So Queen's Gambit is basically Bobby Fischer in Drag?

[grump]

I'm looking over the synopsis of Queen's Gambit since it seems some people are going gaga for it and it looks suspiciously like they just took Bobby Fischer's story and gave him a sex change and took away his/her more controversial personality aspects.

So like....whats the point? Why not just do a miniseries on the far more interesting true story? Did the people who gave this such high praise even know there is a better more interesting true story behind it? Yeah I'm aware theres Pawn Sacrifice but it glossed over so many things and shows a dramatized miniseries on Fischer would be better.

 

[Tekken Enjoyer]

You can't do a series/movie about Fischer because it's modern-day and you'd be dogpiled so fast that you're supporting his anti-Semitism if you made anything about him that wasn't a pure struggle session.

Also he was completely fucking right and outspoken about naming the Jew, so they can't give a guy like that any positive attention.

 

[Cats]

I haven't watched it, don't think I've watched a single Netflix show and don't own a subscription, actually. but I liked that chick when she was in The Witch so I am sure it is an okay show. I tend not to watch anything released after around the year 2017, couldn't really tell you why....just usually end up not liking and shutting it off after a few minutes. Very strange!

 

[Flatline]

Before his death, Heath Ledger planned to adapt the book into a movie and wanted Ellen Page to play Beth Harmon.

 

[Uncle Sid]

seems some people are going gaga for it

What else is going on back in 2020?

 

[Your Starter for 10]

Does it have titties in it

 

[JohnnyG]

So like....whats the point?

Same reason for all the awful race/sex-swapped versions of prior stories, vs. coming up with something original. "They can't create, only destroy." In this case, it's reality itself they dislike and want to rewrite.

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Before his death, Heath Ledger planned to adapt the book into a movie and wanted Ellen Page to play Beth Harmon.

Maybe Ellen Page became Elliot Page so she could play Bobby Fischer? Long con..

 

[ArthuriusMartyrius]

The book was written by Walter Tevis and it's probably his weakest novel overall. It has all of his classic trademarks such as a fascination with alcoholism and religion and while it's certainly fair to say that he possibly took inspiration from Fischer, Beth Harmon is not all that dissimilar to some of his other protagonists so it's more likely that he was just using the same basic template for all of them. Beth is actually kind of dull as a character in the book.

 

[R00T]

Part of the shows point was to highlight a woman entering what was, at the time, a man’s world. Due to cultural expectations at the time you can apply Beth’s drive for chess to other aspects of womanhood at the time. Why isn’t she settling down? She can’t maintain a household? It’s not girlboss in the slightest either as she constantly gets beaten down by the consequences of her own actions.

You can’t tell the story you want to if you have a male character like Bobby Fischer. Chess was a setting to tell a different story. I think various chess players have said if you’re watching for the chess to not bother.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

So like....whats the point? Why not just do a miniseries on the far more interesting true story? Did the people who gave this such high praise even know there is a better more interesting true story behind it? Yeah I'm aware theres Pawn Sacrifice but it glossed over so many things and shows a dramatized miniseries on Fischer would be better.

A lot of it has to do with Ana Taylor Joy being the big shit back in 2020. She's still big, but back then, she was Hollywood's fav girl. So, of course she needed to be featured in something big that was also "acshually, women are smart too".

 

[Waifu Denier]

Also he was completely fucking right and outspoken about naming the Jew, so they can't give a guy like that any positive attention.

Fischer gets some slack for being of Jewish descent himself. Now his comments on women on the other hand....
"They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men. They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat."

 

[Irregardless]

Part of the shows point was to highlight a woman entering what was, at the time, a man’s world. Due to cultural expectations at the time you can apply Beth’s drive for chess to other aspects of womanhood at the time. Why isn’t she settling down? She can’t maintain a household? It’s not girlboss in the slightest either as she constantly gets beaten down by the consequences of her own actions.

You can’t tell the story you want to if you have a male character like Bobby Fischer. Chess was a setting to tell a different story. I think various chess players have said if you’re watching for the chess to not bother.

I think the sad reality today is that the "girl boss" trope has been used so much that it's hard not to assume right off that bat that a story with a female lead who excels at something wasn't intently written to be a Mary Sue.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

It was an alright show. They should have spent more time dealing with the addiction/depression stuff. It was fine. Just fine.

No clue what is wrong with that chick's face though. Is she on that weight loss mind control drug that all the celebrities are taking?

 

[raspberry mocha]

Lol I heard this too but thought people were just trolling.

 

[Justtocheck]

Not really. It's a mix. Bobby's life and games were way more interesting. Queen's Gambit is alright.

 

[Absolutego]

She wasn't nearly as autistic as Fischer and I don't think a gender-swapped girl power biopic would spend so much time dwelling on her addictive behavior.
It's not conventionally terrible but it also doesn't rise a lot above "ok" in my experience.

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

Queens Gambit (the novel) was a perfectly fine product of its time thriller that appealed to the sci-fi nerds with a weird fucking 'men writing women' lesbian chapter where the main character fucked a negress for absolutely no fucking reason. I actually like how the 'genius chess player' gradually started to grate on people who were playing her, to the point where they actively stopped playing her.

The funniest part of the whole 'girl power' thing is that she was a fucking cheat. She got so fucking assblasted at getting her head kicked in by a champ that she asked her chessmaster friend to give her tips on how to plan the next move, who did so over the phone.

I hate it when I get SO close to recommending a book only for that one chapter to just tank it, Snowcrash with the underage girl rape scene is another.

 

[grump]

Queens Gambit (the novel) was a perfectly fine product of its time thriller that appealed to the sci-fi nerds with a weird fucking 'men writing women' lesbian chapter where the main character fucked a negress for absolutely no fucking reason. I actually like how the 'genius chess player' gradually started to grate on people who were playing her, to the point where they actively stopped playing her.

The funniest part of the whole 'girl power' thing is that she was a fucking cheat. She got so fucking assblasted at getting her head kicked in by a champ that she asked her chessmaster friend to give her tips on how to plan the next move, who did so over the phone.

I hate it when I get SO close to recommending a book only for that one chapter to just tank it, Snowcrash with the underage girl rape scene is another.

A lot of it has to do with Ana Taylor Joy being the big shit back in 2020. She's still big, but back then, she was Hollywood's fav girl. So, of course she needed to be featured in something big that was also "acshually, women are smart too".

It was an alright show. They should have spent more time dealing with the addiction/depression stuff. It was fine. Just fine.

No clue what is wrong with that chick's face though. Is she on that weight loss mind control drug that all the celebrities are taking?

Did they even give Fischer due credit as an inspiration? I can accept a fantasy spinoff of a true story but from what I hear a lot of people think the chick was real life person. So they either didn't credit him or gave him inadequate credit which seems kind of messed up.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I still can't believe that a fanfic about a lesbo master chess player is considered as feminist media. The sheer fact you had to invent a woman in position already makes it a proof they can't play at any expert level.