Without reliable authoritative information and accurate narratives, we are inclined to construct our own. These false narratives are often misleading or needlessly inflame. Presenting a few case studies for your consideration.
Warner Brothers nearly cut the “No Man’s Land” scene from Wonder Woman
In a Fandango interview, May 2017, Director Patty Jenkins is quoted regarding the No Man’s Land scene:
“It’s my favorite scene in the movie and it’s the most important scene in the movie. It’s also the scene that made the least sense to other people going in … When I started to really hunker in on the significance of No Man’s Land, there were a couple people who were deeply confused, wondering, like, ‘well, what is she going to do? How many bullets can she fight?’ and I kept saying, ‘It’s not about that. This is a different scene than that. This is a scene about her becoming Wonder Woman.'”
Clear and direct right? This is the director herself, quoted on the record. However countless outlets ran this story after injecting an additional false narrative. A few are listed purely to corroborate the point with evidence. No other commentary is being made about these publications or the authors. In each case, they add a narrative of Jenkins against short-sighted studio executives unable to understand a creative vision:
However, Jenkins had said nothing about the studio, executives, higher-ups, or Warner Brothers. A director quote is an impeccable source, but still vulnerable to the imposition of false narratives. At a June 11th DGA event in Los Angeles, Jenkins sat down with Richard Donner for a brief Q&A where she corrected the narrative.
Warner Brothers had not opposed the scene:
“It’s funny, I feel badly about this cause it’s been reported that Warner Bros. was against it, which it was not Warner Bros., it was my own people in England. It was our own crew at points, who were like, ‘Why are you doing this scene? She’s not even fighting anything,’ So Warner Bros. was not unsupportive of the No Man’s Land scene. It was much more in-process that everybody was like, ‘What’s this scene for? There’s no one to fight. We’ve already seen her block a bullet in the alley and then she’s going to go in and save this church tower, why do you need this other scene?'” (transcription via CinemaBlend)
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It is easy to want everything to be absolute, clear, without nuance and without ambiguity but that’s not the real world. We want the word of a director to be absolute, for sources to be infallible, for journalists to not mislead, and to be able to take anyone’s word entirely or not at all. But isn’t that exactly what BvSchallenges? Superman and Batman get swept up into narratives that aren’t entirely true but not entirely false either. The film highlights what happens when we act rashly on incomplete information.
http://www.manofsteelanswers.com/dont-believe-everything-you-hear/
Warner Brothers nearly cut the “No Man’s Land” scene from Wonder Woman
In a Fandango interview, May 2017, Director Patty Jenkins is quoted regarding the No Man’s Land scene:
“It’s my favorite scene in the movie and it’s the most important scene in the movie. It’s also the scene that made the least sense to other people going in … When I started to really hunker in on the significance of No Man’s Land, there were a couple people who were deeply confused, wondering, like, ‘well, what is she going to do? How many bullets can she fight?’ and I kept saying, ‘It’s not about that. This is a different scene than that. This is a scene about her becoming Wonder Woman.'”
Clear and direct right? This is the director herself, quoted on the record. However countless outlets ran this story after injecting an additional false narrative. A few are listed purely to corroborate the point with evidence. No other commentary is being made about these publications or the authors. In each case, they add a narrative of Jenkins against short-sighted studio executives unable to understand a creative vision:
- Slashfilm – “when she laid out the scene to people at the studio before filming” / “in order to convince the higher-ups that it was necessary”
- Business Insider – “Jenkins said to convince others at Warner Bros. this would work”
- CBR – “the sequence was harder to sell to studio execs than one might imagine”
- io9 – “someone at Warner Bros. thought at one point it wasn’t worth being part of Wonder Woman’s runtime” / “the scene did not go down well at all with her colleagues at Warner Bros.”
- Vox – “But it’s also easy to see why a studio might suggest cutting the sequence.” / “What’s interesting about this isn’t that Jenkins had to talk some of her bosses into signing off on the No Man’s Land sequence.”
- The Mary Sue – “For some reason, none of this registered with the higher-ups at Warner Bros, who apparently saw this entire sequence as a waste of time”
However, Jenkins had said nothing about the studio, executives, higher-ups, or Warner Brothers. A director quote is an impeccable source, but still vulnerable to the imposition of false narratives. At a June 11th DGA event in Los Angeles, Jenkins sat down with Richard Donner for a brief Q&A where she corrected the narrative.
Warner Brothers had not opposed the scene:
“It’s funny, I feel badly about this cause it’s been reported that Warner Bros. was against it, which it was not Warner Bros., it was my own people in England. It was our own crew at points, who were like, ‘Why are you doing this scene? She’s not even fighting anything,’ So Warner Bros. was not unsupportive of the No Man’s Land scene. It was much more in-process that everybody was like, ‘What’s this scene for? There’s no one to fight. We’ve already seen her block a bullet in the alley and then she’s going to go in and save this church tower, why do you need this other scene?'” (transcription via CinemaBlend)
......
It is easy to want everything to be absolute, clear, without nuance and without ambiguity but that’s not the real world. We want the word of a director to be absolute, for sources to be infallible, for journalists to not mislead, and to be able to take anyone’s word entirely or not at all. But isn’t that exactly what BvSchallenges? Superman and Batman get swept up into narratives that aren’t entirely true but not entirely false either. The film highlights what happens when we act rashly on incomplete information.
http://www.manofsteelanswers.com/dont-believe-everything-you-hear/