The Franchise

In Max’s The Franchise, a film crew navigates the chaotic and often absurd process of creating a superhero movie within a massive superhero cinematic universe.

The Franchise (S1:E1)

Just ridiculous enough to be believable, the inaugural episode of The Franchise is a well-paced and refreshingly restrained satirical take on what it takes to make a special effects-heavy superhero film that is only one cog in a multi-billion dollar cinematic universe. Its cast is solid and believable as they skillfully balance between melodrama and farce and the overly dry -everyone’s-an-unlikable-douche mockumentaries that have begun to define the genre.

                   

WOKE REPORT

DEI

• There’s some diversity, but it’s not unnaturally balanced, and more than making narrative sense, it would make for a noticeable commission were it not present.
• So far, while none of the characters are as over the top as they could be, the only two characters who seem to be immune from being made into caricatures are the two leading ones played by “diverse” actors.

The Franchise (S1:E2)

The tension is heating up as personalities collide. Already thin alliances are strained as new ones are forged, and the reality of possible individual firings at every level or even the shutting down of film production is on the horizon.

WOKE REPORT

DEI

• The same proportionate diversity exists in this episode as in the last, and it still makes more sense than would its omission.
• The same two “diverse” actors remain normies as most of the rest of the cast remain silly narcissists or oblivious. The exception is the woman added at the end of episode 1.
  • Even though she appears to be a self-serving, strong, independent woman of questionable morals, she’s actually just as flawed as the rest, and her position and character make perfect sense.
• All of the above said, it remains true that no white men are portrayed as anything close to a reasonable voice.