r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Morr4Seiya • 8d ago

Hated Tropes An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

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Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

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u/RecoveredAlive 8d ago

I've read the book series and watched the show. What did you see as the best part that wasn't in the books and what themes of the books did the show get wrong. I just want to have a conversation with someone about this show lol

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u/Last_Suggestion_8647 8d ago

The books are about how individuals don't really matter in the great scheme of things, they are just noise in greater picture of human civilization. What matters are the trends and forces of history. Which is both liberating and a bit depressing.

The show is about how there are these super special people are actually super important, and are the drivers of history.

For instance, the book series swap the entire cast of protagonists out, at least every book, and iirc also a couple of times mid book.

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u/gin_possum 7d ago

The only film I can think of that tries to take this approach to history is Battleship Potemkin. It’s Soviet Marxism, so its main characters are the People and Historical Materialism. And it falls into the individual character trap a couple times too

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u/Last_Suggestion_8647 7d ago

It's probably hard to avoid entirely while still having a compelling narrative. Humans seem preprogrammed to think in personal narratives. Same reason why ancient humans felt the need to personify and assign intent to various natural phenomena, or why even people who now know better, unintentionally use language of intent to about natural phenomena.

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u/gin_possum 7d ago

Yep, well said