We had previously learned that HBO’s upcoming ‘Westworld‘ series would debut this Fall but now have learned that the official release date is October 2nd, 2016 and have found out some new details on the series as well. One thing that is clear just from the previews from the show and knowing the original film is that there will both be rape and violence against the female androids in the series. This is a subject that ‘Game of Thrones’ has also been criticized for so it was interesting to see how the studio weighed in on it.
To start with, HBO programming president Casey Bloys explains that the violence isn’t just towards female characters:
“I can tell you the violence, it’s not just specific to women. It’s indiscriminate. Plenty of men are killed as well.”
A little vague though showrunner Lisa Joy chimed in with a much more thought out answer by saying that:
“When we were tackling a project about a park with a premise where you can do whatever you want, whatever you desire without impunity or consequence, it seemed like the issue had to be addressed. Westworld is an examination of human nature, the best parts of human nature — paternal love, romantic love, finding oneself — but also the basest parts of human nature — violence and sexual violence.
“Violence and sexual violence have been a fact of human history since the beginning. There’s something about us — thankfully not the majority of us — but there are people who have engaged in violence and who are victims of violence.”
So, the thought here is that it is a commentary on humanity and not being used for shock value. The idea to use this kind of violence wasn’t to normalize it but show what can happen after it occurs:
“In addressing it, there’s a lot of thinking that goes into it. Sexual violence is an issue we take seriously; it’s extraordinarily disturbing and horrifying. And in its portrayal, we endeavored for it to not be about the fetishization of those acts. It’s about exploring the crime, establishing the crime and the torment of the characters within this story and exploring their stories hopefully with dignity and depth. And that’s what we endeavored to do.”
It will be interesting to see how they go about doing that especially when Lisa is the only one who has been that straightforward about how the sexual violence was going to be portrayed on screen while prior comments seemed to not be so clear cut.
Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Westworld’ this October? Share your thoughts below!
Synopsis:
‘Westworld’ is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin. The one-hour drama features actors Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan, and Simon Quarterman.
Jonathan Nolan serves as executive producer/writer/director; Lisa Joy as executive producer/writer; executive producers are J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk; co-executive producer Kathy Lingg; producer Athena Wickham; and co-producer Susie Ekins. The series is produced by Bad Robot Productions, Jerry Weintraub Productions, and Kilter Films in association with Warner Bros. Television
‘Westworld’ is inspired by the film of the same name, written and directed by Michael Crichton.
‘Westworld’ will open it’s doors on HBO on October 2nd, 2016.
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
