I think Anya's actually pretty charismatic. The Yen she plays is awful but I hope the actress will be able to get some other, actually well-written roles and continue with her career.
yeah, she's obviously talented but the writing is awful and inconsistent. and, honestly, she's just too young for this role. i hope, though, she gets noticed and cast in better roles where she can use her skills
I think what gets me most is how proud Hissrich is of herself. She really thinks she gets "hate" for making the Witcher more progressive and feminist than the original. I'm Polish and I'm a woman and the books really changed my outlook on life and power, showed me that inequality can sometimes be surpassed with enough intelligence, dedication and luck. It's not gonna happen always and for everyone, the system is inherently cruel and unjust but even poor, ugly peasant girls can sometimes beak out of it. So it pays to study hard, to be ambitious, to try to climb that ladder. At the same time, you cannot forget the important things: family, human connections, common decency. With so many different female role-models I really got to see a whole spectrum of roles a woman can have. You know who's one of my favourite female character (and love story) in the whole saga? Queen Zuleyka. That's how good the original, written by a middle-aged Polish man raised in a pretty traditional country, was.
Basically what they are doing is turning the system they perceive as discriminatory on its head and implementing it again with a female supremacist view. It's the You Go Girl, get that bag attitude where they make Yennefer naturally deserving and born for greatness without putting in the work. Because she is a reflection of how These, often extremely privileged, authors see themselves.
i think she either didn't read the books or didn't pay attention to them. the show actually constantly undermines its female characters. the books are considerably more feminist.
And the level of heartbreak when you realize that it was Zuleyka's misplaced trust in Sheala that got her husband killed is a level of writing that Hissrich cannot even dream about.
44:00 That's because Geralt is not a passive character in the books. He claims to be passive, he often SAYS that witchers are supposed to be neutral and unfeeling, but in fact he is NOT. He cared too much to stay neutral, cue the events in Blaviken. He even spares monsters if possible.
@@LadyAhro He does not lie to himself at all. He is extremly self-aware. It is a constant struggle between rationality and emotions. Constant fight betwenn ideals and brutal reality. He pities himself for having scruples. His emotions are just slightly harmed by the mutation but often he wishes that he was cold and emotionless like it was intended. It all starts with the story he tells about his first killing as a witcher. That instead of praises and graatitude he got fear and disgust.
I haven't read all of the books, but from the first two I did read this struck me as a huge difference between the adaptation and source material. In the books I got the sense that he did buy into the idea of Witchers not having emotions, maybe as some sort of defense mechanism to deal with the horrors of the world. It's an excuse to force himself not to care or feel that he begins to realize is just not who he is.
I'm physically disabled in a similar way to how Yennefer was shown and the whole sex scene really disturbed me / grossed me out. Without being explicit, I will say that you can't perform like a porn star or game of thrones character when your back is like that. It bothered me, because it made me feel like it was a blatant display of the writers not knowing/caring about what kind of a disability Yennefer had; that they wanted us to pity her, but that they didn't understand or bother to understand what they had created in this version of the character. I pushed through and kept watching, but that one scene was really difficult for me to see. I'm usually one who believes others are too "soft" and could toughen up, but that moment got me in the not-good-audience-response way. I did not expect realism, but I was disgusted at how Yennefer was only disabled / clumsy when the writers wanted to remind the viewer, but then forgot about it when the character WOULD be affected / limited in their ability. For any writers out there looking for advice about how to write a similar character arch, here's some advice; only make the character as disabled as you are willing to look into; if you don't want to research (not deep-dive, I mean literally just surface-level) a condition, then don't and instead go with what you are willing to put some time into grasping. Disabled people will not hate you for not being 100% accurate, but they do get upset when a character is only "sometimes" affected and otherwise seems not to be. Also, as one extra suggestion, you can definitely have the newly "cured" character be happy to be healed; in fact, showing them do a little thing they could never do before in the mists of some scene with a different focus would be cute. Like, say in a dialog-heavy situation the hunch back, who is now cured, realizes they can lift and place an object with ease that would have hurt them before; or that they can hop or skip and it brings a smirk to their face. Nothing big, or dramatic; it could just be a tiny moment of realization. By contrast, I felt like in the adaption of the Witcher Yennefer's physical impairments just cease to be part of the script, with her and everyone else only noting how she has become beautiful. Really I'd argue she'd love that effect, but would immediately take notice to how she feels completely different. When your spine is twisted, you might find it hurts to breathe. A dull pain, but it's there and gets worse from running, or lifting, or lying down. You might also find there's just a lot of pressure from tissue and bone pressing on each other. There's a million sensory aspects from becoming un-disabled that the person themselves would notice before realizing that their outward shell is now prettier. Would that (becoming beautiful) be what other characters notice first? Of course, but it wouldn't be what the afflicted notices first.
Warto zwrócić uwagę, że w książce jest opisana inna historia, w której Yennefer traci i odzyskuje sprawność. Mianowicie po bitwie pod Sodden traci wzrok, a później go odzyskuje. Po tym wydarzeniu wydaje się bardziej refleksyjna, w książce można znaleźć kilka fragmentów podkreślających, że docenia możliwość widzenia.
People were shocked when I said that the tortuous transformation scene Yen undergoes is something I’d do without hesitation, as if my reasoning was superficial and mad. Then I reminded them that I had major spinal surgery. I was thinking of the relief from constant pain, the ease of mobility, how there’s no long or complicated recovery. That temporary torture, much like my surgery, would be totally worth it. Improved aesthetics were just a lovely bonus of, not the reason for, undergoing such a torturous transformation. Also, can you imagine, for a moment, just how horrific being pregnant would be as a disabled hunchback? The pressure on the spine, the ribs, the hips. There’s a high likelihood-depending on just how twisted her spine is-that she couldn’t even safely carry, yet alone deliver, a child. Giving up her ability to conceive a baby isn’t nearly as huge of a sacrifice as the show makes it out to be since Yen likely would have required magical (or vastly advanced medical) intervention to survive having a kid. Adoption was always Yen’s most feasible path towards motherhood. In the show, that is.
Ironically, Sapkowski is a left-wing, progressive writer who created a novel full of interesting and strong female characters, and Netflix has turned them into selfish hysterics and idiots who are manipulated by others.
I love that you really put an emphasis on Show-Yennefer being so special and important because of her trauma, which basically means that if she would not have had this trauma and wouldn't be miserable mentally, she wouldn't be special and interesting. I hate it when shows or whatever do this kind of thing. It really infected my mind as a teen and even as a young adult it still somewhat sticks with me, the thought that I will inevitably be uninteresting and basic if I overcome my mental health issues and traumas. It's such a horrible mentality to put into a piece of media, such a horrible lesson to teach...
I also think Yennefer got the harshest punishment as an "adapted" character. Netflix did not get anything about her and it shows, she ends up vile, spoiled even. Putting her backstory first was a mistake, at least if it's done so bluntly and poorly. It was fantastic to peel her layers as you read all the way till the Hindarsfjaal Freya vision and then fierce struggle against Vilgefortz while Geralt was fucking around in Beauclair. Can't imagine this botched show ever getting anywhere near that level. Also Aretuza was a school strictly for girls so I don't know why it's made to be patriarchal, boys had Ban Ard. I'm looking very much forward to the next parts, I was already immensly frustrated with this travesty and you showed me additional issues I didn't even think about or couldn't put into words. Hope those videos blow up so people can see why it bothers fans so much and its not just "careful, your racism/sexism shows".
i don't see how aretuza is made 'patriarchal' in the show. once women graduate from there they enter the wider 'brotherhood of sorcerers' in the books and that seems to be what's depicted in the show. the show does amp up the gratuitous grimdark shit to 11 though, making the environment some orders of magnitude more abusive and exploitative, probably in a vain attempt to appease all the fake fans who think the witcher is supposed to be like warhammer fantasy or something
@@joshridinger3407 There's no "wider brotherhood of sorcerers", they're all just mages, some more powerful/older/wiser than others, you don't join anything. They also made Stregobor and Artorius Vigo way more important than they were, for some reason being top dogs in the mage community? Having any voice in how Aretuza should be run and what will mages do in politics? No idea what's that about, Tissaia and Margarita were running Aretuza and it was just a school, not some giant institution to be fought against.
@@Synthia17 there's literally a governing body made up of both male and female sorcerers: the council and the conclave. in the show, tissaia doesn''t turn girls into eels because stregobor makes her do it lol. that nonsense has nothing to do with patriarchy.
@@joshridinger3407 Those are there to protect magic and its interest or get rid of rogues and those who might hurt the mages by engaging unethical practices. You don't get to join a brotherhood and Aretuza has all female governance. And of course, the whole eel thing is ridiculous, I mean why do they even have meetings anywhere near Aretuza and Ban Ard isn't even mentioned. Stregobor should sit in Kovir while Artorius isn't even a Northern Realms mage. The politics are all messed up from the start, so are the rules of magic in the show universe.
@@Synthia17 the council and conclave decides on whether the mages will support wars and stuff, what kind of political pursuits their members will engage in, what kind of magic is allowed, and so on. so yes, there is a broader community of mages outside of aretuza and ban ard with a governing body, and mages become subject to this institution after graduating from their schools. they mostly rule with a light touch, but they do rule. and yennefer actually does mention ban ard in one episode when yelling at istredd (she calls him a 'ban ard boy').
Also, why is Hissrich in every interview? I think that's the first time I see a writer/producer be present during nearly every conversation with the cast. It's like she's there to jump in and start explaining her choices if the actors are unable to...
she's there if in case cavill starts talking and that ends up showing people how much she botched the show and how much of a hack she is. which happened anyway.
@@mg1721 Cavill's probably the biggest threat but I doubt Freya and Anya were allowed to have any independent thoughts on their characters as well. She's controlling them all. Are there any other shows in which the writer is such a star, giving so much interview also on her own? Her ego is incredible, it killed the show in equal measures as her inability to interpret complex literary text and making Yennefer a self-insert character.
I disagree that "she isn't a Mary Sue in the show because she makes mistakes". What matters is how other characters perceive mistakes and how it changes this character's arc: if no one reacts to mistakes properly, including the character in question, that means the writer is not seeing them as mistakes and considers the Mary perfect and spotless still. A mistake needs to have a meaning, not just be there for "NOT MARY SUE" card. Edit: I forgot to thank you for this video, you are on point so often it's baffling.
My CEO would pride himself about admitting his shortcomings - proudly presenting it to the whole company. And arguably, he did admit some uncomfortable things. But when confronted with an exact thing he wrote in email, he goes "I have never used to that word. Those who use it are wrong". Lying. Because that was one thing he did not control narrative for. My point is, Netflix Yen, is Mary Sue because her mistakes are driven by narcissistic narrative, essentially, they don't present her as someone with deep fault but rather that she had no choice and is a victim. So it's a surface deep.
@@MartinzW the victim part is so spot on. That's what they do these days: present Mary as a victim and anything she does - however messed up it may be - is disregarded by characters and plot, because "she had no choice/she had to do it". While I would argue: characters having to face consequences for their decisions - be they in-the-moment or (especially) conscious - is exactly what moves character forward and evolves them. And in essence, what makes a character Mary Sue condenses into exactly that: absence of character evolution.
Yen have always been my favorite character ever, 'cause I've never read such a empowering yet realistically made women in fiction. I was very disappointed by Netflix adaptation of Yen, but until now I didn't realized why so clearly. I've always had the feeling that something was not right with her in the show but apart from the shitty dialogs and her victimistic personality, I didn't know what was so wrong. A don't let me start with her relationship with Geralt (The Last Wish is my favorite story ever, where their absolutely perfectly imperfect and real love starts and I couldn't believe what they did this it in the show...💔). I love how you've understood and explained the complexity of her in the books and the horrible version they did in the Netflix show, butchering her personality, real strength and beauty. Thank you so much for this video! ❤️
As someone who has 10 play-through's in The Witcher 3 and who chose Yen every single time, I completely agree with you. I love her character and yet I completely hate her "Netflix version."
Мне кажется, они сделали с Йеннифер то же, что сделали с Мулан в Диснеевском ремейке. Теперь она не тяжело работала над собой и использовала свои сильные стороны, нет, она родилась с силой, превосходящей всех вокруг, и женщин, которым запрещено пользоваться этой силой, и мужчин, которые поощряются за использование этой силы.
I think that Yennefer doesn't need tragic past to be WHAT she was in books. She lived like 200+ years, saw things that would break strongest minds. We do not need to see her past, we need to see her changing and evolving into loving motherly figure... And we didn't got that. Netflix is doing everything backwards. We got her backstory we didn't care about, because it doesn't bare any weight on her character later in the series. You can literally cut every scene with hunchback yennefer and nothing changes. And before anyone says "Oh, but it removes context of her behaviour" no it doesn't. In almost every scene she is in, she talks about THE SAME problem she has ever since they infertilised her.
Even though Yenn remains my fave character on the show, I agree with EVERYTHING this video said. U_U The problem is the storyboarding/writing--they fumbled the bag by not remembering who she is in CANON, and WHY Ciri & Geralt love her, even when the rest of the world doesn't. They had something truly special with their take on Yenn, but the timeline's are all over the place, none of it's cohesive, and they said to heck with continuity. So Yenn comes off contradictory & hypocritical, when in the books she's one of the most focused/consistent characters. She CAN be unlikable (it's canon), so long as it's for the right reasons. What's wild is that this Yenn's closer to Dandelion of all people. I ship her more with Istredd than Geralt! It's also a problem that most of the fans ship Dandelion with Geralt, too. Like wtf, this poor woman had several sex scenes & showed her boobs MULTIPLE times, what do you mean you don't ship her with Geralt!? Oh right--because Hissrich actually hates Geralt/Henry so much that she forgot he and Yenn are actually supposed to be in love. XDDD
If i recall correctly the is a Chapter intro in the first or second book from Tissia to the mages, about the dangers of having kids as a mage. That they could have uncontroleble amounts of power. So she speaks in favor of Sterilisation of all sorcceresses novices. In the books I also saw it as a choice to sacrifice fertility for power.
No, because new mages are trained as children from non magical parents. Some of them just got the money to send them to Aretusa/ Ban Ard and some just got the talent. Nimue for example a book charakter.@@ghoulchan7525
I thought Yennefer was the best part of S1, but this video made me realize that it was really Anya Chalotra’s acting that I loved, and not the actual character.
Apart from what was said in the video (essentially the victim mentality for xyz reasons), I mostly got the idea from Yennefer: "no children = no happiness". Did we stumble and this absolete idea somehow now is the universal norm? xd
i've only seen the show and yen is my favourite character, but it's a shame that her hypocrisy never really gets challenged the way you expect it to be. the decisions she makes don't make sense sometimes, and finding out that's because her characterisation clashes with the source material is interesting. it would have been nice if they picked a side and did some version of the character justice
Great character analysis. It seems the writers of the show truly have no appreciation for the depth of the original character - they ended up writing in less depth.
Absolutely. She's the ultimate caricature of a victim who became an abuser. She's meant to be striking and memorable but she's NOT a nice character, she's fundamentally selfish and oblivious to the needs of others. I mean she got Geralt into a relationship by drugging him and r*ping him! She grows as a character, but she's an anti-hero at best. I'm SO angry that they messed with that. It could have been SO powerful if they'd let her have her own conflict she was originally written with rather than retconning it. Yennifer's one striking redeeming feature in the books - particularly when her and Geralt first got together - was that in the books/games she grabbed life and revelled in it. She moulded life to her whims and gave no apologies. She may have been an absolute asshole, but she was utterly unashamed and unapologetic.
An hour and change on just yennifer. How long would your video be on the whole show? I'd love to see it! You hit every point like a master jewel cutter making a princess cut diamond!
"When you have power like this, never apologize"... Bang bang bang, you die and you die and you die! ... Why Should I care? My mommy figure in my life told me it was alright to do whatever the f*ck I want because I am powerfull. (Only thing missing is that she would say LOL at the end of her "I am powerfull" haha).
Yeh. I don't want to be that guy, but...can you imagine someone saying that to a male character? I guess that would be problematic, but it's okay this way (except it goes absolutely against everything Yennefer taught Ciri in the books, but I guess we're used to that by now). 🤮
Yennefer in the books never made me feel angry. I've got it from the very beginning that she had quite a complex personality. Actually quite more mature (for better or for worse) than Geralt was back then. And it made me love her by watching how she was coming back to the world of mortals under the influence of the ‘inmature’ witcher and their adopted child while staying true to who she was. In the show she's just an irresponsible teenager who has to grow up, literally the opposite approach (which is not bad by itself but it's definetely not the Witcher story). Growing up, overcoming fears and temptations was Ciri's story, and Yennefer's story was about being able to rethink what's really important. Nah... It's useless to explain something at this point because you've already explained it much better.
One accidentally funny scene from early on in season 2 was when Tissaia tells Yennefer that they'll have to give her achievements at Soden to Vilgefortz for political reasons which ironically is the exact thing the show runners did with 0 self-awareness - giving Yennefer Vilgefortz achievements for political reasons.
This is one of the reasons they chose a beginner actress for the role. If they had wanted to make her exactly how she's portrayed in the books, it's Eva Green who should have gotten it.
Unfortunately Eva is also older than Yennefer is intended to be. We're in a hard spot because Yennefer shouldn't look older than 30 but have the coldness and cool maturity. Even game Yen is physically too old but visual dissonance with Ciri had to be avoided Originally my money was on Janet Montgomery from Salem.
...kinda disagree that her reaction to the wish in the book is better. Wondering if her feelings towards Garret are indeed hers and being pissed about never really beeing able to know, seems like a proper reaction. A realization like that would certainly fuck up any relationship of mine and probably my brain. What does suck, though, is that it happens after them constantly running into one another between episodes and is only communicated through exposition. Drains that moment of all the impact. I kinda feel for them being this limited in terms of season length, but it is also precisely their job to work within the framework they are given and make the best of it.
One glorious nitpick relating to Yennefer. When the writers had her bought for "four Marks" it wasn't quite the thing they thought. A Mark historically meant a half pound measure of bullion, thus the implied low value would've really been a rather high value. Sapkowski even used the Mark corrrectly when the Nilfdaardian quartermaster contemplates the costs of war.
So they made her from a fighter and surviver into a covert narcessist.....got it. Also when selfinsertion wishfullfillment murders a character. I don't mind selfinserting, when it is honest with ALL pro's and con's. Then it can get more life into a character as the struggle is out of ones own thus should show understanding of the situation. But if you never went to understand your struggles and just make a powerfantasy, you ruin it. And her message I find deeply disturbing and unhealthy in the series. This isn't empowering....or surviving....this is blatant denial about what a human needs and seeks for happiness. Comunity, family. Even if not born from oneself, but found and nurtured. People who care about us. Also: Never apologize if you are powerful. DAMN WHAT A WEAK SHITTY THING TO TEACH! Only the weak use power over weaker ones to empower oneself. N on the marysue thing: Sorta is because the world was bend to make her *justifiable and good*....the world bended to support her being "powerful" when she is a disgusting person. As a woman I find this being defined as "empowering" insulting. This isn't empowering...this is an insult to a persons humanity and furthering all the problems in the worst way, because it doesn't serve the story, it doesn't serve an justifiable purpose, it is just down right poor understanding of writing and messages one should give people to aspire to. Peddeling to the worst first try of fanfic writing standards is NOT good series practice....if I wanna see that I get out the cringy fanfics to spot the errors.
Its a very neoliberal, bourgeois feminist rework of the story in order to allegorically "critique" society but Bourgeois liberal feminism, being rooted in idealist bourgeois ideology, fails in critiquing society and womens role within it. They made a very bioessentialist turn to with how she talks about and thinks about natural childbirth too. It would be interesting to see a marxist feminist critique of the changes in the netflix series
they made her "Not like the other girls" and masked it as feminist but its actually the opposite, Its eugenicist, bioessentialist, and classist, just like Bourgeois feminism lol
I wonder if the "memory" of Yen is meant to be a mockery of her reality. When she was young, she was full of boundless potential, full of power, even the ability to give life. She gave up the reality of who she was in exchange for a pretty face. So maybe able-bodied young yen is Yennifer retrospectively hating on herself. Shes too proud to admit she was wrong, but clearly thinks so herself.
Yen is one of my favourite character in the books, and my least favourite in the show. You have shown me why that is. It’s like they either didn’t read the books, or did and decided to make Yen the exact opposite in every way.
Sapkowski did said he wanted to make a non-stereotypical character. Complicated. And not unloved. :/ It's your private opinion if you think Yenefer is hard to like. I adored her reading these books as a child - she was real, selfish, loving, powerfull, wise and fascinatingly arrogant. This does not mean that every girl reading this book wants to be like Yenefer - she was just fascinating and had flaws, she was a complicated character. I loved reading about her and my heart bleed when she hurts Geralt with her behavior. But he loved her just like that. For me - as a child reading Sapkowski's books, and then as a woman - the relationship between Geralt and Triss was the most problematic. And not only because Geralt used a young girl who was very enchanted with him. For me more sad and shockin that Triss slept with Geralt at all was that she while that time considering herself Yen's friend :( This was the most morally sick thing for me in book.
The thing about everyone needing to be the most important in the world is everywhere now. Everyone needs to be destined for greatness from birth, not because they work for it (since character development is alson a dying art). Every protagonist needs to be an invincible larger-than life chosen one. The Doctor from Doctor Who used to be just a guy who run away and was very, very kind, which put him in a lot of trouble but also, let him influence a lot of things not because it was prophecized or anything but because he always chose to help. But now he's a source of regeneration for all the Time Lords and a misticle figure found at the end of the universe? WHAT?! Same goes for almost everything Disney-owned and even freaking Ratchet and Clank with the Lombaxes beeing the race of heroes and not just Ratchet choosing to help... I HATE THAT. But it's because most writers in hollywood are narcisistic now, they can't fathom the idea of change or consequences, because they are perfect and everything should be given to them because of that, and if something goes wrong it's everyone elses fault (for example the -its and -phobes in the audience).
Most powerful witch and they made her a victim. Yennefer isn’t a victim she is power. It’s horrible how victim narratives worm their way into the content now. The books and games don’t portray her as a victim.
I find these shows are like parasites. They suck the juice out of the host material and corrupt it. They are living off good, sucking what they can off it, then discard it. The show is already a husk of its former self since Geralt left.
I think Yennefer does keep herself getting better, but not for "selfless" reasons, her past experience has given her inability to heal her insecurities, forcing her to keep getting stronger, she is a powerful witch, but no matter how powerful she becomes she is still terrified of not being able to protect herself (and anyone she loves). She charmed a whole room of people with her magic and turned it into a promiscuous party, which shows that she at least doesn't hate manipulating other people with magic, and she IS selfish,and she also knew it from the beginning.
Typical Hollywood. They write every character in 2 ways. The "heroes" are basically them, in their fantasies, and the "villains" are just what they don't like. They don't write characters, the write young-ish LA university graduates, with useless degrees, and a lot of insecurities. They write to vent, not to create a story.
19:50 Warning: season 3 spoilers**** that barely bugged me, but then season 3 came around and I had to pause the Sherawedd scene to just sit there and try to figure out where Ciri had the audacity to think her teeny bit of elder blood entitled her to claim elven ancestry and think she could be the bridge that ended the hatred when in theory, her grandmother was a higher percentage elven and had at least the same opportunity Ciri had, but was being framed as the epitome of racist humans… I get trying to right the wrongs of the previous generations, but I don’t see how the adults in that conversation didn't try to teach her of the danger that the granddaughter of a woman who was happy to bathe in the blood of the oppressed elves trying to make herself those same elves’ hero would face. Aged up or not, teaching your kid when they say something as ignorant as that is any good parent’s job, and Yennefer was told in no uncertain terms by the leader of the elves that those who didn't face the persecution had no right to claim the privileges granted between members of the community
When you have power like this, never apologise.. That sounds like something a villain would say. A better line would be. When you have power like this an apology is never enough. Meaning that if you make a mistake and somebody dies or is injured, sorry isn't going to cut it. You have to use power responsibly.
Not sure what I loved more - 'Lavender and Blueberries', a wild Dan Olson appearing or an in-depth analysis of why this 'adaptation' failed that didn't rely on blaming it all on 'woke politics'.
I think her character is the embodiment of entitlement in many of our younger adults. They feel entitled to success, without the work to earn it. Her solutions are also simplistic; "Let's throw a ball, and make everyone be friends again". A simple apology at an office meeting is enough to get her crimes pardoned. She also rewrites history. She states Arutuza stole her choice, but she was actually not approved to get the magical hysterectomy - she pressured the fella to perform the operation after he had already closed up shop.
yennefer gave up something she may consider essential later to become something powerful in the now [book]. Witcher TV series gave up something essential so later they could give up something powerful. empty.ness.
I haven't read the books nor have I played the games. So, when I watched the show, I could never put my finger on why I couldn't bring myself to like Yennefer. Everything she did in both S1 and S2 made her so unlikable and it made no sense as to why Geralt fell in love with her or why all the characters kept calling her this great witch and saviour. After watching your video, it's become very clear. I knew book-Yennefer couldn't have been the same as what we got on the show. It makes me feel so bad that this show had so much potential and a solid cast, and the writers just ruined it.
The only problem is the Witcher is more about not the Witcher.... or sticking with the books /game. Yennifer is not a character, that the netflix version is... so why bother.
Im so glad I stopped watching this absolute dogshit netflix adaptation after season 1. At the time, I didn't think they could be more disrespectful to Sapkowski's work, and would surely improve after season 1, but apparently I was wrong and I'm glad I didn't bother watching for myself. Lauren Fisstech shouldn't be allowed to touch book adaptations with a 10 foot pole.
The only good thing the show did for me... After being forced to watch it a second time, was to make me play the game and literally devouring the books. Everything Netflix touches turns to manure, looking at the filmography of the director they chose to handle one of the most beloved franchise, Im not surprised. Maybe they should have hired unknown and competent actors and spent the money on a production team worthy of this adaptation. This feels so LA, engaged, yet empty, highly toxic and disconnected to the rest of the world and the content its supposed to be adapting. There are competent directors in Poland, maybe they should be in charge.
The way the showrunner speaks about Yen and how they promote her, you really get the sense that they view her as some kind of strong feminist icon, the strong independent woman fighting in a patriarchal opressive world. But as this video points out, they've made her story an example of a common anti-feminist argument that women shouldn't be empowered to find happiness outside the home because they'd be more happy raising children. They also seem to fall into the common trope of saying that 'women only want equality when it comes to pay and voting but not the draft or other aspects'. I feel this sort of goes hand in hand with the fact they seemed to have changed Geralt from a gruff exterior with a loving, caring and thoughtful personality to just the gruff exterior, basically playing in to this idea that men should be stoic to be cool, mysterious and attractive. For all this talk of the Witcher being 'woke' it sort of falls apart when you truly dissect it and I don't think there could be a more embarassing display of how to fumble the ideas and viewpoints intended to put across than this show.
The show is woke exactly for that. Because they're just pretending to be progressive, inclusive and with a good moral/ethic message. But in reality its nothing more than a mask for the underlying narcissism, resentment and hypocrisy.
The women in the draft argument was always stupid to me. As a woman who has actually served the truth of the matter is women fought to be in the military and to be on the front lines. Not the other way around. But the truth is the Military doesn't even want women. Not really. They only want so many and then they have no need of them. Many people are against the draft period. During WW2 women ran the country including much of the manufacturing of military equipment. As well as raising all of the kids. That some people use the draft to denigrate women and say they shouldn't have the right to vote is just disgusting.
I think that is the main argument against woke entertainment though. It’s incredibly surface level and unsubtle pandering to a certain political persuasion. Genuinely deep and thoughtful examinations of feminism etc don’t irritate people. It’s having on the nose “you go girl boss” moments thrown in at inappropriate moments that is jarring.
@@tomcustis9272 I think most people who unironically bitch about 'wokeness' and 'politics in muh video games' doesn't want to hear anything constructive about feminism. It's just when these ideas are done well, subtly and woven into good storytelling, they're too dumb to look that deep at it, hence all the people who think that the likes of Fallout or Squid Game are pro capitalism.
The books had me obsessed with Yennefer. The game polished that into actual love for the character. The series however was an assassination of everything that mattered about Yen... I mean she's still mouthy, but she doesn't really say anything anymore
It keeps me up at night knowing that Lauren S. Hissrich might never realize how badly she botched this adaptation. I only hope someone she respects gives it to her straight and shows her all the bad decisions she made for the show.
@@mg1721 I mean, I'm sure she knows what she was doing, but it feels like she's proud of everything she's done so far. To her, it probably wasn't a botch at all. Just all according to plan.
@@jujubaoil She definitely knows, people told her that straight up but she has too big of an ego to listen and it's pathetic. Pretty sure she at some point begged people to come back and watch season 3, she knows what she did.
in my opinion she just used someone elses character names and world to create her own story with her own characters and her own agenda. She wasn´t even trying to actually adapt the original and she is persuaded she made it better. So I don´t think that recognition is even possible for her, sadly. I would like to see if she would be treating the source material the same way if it wasn´t written by that terrible boogeyman of today known as straight white male.
In the books, Yennefer and Geralt are each about a hundred years old. Their mutations keep their physical state close to their physical prime, but the experience of the past years does not disappear anywhere. Yennefer is a kind of granny with experience, self-confidence and cynicism accumulated over a century. She is still capable of kindness and empathy, but not easily and not towards random people. I'd say that Yennefer and Geralt's encounters stretched across the timeline in the stories show this well, as well as the fact that Yennefer, even with people she really cares about, can't completely let go of cynicism and some manipulativeness.
I've actually mentioned on a few fan sites I'm a part of, that Netflix's Yennefer acts like an immature petulant teenager whose personality is boiled down to unnecessary cursing and temper tantrums, I mean if you want a good example of her character from the books, read the "Dear Friend" letter
Exactly. Yennefer in the books could be very loving or a total ICE queen with a very share and brutal wit. Gerslt knew when to back away when she was really pissed. She had a temper. But she was never acting like a spoiler 12yo throwing a tantrum. In the books I knew she was dangerous, in the show I can't even take her seriously
Yeah, they're not exactly selling me on the "almost 100 year old sorceress with decades of experience" character when she acts like a child all of the time.
I love book and game Yen so much and the shows's version disappointed me on so many levels. You've done such a good job taking the writing and the narrative apart, I am really looking forward to your next videos!
I really like it how Yennifer in the books and game, feels like a real human, real woman. We have so few believable female characters like her in fiction.
She is reflected on how the producers of this show is really like. People who refuses to accept consequences for failing to connect with the fans due to their actions and instead blames the fans calls them toxic, racist and terrorists.
she prooves, that she is not only ignorant, but stupid too. How can she talk a lot of bs, regarding the huge fan community the witcher books and games have worldwide.Its up to me!
I think the frustrating thing was that there WAS a chunk of genuine racists who were anti-Yen before the show even STARTED. They’ve overshadowed the vast majority of genuine criticism for the show being, well, pretty piss poor. I enjoyed the first season to an extent, but I haven’t even watched any of the 3rd - I have no interest left. But that isn’t because of the individual actors faults, it’s bad writing. And these genuine complaints have been diminished by the small but horrible minority who were genuinely racist and sexist in their criticisms of the show. They’ve shot themselves in the foot.
@@Beatmyguest001 They never really overshadowed proper reviews though. Every proper critic, even those who label themselves as conservative, never raised an issue with it.
One of the things that annoys me/pisses me off the most about this show is how solid the main cast really is. Anya is phenomenal for the role she was given; she just deserved to be given a better-written character.
@@bronwynbeistle8317 It's so sad. But he's clearly very skilled at showing powerful emotions in scenes despite it all. Many of his best scenes have no dialogue and focus on his expressions as he turns to the dark side.
The essay is designed to be stand-alone, and can absolutely be viewed as such. However, there is some additional context and insight gained if you view the video within the wider context of this five part series. So I do believe it is worth watching Part 1 (Netflix's Witcher Doesn't Understand Destiny) if you haven't yet to take away as much as possible from the video. Either way, I hope you enjoy the video, and wish you all a great day!
You had my heart when you tore down ACO. Are you ever going back to gaming or are you doing the whole, “if it pulls me this way I’m gonna talk about it” nonetheless I’ll keep your shit on repeat because I can be a zombie sometimes and the way they did the Witcher feels like sandpaper toiletries. Man I have nothing to say other than I hope you don’t stop man
I have always felt something was wrong with Yen, but I didn’t understand what it was. This is so insightful and you help explain many things I feel as a gut instinct. Yenifer is not a victim, she’s the victimizer.
its funny that i think they didnt adapt a shard of ice from the books bc it would make ppl dislike her, but were down to writing an non existent plot about her taking geralts adoptive daughter to get sacrificed 😭😭
The bottom line is: The writers are terrible! They only throw traits around randomly as they feel like it. They have absolutely no idea how it all should work together and how it all should build a story together. Original, adapted, whatever. THEY CANT WRITE!
It’s bc they don’t understand the original characters. Since they don’t understand the characters, they would’ve never been able to adapt it. So they wrote modern interpretation crap that’s shallow and makes no sense narrative-wise.
makes me sad how many book readers actually hate yen. she’s such a dynamic character that honestly feels like a real person to me. her motivations are so compelling and she deeply loves and cares about ciri and geralt. she’s complicated and imperfect and i love her for it.
Who are those people? I assume you're talking about people who read the books and hated Yennefer character. Never met anyone like that 🤷🏻♂️ I'll freely admit to being annoyed by her at times, but all in all it is probably my absolute favourite female fictional character ever
Who are those people? I assume you're talking about people who read the books and hated Yennefer character. Never met anyone like that 🤷🏻♂️ I'll freely admit to being annoyed by her at times, but all in all it is probably my absolute favourite female fictional character ever
And I feel resentment for Tissaia, one of my favorite sorceresses, the most powerful and oldest witch in the world, in the Netflix series she behaves like Yennefer's lap dog, only runs after her and cries. The show has been terrible since the first season.
Unpopular opinion: Yennefer's wardrobe in Season 1 was awesome. It made her stand out as someone whose choices were unique and a reflection of how she saw the world differently. They were also (mostly) super pretty. In comparison she spent most of Season 2 looking dowdy and broken, and then Season 3 so far she looks like someone picked up some discount work blouses on the way to set. So all that gorgeous power just got washed away.
Imo they looked way too modern, too haute couture, not enough historical influence. That's the issue I see with most of the costuming in general. Historical fashion was still meant to stand out, hell, whole systems of sumptuary laws were formed to separate the haves and have-nots and much of that had to do with wearing clothing.
her fashion choices made her look plain stupid. she went hiking in the mountains to find and fight a dragon in a fitted ankle-length coat with a giant fur collar like she was going to the opera. she went INTO BATTLE in a long dress made of hundres of strings flying around with her every move. they made her an idiot.
Honestly if I have one criticism of book Yen is that her only wearing black and white is too heavy handed as a symbolism. I also don't get why, as someone who enjoys her newfound beauty, she would limit herself like that.
@@dotkiarika1026 she's had like 90 years to figure out what type of style she likes. It's not "newfound beauty" by the time Geralt meets Yen, and in the books we never actually get a firsthand account of what Yen's life was like when she was a younger sorcerer. It's all told through Geralt's perspective. Yen could have worn colorful clothing for the first 50 years and decided that black and white suites her better.
Yennefer in the series is an abomination for strong and liberated women and reduces a woman to one thing - an incubator. "I want to leave something behind." Good Lord, can't a woman leave a legacy in art, in science, in the generations she taught wisdom and magic? Is the only way for a woman to secure her inheritance is to give birth to a child? As a woman, I refuse. I know a lot of women who gave up their personal development and career to give birth and raise a child. Some are happy about it, others are not. This is a very individual issue. Because I also know women who did not start a family, for various reasons, and the lack of children does not make them worse. If this show respected women, it wouldn't make a liberated and strong sorceress desperate who sold her uterus for Magic and then regretted it even more desperately. In the book, Yen was ok. I didn't like her, but I respected her. I can't watch this in the show. She's disgusting as a character. Well, this is my personal opinion.
What is terrifying and so insulting to women is Yennefer is portrayed as a woman wanting a child because she desires to carry on her legacy, unlike the books where she desires a child simply because she so deeply wanted to be a mother. The former choice is out of spite and selfishness, the latter is out of real love and desire to nurture. The show is trying to sum up feminine or motherly desires as one sided and driven by selfish goals, at least how it came off to me. The story with the golden dragon in the books showed that so well how the real Yennefer wants to be nurturing, especially at the end when she was caring for the baby dragon.
The approach of blaming everyone else and never accepting responsibility is just a general thought process nowadays. I love the insight in this video and analysis. Yen's toxic behavior and actions are celebrated
This is what bad 'feminist' writing is. Hissrch thinks she made a feminist icon when the original Yen was already one. These feminist directors ( Looking at you Elizabeth Banks ) just take great female characters and then strip them of their entire personality so that they can have a feminist puppet of 'badass woman'
I don't understand what the author meant by Yennefer is supposed to be a character readers "hate". Hell, I say she is the best character in all of Witcher. Triss, on the other hand, is a character you can hate for how hypocritical and dumb she was written. Hell, I find most of the characters you are supposed to hate less hateful then Triss. And it is in no way me saying I like or condone them. It's just they are typically more upfront with being evil and selfish then Triss.
triss, as a part of the lodge, literally wanted to use ciri for her elder blood (like all of the villains) to create a prophesied baby that the lodge wanted to steer in ruling the north. she’s unbelievably hypocritical.
How tf the idea of Yen being born extremly powerful and therefore more wothy of everything and being exeptional can be also about prejudice against people with disabilities?? Isn't it literally the same "treating others differently because of the way they were born"? And how tf it also coexistis with "actually societies where people treated equally are bad"? It almost sounds like Hissrich truely believes Yen's mistreatment would be ok if she wasn't genetically predisposed to be more talented with magic and it is ok to mistreat others if they aren't exeptional 🤔
Couldn't ignore - 23:18 - " I moved myself up through the system and I feel like it gave me the best possible education" , NOO, no it doesn't. Education is about multiple perspectives, data and self criticism. You alone moving up through certain situations just gives you one perspective and letting you ignore shortcomings. So those that are not charismatic, pretty and well off that didn't get the opportunity to move up through the system are less educated? If nothing else, it may make you ignorant of your own advantages. It's not the best possible education.
