deep down a good guy. They gave us 16 episodes to bond with that character. At which point they did a 180 and turned him into a villain. Sure, in hindsight there were a handful of clues, but when even the actor who plays him is shocked by the development, it’s safe to say it came out of the blue.
I read that they did this to let the viewers at home experience the same kind of feelings that our agents experience at the traitors in their midst. But the thing is, I don’t feel betrayed by Ward or Hydra ‘cause, hey, fictional. I feel betrayed by the writers. I’d go as far as to say they broke the contract with the audience for the sake of (admittedly gripping) storytelling. I don’t trust them any more.
As an aside, this phrasing ticks me off and makes me wary: “There’s also the fun of sometimes your heroes team up with the villain to go after something that’s even worse,“
Yeeah… no. Not a good word choice. Watching a character who got abused through his childhood, was forced to abuse his little brother, and then had his mind warped and twisted by his mentor and so-called savior, to the point where he is completely lost without direct orders from him… watching someone like that, who never even got the chance to develop a moral compass, stick around as a frikking villain instead of getting a chance to redeem himself is not fun. Certainly not for all of us.
Show, please make my concerns be unjustified.
I’ve been thinking about why the recent interview (x) doesn’t fill me with more confidence, even though the producers are hinting heavily at a redemption arc for Ward, even drawing the comparison with Bucky.
Here’s the thing: The character of Grant Ward was presented to us as a loyal hero type. With flaws and edges and a somewhat offputting personality in the beginning, but deep down a good guy. They gave us 16 episodes to bond with that character. At which point they did a 180 and turned him into a villain. Sure, in hindsight there were a handful of clues, but when even the actor who plays him is shocked by the development, it’s safe to say it came out of the blue.
I read that they did this to let the viewers at home experience the same kind of feelings that our agents experience at the traitors in their midst. But the thing is, I don’t feel betrayed by Ward or Hydra ‘cause, hey, fictional. I feel betrayed by the writers. I’d go as far as to say they broke the contract with the audience for the sake of (admittedly gripping) storytelling. I don’t trust them any more.
As an aside, this phrasing ticks me off and makes me wary: “There’s also the fun of sometimes your heroes team up with the villain to go after something that’s even worse,“
Yeeah… no. Not a good word choice. Watching a character who got abused through his childhood, was forced to abuse his little brother, and then had his mind warped and twisted by his mentor and so-called savior, to the point where he is completely lost without direct orders from him… watching someone like that, who never even got the chance to develop a moral compass, stick around as a frikking villain instead of getting a chance to redeem himself is not fun. Certainly not for all of us.
Show, please make my concerns be unjustified.