Adaptation Do's and Don'ts

[Mira]

Elaine had a role in shaping Harry, when they were together - and for years after, when he thought that he had KILLED her, his first love.  Thinking he had killed her did much in making Harry who he is now. Remember, it is still very early in Storm front he mentions his first love... and that he killed her.

She may be back, but she had a purpose, and she served it. But we know Ramirez is aware of her. Chekov's Gun?

When she has returned she has proven to be a very good partner and foil for Harry.

[Ed0517]

When she has returned she has proven to be a very good partner and foil for Harry.

Too obvious for Jim. First love, raised together.... plus now his new fiancee could not allow it...

[g33k]

...
As far as the sex.. Thomas is not raping his way thru Chicago. it's willing partners. Thomas is gorgeous. We keep hearing that. Think a Margot Robbie can't get some any evening she wants in the clubs?

Thomas is a whamp; they're all beyond pretty, of course, but the WhiteCourt "whammy" is really really similar to a date-rape drug (I'd be utterly unsurprised if that wasn't part of Jim's original design-intent).  Point is -- it strips away the woman's ability to say "no" which means there is no actual consent.  It's rape... despite the fact that (so far as I know) the whamps can't even turn it off!  At most -- if well-fed -- they can turn it down.  It's actually a twisted variant of "guy culture" -- "boys will be boys" and "he just couldn't help himself" and similar sorts of bullshit.

Except that Thomas works hard to avoid rape, and actually, he mostly succeeds.  He does the "hairdresser" schtick, he goes for svartalves (and maybe other supernaturals) who can resist the mental domination and just enjoy the erotic buzz, etc.

I think the TV series could lean in on this -- how Thomas is this involuntary sexual predator who's trying to rise above that.

We've had "Lost Girl" which is about a literal succubus.  We see her sexually-murder a guy in episode 1 (granted, the guy was trying to slip a date-rape drug into someone's drink... so I suspect the justification was that he "deserved it"); it lasted 4-5 seasons IIRC.

...
Incest in the White Court? Um, Game of Thrones?

A father raping his (minor) daughter -- specifically to impose coercive mental bondage -- is really really different.

[g33k]

Elaine
...
 may be back, but she had a purpose, and she served it. But we know Ramirez is aware of her. Chekov's Gun?

Oh, absolutely.

My own WAG/theory is that Elaine was Nemfected -- likely by Justin (nut maybe in the period immediatly after Harry's duel with Justin) -- and was the vector by which Aurora got Nemfected.

And Elaine is still Nemfected.

[Mira]

Oh, absolutely.

My own WAG/theory is that Elaine was Nemfected -- likely by Justin (nut maybe in the period immediatly after Harry's duel with Justin) -- and was the vector by which Aurora got Nemfected.

And Elaine is still Nemfected.

I've thought that all along, now if it is true, Harry will find it out.  It is possible that after she infected Aurora she was no long infected.. 

[g33k]

...
The elephant in the room(*) is the lack of significant recurring characters of colour. You have Rawlings, Lamar,  Sanya and Martha Liberty and thats about it. Chicago has a significant African American population which is virtually unrepresented.

I don't really count Lamar, he's a VERY minimal character; in chatter & forum-posts about the TV show, I think the term "token Black" would be used.   

Rawlings is pretty minor, too; but there's some history with Murphy & her dad, so we've got a bit more depth & a positive portrayal.  The character could be expanded for TV (more lines, more scenes)... but suffers a lot from being a Normal in the supers-setting, which is not the look you want in portraying equality.

Sanya, now, is a solid one!  The man kicks ass & takes names... unless he's shooting the ass.  Again, though, I think we need to see his role expanded a bit, given more lines & more scenes.

Martha Liberty is a mixed bag, representation-wise.  Plenty of magical power, plenty of authority; but very VERY few lines & scenes (bordering again on "tokenism").  I'd like to see more of her, to be honest!  And I think there's plenty of scope for that in the TV show (without betraying anything core to the Dresdenverse or the Case Files (but of course we don't know her future arc, maybe she'll become a key character and some bit of TV-canon will be explicitly-contradicted by later novels (Jim's involvement with scripts&c could prevent that!))).

There's Susan, a Latina, but the "girlfriend" & "damsel in distress" frames are really strong around her; and when she turns half-vamp and reframes with power of her own, she moves directly off-stage & mostly stays there (barring Death Masks) until Changes... where Harry kills her.  So... a problematic character, on several fronts.

Agreed that there are some characters (lookin at you, Alphas!  Also the Wardens, as a group) for whom no race was ever established, or for whom it never seemed like a significant or relevant part of the character.  I'd be down with any of them -- several of them, in fact! -- being explicitly non-Anglo.

Wizards, in general -- the world-spanning White Council, in particular -- should be VERY multi-ethnic... but mostly Asian.  We presume magic power is largely equal among all groups, and the world is about 60% Asian, 17.5% African, and 17.5% European+North-American.  So, equal numbers of black & white, but asian (including Indian) is about double black+white together.

###

footnote-mark from above, added by me:
(*) - There's another elephant, I've gotta say.  When you move outside the Dresden fandom, some communities *cough*LGBT*cough*feminists*cough* have a notably less-positive view.  Dresden himself is VERY male-gazey, and some of the ways he talks about (or doesn't) gay/etc issues really leave some readerships feeling like Dresden isn't the hero they need to read.

[Ed0517]

Wizards, in general -- the world-spanning White Council, in particular -- should be VERY multi-ethnic... but mostly Asian.  We presume magic power is largely equal among all groups, and the world is about 60% Asian, 17.5% African, and 17.5% European+North-American.  So, equal numbers of black & white, but asian (including Indian) is about double black+white together.

Why do we assume magical ability is equally distributed? We know it is inherited - but genes are not equally distributed among all groups. Sickle cell anemia - don't get much of that in Iceland. But they get blue eyes.  Red hair? mostly Scandinavian or Celtic - but some in Northern Italy. Migh also be affected by past events - read an article about some people being immune to AIDS - they didn't have the receptors for the virus to attach - and by far the highest percentage was northern Europeans - particularly in areas ravaged by the Black Death. Maybe some areas bloodlines were wiped out in witch hunts?

Of course, outreach may be better in the Western world as well. But we did see Asians besides Mai at Morgan's trial, affirming Mouse as a Foo dog was reliable.

[Mira]

Why do we assume magical ability is equally distributed? We know it is inherited - but genes are not equally distributed among all groups. Sickle cell anemia - don't get much of that in Iceland. But they get blue eyes.  Red hair? mostly Scandinavian or Celtic - but some in Northern Italy. Migh also be affected by past events - read an article about some people being immune to AIDS - they didn't have the receptors for the virus to attach - and by far the highest percentage was northern Europeans - particularly in areas ravaged by the Black Death. Maybe some areas bloodlines were wiped out in witch hunts?

Some of that has to do with environmental influences, most notably Sickle Cell Anemia, it rises in populations where there is a lot of Malaria, the little bugs have a hard time penetrating the misshaped blood cells.. 

[g33k]

Why do we assume magical ability is equally distributed?

Bluntly:  because we have no reason to assume otherwise, and inventing race-based magical affinity smacks an awful lot of real-life racism.  I'm pretty sure Jim is too savvy to present any Dresdenverse canon that touches this notion with a 10-foot-pole (except maybe to rebut/debunk it).

[Mira]

Bluntly:  because we have no reason to assume otherwise, and inventing race-based magical affinity smacks an awful lot of real-life racism.  I'm pretty sure Jim is too savvy to present any Dresdenverse canon that touches this notion with a 10-foot-pole (except maybe to rebut/debunk it).

Agreed..

[BrainFireBob]

I don't really count Lamar, he's a VERY minimal character; in chatter & forum-posts about the TV show, I think the term "token Black" would be used.   

Rawlings is pretty minor, too; but there's some history with Murphy & her dad, so we've got a bit more depth & a positive portrayal.  The character could be expanded for TV (more lines, more scenes)... but suffers a lot from being a Normal in the supers-setting, which is not the look you want in portraying equality.

Sanya, now, is a solid one!  The man kicks ass & takes names... unless he's shooting the ass.  Again, though, I think we need to see his role expanded a bit, given more lines & more scenes.

Martha Liberty is a mixed bag, representation-wise.  Plenty of magical power, plenty of authority; but very VERY few lines & scenes (bordering again on "tokenism").  I'd like to see more of her, to be honest!  And I think there's plenty of scope for that in the TV show (without betraying anything core to the Dresdenverse or the Case Files (but of course we don't know her future arc, maybe she'll become a key character and some bit of TV-canon will be explicitly-contradicted by later novels (Jim's involvement with scripts&c could prevent that!))).

There's Susan, a Latina, but the "girlfriend" & "damsel in distress" frames are really strong around her; and when she turns half-vamp and reframes with power of her own, she moves directly off-stage & mostly stays there (barring Death Masks) until Changes... where Harry kills her.  So... a problematic character, on several fronts.

Agreed that there are some characters (lookin at you, Alphas!  Also the Wardens, as a group) for whom no race was ever established, or for whom it never seemed like a significant or relevant part of the character.  I'd be down with any of them -- several of them, in fact! -- being explicitly non-Anglo.

Wizards, in general -- the world-spanning White Council, in particular -- should be VERY multi-ethnic... but mostly Asian.  We presume magic power is largely equal among all groups, and the world is about 60% Asian, 17.5% African, and 17.5% European+North-American.  So, equal numbers of black & white, but asian (including Indian) is about double black+white together.

###

footnote-mark from above, added by me:
(*) - There's another elephant, I've gotta say.  When you move outside the Dresden fandom, some communities *cough*LGBT*cough*feminists*cough* have a notably less-positive view.  Dresden himself is VERY male-gazey, and some of the ways he talks about (or doesn't) gay/etc issues really leave some readerships feeling like Dresden isn't the hero they need to read.

The White Council is Eurocentric. We're told that in-series. Someone who reads the stories will note that it is an organization formed in Europe as a union of European wizards working as a block.

This means that either supernatural monsters culled other populations- not that the genes don't still express- but the wizards from those populations will tend to be younger, since older generations were decimated due to not having an umbrella organization to nurture them- or that there are other, smaller or otherwise less powerful organizations that have since been absorbed by the White Council and/or are now affiliated with same. Perhaps that's Ancient Mai's power bloc politically. Or La Fortier's.

The reason, of course, is the Merlin- he was European and founded the Council against the ruin of Rome. It's expanded, but that might be the influence of the British/Spanish/Portugese Empires instead of becoming a true global organization. We simply don't know what existed in China, India, etc., and especially the New World prior to the White Council reaching out to recruit. Was it power blocs? Did the Red Court "own" South America, did they purge their wizard level talents to prevent threat (or systemically turn them)? Was North America Sasquatch country, so the White Council can recruit there, but the other players couldn't push in? Is the acrimony between the Council and vampires partially due to the White Council effectively "conquering" Europe from White/Black court domination?

To accurately put that onscreen, I'd have less diversity in the older wizards and more diversity among the younger, with the exception of the most powerful wizards (who could have developed primarily solo, as did Dresden).

[Ed0517]

Some of that has to do with environmental influences, most notably Sickle Cell Anemia, it rises in populations where there is a lot of Malaria, the little bugs have a hard time penetrating the misshaped blood cells..

Exactly. It's a harmful mutation in other parts of the world - but helpful THERE.

[Ed0517]

The White Council is Eurocentric. We're told that in-series. Someone who reads the stories will note that it is an organization formed in Europe as a union of European wizards working as a block.

This means that either supernatural monsters culled other populations- not that the genes don't still express- but the wizards from those populations will tend to be younger, since older generations were decimated due to not having an umbrella organization to nurture them- or that there are other, smaller or otherwise less powerful organizations that have since been absorbed by the White Council and/or are now affiliated with same. Perhaps that's Ancient Mai's power bloc politically. Or La Fortier's.

The reason, of course, is the Merlin- he was European and founded the Council against the ruin of Rome. It's expanded, but that might be the influence of the British/Spanish/Portugese Empires instead of becoming a true global organization. We simply don't know what existed in China, India, etc., and especially the New World prior to the White Council reaching out to recruit. Was it power blocs? Did the Red Court "own" South America, did they purge their wizard level talents to prevent threat (or systemically turn them)? Was North America Sasquatch country, so the White Council can recruit there, but the other players couldn't push in? Is the acrimony between the Council and vampires partially due to the White Council effectively "conquering" Europe from White/Black court domination?

To accurately put that onscreen, I'd have less diversity in the older wizards and more diversity among the younger, with the exception of the most powerful wizards (who could have developed primarily solo, as did Dresden).

And those are the witch hunts. The Asians can be largely diminished by Jade Court. The South Americans by Red Court. The Vamps have little problem defeating a vanilla human hand to hand - but a wizard? Different story. The Vamps might cull the freaks.

[Ed0517]

Bluntly:  because we have no reason to assume otherwise, and inventing race-based magical affinity smacks an awful lot of real-life racism.  I'm pretty sure Jim is too savvy to present any Dresdenverse canon that touches this notion with a 10-foot-pole (except maybe to rebut/debunk it).

We have no reason to assume it IS spread equally. Maybe it is, maybe it is not. I also note the vampires are in South/Central  America (Red court), North America (Whites), Europe (Blacks) and Asia (Jade) - no hold in Africa?  A natural defense somehow? Or did magic develop as a defense against the vampires? An unarmed human has no chance against even a Whamp - but a wizard does. The Jade appears to be the smallest court. Wizards in the East not unknown, but somewhat lower numbers  (but still, Mai, Yoshimo, Mai's messenger that was frozen) The Blacks were most powerful Court- until Dracula, the DIY vampire killer book, came out. The Euros seem to have the heavy hitters magically. (and wasn't there a signatory to the Accords in the Ukraine, a shapeshifter?). Also exposure to some old races - we've seen Hades and Odin and Valkyries! might cause some genes to freak.

Possibly the areas with fewer wizards are the most pure HUMANS. 
The indigenous peoples that their Old Ways, and the Blessing Path - was that against the Reds?

The North American Whites are the weakest Vamps - but the Forest Peoples are the least malign. Only Blood on his Soul and his subgroup seem warriors/predators/hostile.   
 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The Whites originate from Etruscan Greece, which mean an admixture of the European and African nations bounding the Mediterranean and the Roman Empire.

They aren’t North American.

They definitely are not Canadian.