For a long time, I theorized that newly published books that became bestsellers and were later adapted into films and television became famous thanks to people who don't actually read books. They probably saw the cover, read the synopsis, and thought it was outrageous enough to recommend it to people on social media. This was repeated often enough to propel a book to the top of the charts. Then, other authors wrote similar books to recreate the phenomenon.
And when that kind of superficial writing was validated by the "readers" and viewers of its adaptations, the BookTokification of literature and the audiovisual medium was complete—at least, that's what I had theorized. But then my assumptions about the state of media were somewhat confirmed by three things: Joshua Rothman's article in The New Yorker on the use of AI. To summarize entire books and call it "reading," Sabah Gurmat's Frontline article on the book adaptation process, from influencer to writer to executive producer, and Abbie Rae's video on the Colleen Hoover Effect. I finally understood that the problem with bad adaptations isn't limited to showrunners and authors; it's the entire ecosystem that supports this mediocrity—the villain. Well, speaking of which, let me talk about 56 Days.
Creators: Karyn Usher, Lisa Zwerling
Stars: Avan Jogia, Dove Cameron, Karla Souza
Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher's series, adapted from Catherine Ryan Howard's novel, follows detectives Karl and Lee as they discover a skeleton in a luxury apartment. As they try to uncover the individual's identity, the clock rewinds 56 days (hence the series title) to introduce us to Ciara and Oliver. Ciara has an administrative job and lives in a small penthouse, while Oliver is extremely wealthy and doesn't have to work at all. They meet at a supermarket, and sparks fly almost immediately. And with each passing moment of this whirlwind romance, it becomes clear that Ciara isn't who she claims to be. She's orchestrated her entire life to appeal to Oliver's sensibilities, likely for his money, or perhaps there's some deeper motivation behind her deception. But Ciara's intelligence doesn't necessarily mean she holds all the cards. In fact, she discovers she's playing with fire when she notices all the signs pointing to Oliver as a rather hypocritical individual. This compels us to join Karl and Lee in their investigation and try to figure out if Oliver killed Ciara for lying to him, or if it was the other way around.
56 Days has a little bit of everything that bothers me about modern adaptations. There's the non-linear narrative, which is supposed to withhold information from the audience only to reveal it in a shocking way. But every twist is so basic and predictable that I was forced to wonder if this non-linear narrative approach was adopted simply because it's trendy or to pad out the series' runtime. Because it requires a special level of incompetence to neglect all the crucial revelations after dedicating so much time to setup. The character writing is atrocious.
It's as if conceived them after being asked to include every literary cliché synonymous with trauma and abuse. There's some classist commentary, but in the end, even that falls flat. The police procedural aspect of the narrative is completely uninteresting because it's constantly overshadowed by the detectives' personal problems. And those problems have nothing to do with the main plot, which makes me think even that was an afterthought. I've tried to understand how the subplot complements the main plot, and I haven't found anything. If that seems logical to you, then bye.
Now, before we talk about the sex scenes in 56 Days, which are clearly central to the show's marketing strategy, I want to make it clear that I'm not prudish. Unlike Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who don't want scenes of physical expressions of love in their movies and TV shows, I consistently defend them. I'm also a big supporter of intimacy coordinators because I've read stories about what it was like before this profession existed. I appreciate directors who treat the physical like a painting being explored in real time, or who address the awkward situations people encounter when they accept the unrealistic expectations about sex imposed by movies and TV shows. What I don't enjoy is robotic sexiness, which basically means a couple of characters having sex like androids programmed to replicate every erotic position in the book, without the chemistry or passion. It's as if the actors do everything that's supposed to be "sexy," but the end result is so stiff that rubbing flowers together seems more exciting. If you want to do sexually charged scenes, do it right or don't do it at all; don't give me this nonsense.
The only thing that saves 56 Days is the acting. No, I'm kidding. Like every other element of the series, the acting is unbearable. Have you seen those TikToks where "aspiring actors" recreate famous scenes in such an exaggerated way, unintentionally demonstrating how difficult real acting is? Yes, the leads, Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia, seem to have graduated from TikTok acting school. Technically, yes, they act "seriously," but the way they express themselves is so superficial that it seems like they were forced to get on set before getting into character. While Jogia is sometimes okay, Cameron takes you on a rollercoaster of bizarre creative choices.
Meanwhile, Karla Souza, Dorian Missick, Megan Peta Hill, Alfredo Nariciso, Patch Darragh, and the rest of the supporting cast seem to be in a completely different show. Even when they're doing something completely insane, they seem so human that I started wondering if Jogia and Cameron are just bad actors or if their "bad acting" is a deliberate attempt to distance us from their characters. I guess we'll never know. Anyway, if that sounds like a recommendation to you, feel free to watch the show. If not, umm, go watch Gone Girl or Intolerable Cruelty and, for the love of all that is sacred to you, stop joining the avalanche of TikTok-ized books, movies, and TV shows.
Comments
Post a Comment