After sweating blood and water for a decade game of ThronesDavid Benioff and DB Weiss returns to Netflix with a project at least as complex: the series adaptation of the literary trilogy The three-body problem. They are accompanied in their task by Alexander Woo, screenwriter of Real blood and co-creator of the series The terror. Published between 2016 and 2018, Liu Cixin’s novels are considered a monument to contemporary science fiction. Summarizing them is a challenge, but we will try again, and without spoilers !
What are the “Three Body Problem” books about? The summary, without spoilers
At the end of the 1960s, in China, the young Ye Wenjie witnesses the assassination of her father in a public square by the Red Guards, at the height of the cultural revolution. Exiled to the mysterious military base of La Côte Rouge, this astrophysicist the genius will make a decision that will impact the history of humanity. The main timeline takes place in 2007, in Beijing, as the scientific community debates a worrying wave of inexplicable suicides. Wang Miao, a nanotechnology researcher, finds himself involved in the investigation. He discovers the existence ofa virtual game”The 3-body problem”, based on an advanced physics problem.
These three mysteries are linked to the future of humanity, threatened. This fascinating novel, which brilliantly disseminates complex scientific concepts, has already been the subject of a Chinese series, broadcast in 2023 by CCTV. David Benioff, DB Weiss and Alexander Woo have been working on this international version since 2020, which takes liberties with the source material.
The problem of forced Westernization
While almost all the human characters in 3 Body problem are Chinese and the novel explores the country’s history, the showrunners opted for a anglicization of several characters, moving much of the action to England, as the group of scientists in the series is made up of former Oxford students. We find characters present in the three volumes of the novel, but also newcomers, such as the millionaire Jack Rooney, played by John Bradley-West, the unforgettable Samwell Tarly in game of Thronesor even protagonists based on the novels, whose genders or nationalities have been changed.
David Benioff explained:
“We wanted to represent, as much as possible, all of humanity. We wanted people from all over the world. We tried to compose a very heterogeneous and international cast to convey the idea that this was not a country’s war against an extraterrestrial threat, but the entire world’s effort to survive.”
Sure, but was the choice to center the action in Oxford really necessary and doesn’t it betray an “Anglo-Saxon centered” vision rather than a truly international one?
And then, at a time when pop culture works, such as the South Korean one, work Squid game, are able to reach a global audience, we can question the importance of transforming originally Asian characters and the risk of distorting history. However, this choice of crucible can be understood in its execution unsatisfactory.
Female Characters: Have Game of Thrones Lessons Been Learned?
The character of Wang Miao, central to the first volume of the novel, becomes an idealistic physicist of South American origin, Auggie Salazar (Eiza González). A choice that allows us to underline it the place of women in the scientific community. In the first scene introducing him and his friend Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), a big shot approaches them at a bar. He is speechless to learn that they are brilliant scientists. So much for the level of feminism – very mainstream – in the series. In a more realistic flashback scene in China, Ye Wenjie sees her work appropriated by a male colleague.
At first glance, David Benioff and DB Weiss appear to have learned their lesson from feminist critics game of Thrones : female characters are not reduced to stereotypes. The character of Ye Wenjie (played at different times by Zine Tseng and Rosalind Chao, both excellent), captivating and complex, testifies to this care taken in the writing. Most are not sexualizedwith the exception of one superfluous scene where Auggie gets drunk wearing sexy underwear (sighs).
We often praise their intelligence in dialogue, just to remind ourselves that women have it in mind. ! But these moments feel artificial and several male characters – Wade, Will, Saul or Da Shi played by Liam Cunningham, Alex Sharp, Jovan Adepo and Benedict Wong – get the lion’s share of character development and narrative importance. They also have more power – military, financial, decision-making or the future of humanity.
A series to reconcile the general public with SF
The good idea of the series is to underline the friendship that binds the “Oxford 5”. We would have liked these connections to be less parasitized shaky novels (Will and Jin, Auggie and Saul). Like many ambitious science fiction works (see the recent Foundation), the showrunners take a risk: that the complex issues of a story about the history of humanity overwhelm everything else. This first season of 3 body problem inevitably suffers from some inconsistencies and uneven characters.
On the other hand, we say goodbye the ambition of this adaptation, aesthetically very successful. Among the convincing virtual world (hats off to the departments sets and costumess) and real-world technological prowess (the countdown mystery is, for example, well staged), the special effects part had to impress us and it did. Seductive mix between a Lost is one Battlestar Galactica, THE 3 body problem will not leave science fiction fans indifferent and could motivate beginners to the genre to get passionate, as game of Thrones has been able to do this in the past with the fantasy genre.
From a thematic point of view, the parallel with our society is evident. While governments organize themselves to face a threat expected in 400 years, some protagonists are not interested in such distant issues. The series shows us the different reactions that humanity can have when faced with the threat of extinction.
Between the Covid pandemic, the climate emergency and the rise of extremes, there is no shortage of threats in our society. The series also lifts everything that makes the sci-fi genre great: the mysteries of the universe, the great question of the existence of other forms of life, the meaning we want to give to our human existences…So many mind-boggling philosophical arguments that give us hope that the series, despite its weaknesses, will receive a warm enough reception to be eligible for a second season.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
