I'm subveeeerting
(twitter.com)
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (41)
sorted by:
Subversion is hostility and should be responded to accordingly.
Oh you want to subvert a beloved franchise? Those who cherish the franchise should retaliate.
Subverting expectations can be a legitimate plot device. The Metroid series is all about subversion. You wiped out all the metroids. Just kidding, there's a lab full of them! Okay this time you wiped them out for real. But now there's an even worse parasite! Metroids were good all along! Okay the parasites are dead and your next mission is to kill robots. Just kidding they've been hiding on the planet this whole time!
What Hollywood gets wrong is the difference between subverting expectations and subverting the material itself. Samus never decided to retire and become a stockbroker. That would certainly subvert the hell out of our expectations, but it would subvert the material as well. It wouldn't be Metroid any more.
Hollywood didn't get anything wrong. They know the difference between Subverting Expectations, and Subversion. They are doing the latter purposefully.
When a genre gets to the deconstruction phase, its dead.
That isnt subverting expectstions that is organically adding to the story.
Back in the day, any sort of story twist in a video game was a subversion of expectations. Especially something like Metroid, a 2D platformer from the 8 bit days.
When a new Mario game comes out, you expect to hop and bop your way from the left to the right, maybe with a new powerup to make things more interesting. And that's exactly what you get. When a new Mega Man comes out, you expect to run and gun some robot masters and then go to Wily's castle. Again, exactly what you get.
In the 80s and 90s, a platformer having any sort of story at all beyond a cursory "there's a bad guy, go get him" subverted expectations. Having one that spanned decades and multiple platforms featuring plot twists and a deep story even moreso.
Exceptions do not disprove the rule. Subversion should be interpreted as outright hostility at this point until proven otherwise.