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News HBO draws ire after 'Confederate' announcement

I mean, I guess I get the fears of worsening divisions, but in specific terms is this really all that different than Man in the High Castle? And I'm not sure where the claims of this show being a 'mess' are coming from, except that people just don't like that it exists at all. Honestly the only thing that bothers me all that much about it is the idea that (I'm assuming this takes places sometime in the 20th century, maybe even modern times) the CSA would still be a fully slave-holding nation despite the massive international pressure to end slavery that the British put on the world in the late 19th century. (Britain being literally vital to the Confederate economy)

It does suck that a show like Underground isn't getting a real chance, though. That's an important subject that doesn't get enough attention and is actually incredibly unique in the tv landscape (not to mention ripe for drama).
 
I mean, I guess I get the fears of worsening divisions, but in specific terms is this really all that different than Man in the High Castle? And I'm not sure where the claims of this show being a 'mess' are coming from, except that people just don't like that it exists at all. Honestly the only thing that bothers me all that much about it is the idea that (I'm assuming this takes places sometime in the 20th century, maybe even modern times) the CSA would still be a fully slave-holding nation despite the massive international pressure to end slavery that the British put on the world in the late 19th century. (Britain being literally vital to the Confederate economy)

It does suck that a show like Underground isn't getting a real chance, though. That's an important subject that doesn't get enough attention and is actually incredibly unique in the tv landscape (not to mention ripe for drama).

Perhaps they would not call them "slaves" but they would use some other euphemism. There are nations out there where forms of involuntary servitude exist de facto.

Contemporary slavery
 
Perhaps they would not call them "slaves" but they would use some other euphemism. There are nations out there where forms of involuntary servitude exist de facto.

Contemporary slavery

That would make sense, yeah. I would just hope that if they're going to go with this premise, that they'll do something with real complexity and plausibility rather than just porting the civil war as it occurred in the 1860s into a completely different global landscape.
 
I love this idea for a series. First I always wanted "Sliders" to go to a world were the South won. I also like that fake Documentary movie that also delt into this idea. I love alternate history stuff. PLus this is a great way to tackle modern issues in terms of racism through allegory.

This show is also on HBO. They don't make mistakes. Well maybe "Ballers" but that is it. The HBO name alone should garner some trust from people.

Jason
 
Some would argue the prison industrial complex and particularly privately owned prisons are slavery.

It's hard to judge whether slavery would have ended on its own if the south had won the civil war. At the very least, I think in the technological age, machines would have proven more cost effective than slavery and that would have lead to its ending. Whether they would have given to political pressure or morality is harder to say. I think public opinion in the South would have eventually run against slavery but the rich powerful people who give money to politicians would not. And we all know money has more of an effect than public opinion in determining policy.
 
Sounds interesting. Execution will be key.

A shame that the conservative Sinclair Broadcasting cancelled Underground, a moderately popular show. Don't want to take a chance of making Christians feel bad about the actions of their ancestors.

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Wasn't a mockumentary about the fictional C.S.A. released a while back?

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It's a particularly dumb idea. Not needed, and in the hands of GoT showrunners who love coming up with new and disturbing ways to depict sexual violence, it's not something that I will be interested in watching.
 
Perhaps they would not call them "slaves" but they would use some other euphemism. There are nations out there where forms of involuntary servitude exist de facto.

Contemporary slavery

Like the U.S. After all, prison labor is still protected by the Constitution. And prison labor is a major industry in this country.


It's hard to judge whether slavery would have ended on its own if the south had won the civil war. At the very least, I think in the technological age, machines would have proven more cost effective than slavery and that would have lead to its ending.

Considering the existence of prison labor and its high usage by companies and corporations in today's technological age, I find it hard to believe that slavery would have ended on its own if the South had won the Civil War or if the U.S. had not bothered to officially end slavery (aside from prison labor).
 
I'm not real sure what to make of this right now, there is a lot of potential in the premise, but they will have to be pretty careful in how slavery and other racial issues are handled.
 
Well it's simple: slavery is monstrous. No need for nuances here.

Well you will want some nuance when it comes to characters. Sopranos and OZ had settings that were pretty dark and those shows both worked. It's HBO and they know how to do these kind of shows.

I wonder if the show will have some non-American characters in it to sort of represent the modern audience who will be looking at this world much like it's audience will be. Of course how this would effect the rest of the world will also be interesting, What if HItler also won in this world.

If they really push the premise they might even show real people and how they exisit in this world. Trump might be president in this universe like ours? Martin Luther King was killed trying create a peace movement. I can even see other modern idea's being adapted. You buy slaves on Amazon Prime. Pro sports teams literally own there players of color.

Also what is this world like for Latino's and Muslims. I doubt things are better for woman as well. Not to mention slaves would be a means of creating income inequality so you would still have a system were their is a 1% that controls everything.

Jason
 
I'm not one to condemn a series based on a general concept alone, so I'll withhold judgment on this for now, but I do wish that HBO was giving the actual Civil War era a lavish, grunts-to-heads-of-state treatment à la Rome. Seems to me that'd be a series red and blue folks alike could appreciate.
 
^ Yeah, but the enslavement of mainly white people in Italy circa 30 BCE doesn't exactly have direct ties to the economic and political harassment of an American ethnic minority today. So: your point, exactly?
 
I'm not one to condemn a series based on a general concept alone, so I'll withhold judgment on this for now, but I do wish that HBO was giving the actual Civil War era a lavish, grunts-to-heads-of-state treatment à la Rome. Seems to me that'd be a series red and blue folks alike could appreciate.

Umm... pro-South folks would scream just as loudly if the characters were based on their writings and actions, not the modern conceptions of them as champions of States Rights.

I don't like Game of Thrones, I do like alternate history... so I'll give it a chance.
 
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