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Why is non-Wagner/Grant Dredd good now?

Started by WhizzBang, 23 January, 2016, 10:15:42 PM

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13school

#45
Quote from: Tordelback on 27 January, 2016, 05:22:04 AM
Quote from: 13school on 27 January, 2016, 12:02:37 AM
. For someone from 1900, our lives today would most likely seem like a mix of bizarre fads and fashions combined with horrible oppression.

Fads and fripperies I'll agree, but oppression...?  In terms of justice and punishment, franchise and education, gender and sexuality, race and economic background, basically every measurable aspect of personal freedom and opportunity, 1900 was a far more narrow and oppressive place than 2015 (or hopefully 2022).

Fair point - I was thinking more specifically about the observation of our goings-on and the role of government in our daily lives (that is, things more directly tied into Dredd's future).

Personal freedoms have clearly improved a massive amount for pretty much every group in society, but the role of the police (especially in the last decade or so) seems to have taken a swerve for the more generally authoritarian and threatening as a matter of general policy.

And I think the older Dredds, where the citizens clearly had the freedom and inclination to do pretty much anything they felt like right up until the moment they butted up against the law, did a surprisingly good job of putting forward a more nuanced look at the future than a more straightforward "everything's grim and grey, life is a constant struggle" dystopia.

Put another way, I think I enjoyed Dredd more when the citizens seemed to be having a good time at least some of the time.

TordelBack

Quote from: 13school on 27 January, 2016, 12:18:17 PM
And I think the older Dredds, where the citizens clearly had the freedom and inclination to do pretty much anything they felt like right up until the moment they butted up against the law, did a surprisingly good job of putting forward a more nuanced look at the future than a more straightforward "everything's grim and grey, life is a constant struggle" dystopia.

Put another way, I think I enjoyed Dredd more when the citizens seemed to be having a good time at least some of the time.

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I suspect you're right. McGruder in particular seemed to have a huge tolerance for crazes, in the name of letting the citizens amuse themselves right up to the point she decided it was more dangerous than boredom and/or she could tax it. 

Given the devestation that must have been visited on everyone's families, its amazing that 'today's citizenry have nay fun at all.

Tjm86

Quote from: Tordelback on 27 January, 2016, 02:11:56 PM

Given the devestation that must have been visited on everyone's families, its amazing that 'today's citizenry have any fun at all.

Sorry, are we still talking about Mega City or are we now talking about the UK 2016?

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 26 January, 2016, 05:38:17 PMI don't really see the connection to Dredd's characterization and the chief judges personally.



My tuppenceworth - the connection is there, alright, but not because Dredd is taking inspiration from the CJ.  It's more because that's the direction the writers are taking the strip at any given time.

Pre-mental McGruder and Silver appeared when Wagner and Grant were showing the judges' worst aspects.  More relaxed, post-Nec McGruder stepped up after Dredd began to seriously question these aspect. Later, man-of-the-people Francisco stepped up after Dredd realised that the whole system was built on the whims of a man who didn't even believe in it.  Hershey is the default chief judge:  Tough, but not brutal.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Greg M.

Quote from: Tordelback on 27 January, 2016, 02:11:56 PM
McGruder in particular seemed to have a huge tolerance for crazes, in the name of letting the citizens amuse themselves right up to the point she decided it was more dangerous than boredom and/or she could tax it.

That's consistent with McGruder's usual approach of seeing how things played out and not acting too hastily - both a strength and a weakness, since it's the very trait that led to her original resignation.