An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

[u/aiphrem]

Too many of these stories in a dystopian setting tty to end the thing on a "happy" note after an uprising and it just feels so lame every time.

I feel like 1984 has the best twist on this idea: let you believe the main character stumbled upon the underground resistance, only to tell you at the very end that it was all a carefully orchestrated illlusion to "course correct" the main character into total submission. There's no hope; once freedom has been completely taken away from the individual it's too late to change anything.

Way more impactful than "good guy found other good guys hiding and he's JUST who they've been waiting for to bring down an entire system built on subjugating the masses.

[u/You_Stole_My_Hot_Dog → u/aiphrem]

I’d argue that these hopeful endings do more harm than good. I get what they’re going for, but we now all have this idea that evil at any scale can and will fail because a small band of good guys will stop them. Who? Not me, but a group of really brave people will dismantle the whole system and save us!  

We need to see the consequences of failing to act. Not how a single person (usually a teenager with super powers) can single handedly save everyone.

[u/censuur12 → u/You_Stole_My_Hot_Dog]

A lot of people believe that evil will run it's course and crumble under its own weight, because that's what stories have always told them. Meanwhile in North Korea.

[u/DaJoW → u/aiphrem]

What always gets me with the ending of 1984 is that in the protagonists POV, it is a happy ending. He's been "fixed" and sees the world as Big Brother does. He doesn't need to struggle anymore. As the Party told him, freedom was slavery. Terribly insiduous.

[u/fresh-dork → u/aiphrem]

they foreshadowed it with the porn mill - subversion is allowed to exist, under the party's control