HBO’s new show Westworld is already getting criticized for its heavy violence, but don’t be so quick to judge.
It asks the dark questions
The show has already gotten strong reactions for its dark themes even though it doesn’t premiere until this Sunday, Oct. 2, but the point of the show is to question humanity’s fascination with violence, and to do that, the show needs to start by showing some violence.
Humanity isn’t the good guy, but that’s good
“I’ll put it to you this way: Interstellar was, for me, a love song of a human spirit,” creator Jonathan Nolan told Rolling Stone, referring to his 2014 film, which he co-wrote with his brother, Christopher Nolan. “The first season of the show that Lisa [Nolan] and I put together — it’s pretty much the exact opposite of that.”
Evan Rachel Wood promised it’s not gratuitous
“The things we’re showing that might seem gratuitous, there’s a reason, and we’re very careful about how we’re tackling it. We don’t show any sexual violence. It’s all implied,” Evan Rachel Wood told USA Today.
It’s implied, not shown
“It’s all implied,” Wood also said in her USA Today interview. “I would not be involved with anything I thought was dehumanizing women. If anything, I think we’re showing how horrible it is. What would happen if you were a host and endured 30 years of abuse and one day woke up and remembered it?”
J.J. Abrams is an executive producer
The cast is smart
Female leads Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton are smart women. And they’re big enough in their careers that they wouldn’t do a show like this if it wasn’t good for the women in the series and women as a whole.
Thandie Newton is all for it
“I was naked 70 percent of the time on set — 70 percent! — and it was the first time I felt in control of my body at work,” Newton told The Guardian.
Anthony Hopkins promises interest
“It’s the most interesting part I’ve had in a long time, because he [his character, Dr. Robert Ford] had to say so many grand themes about the bicameral mind and consciousness and all that,” Hopkins said during an interview with the LA Times. “And it gets more interesting.”
James Marsden calls it ‘personal’
“It’s kind of personal,” Marsden told Stuff. “Maybe you will have empathy for them, maybe you will have empathy for the human race because of how they reveal themselves to be when they don’t have society’s judgment on how to behave. I maybe feel sorry for the human race.”
There aren’t any crazy orgies
There were leaked contracts from the set that reportedly asked that extras be OK with genital-to-genital contact. This, as you can imagine, led to some crazy rumors about what was going on on the set. The truth is that it wasn’t really that exciting.
“I kept reading those stories,” Evan Rachel Wood said to USA Today, “and I’m thinking, ‘Why was I not on set those days?'”There’s a bigger picture
“We’re aware of expectations for a show like this, and we’re interested in subverting them,” creator Jonathan Nolan said to USA Today. “The show is interested in asking: ‘Why is violence something that humans are drawn to? Why is it part of our entertainment?'”
It deserves a chance
After so many starts and stops on J.J. Abrams’ dream project, along with the $54 million budget to back it up, the series deserves an audience for the premiere at least. Give yourself the chance to judge the series for yourself rather than just read reviews about the violence and brush it off. Be an educated consumer — otherwise, what makes you different from the robots of Westworld?
Leave a Comment