HBO's Westworld gives credit to 10 writers/co-writers. Many have only contributed to a single episode with a handful of exceptions, namely Michael Crichton, Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan who have worked on the entire show. The latter two are credited as the main writers.
A lesser known fact perhaps is that Michael Crichton has already written & directed Westworld, back in 1973. It was very well received publicly and critically, with the synopsis reading:
"An amusement park for rich vacationers. The park provides its customers a way to live out their fantasies through the use of robots that provide anything they want. Two of the vacationers choose a wild west adventure. However, after a computer breakdown, they find that they are now being stalked by a rogue robot gun-slinger."
As a consequence, the 2016 Westworld represents Crichton's work as a foundation that has been expanded by Lisa Joy, but most importantly and noticeably, by Jonathan Nolan.
David Bordwell in his essay titled Nolan vs Nolan talks about 4 ways a filmmaker can innovate:
You can innovate by tackling new subject matter. You can also innovate by developing new themes. Apart from subject or theme, you can innovate by trying out new formal strategies. Finally, you can innovate at the level of style
Given the premise of Westworld as well as the involvement of Jonathan Nolan, it would be fair to analyze it through this prism of innovation as well as project the influence Chris Nolan had on his brother.
The formal strategy that the writers utilized to tell the narrative, the one that relies almost solely on continuous exposition, is something Nolan fans will appreciate, while others will undoubtedly hate. It's a technique Chris Nolan has been deploying since 'Memento', and can be seen at it's peak in 'Inception' and 'Interstellar' where exposition becomes the 'meat of it', as Chris Nolan once said.
Westworld provides that continuous exposition whereby we are always learning new things about the hosts abilities, their creators, the park itself as well as the true ambitions of it's stakeholders. As a result, we become involved with a plot not through learning about characters background and traits, but rather through learning the information along with the characters, while they work through the mechanics.
While Westworld's style might seem simple, it echoes the efficiency and consistency that can be seen in his Nolans' work. Westworld employs mainly mid-range shots to establish scenes while the dialogues and action packed sequences are dominated by rapid, shoulder to shoulder closeups. There is nothing highly original in these techniques as many will be overly used to them from shows like 'Game of Thrones' or 'Ray Donovan', which employ some of the same cinematographers. What separates Westworld is that it's seemingly simplistic style is overarched with exposition and continuous crosscutting while it's plot is dominated by a long time favorite theme of the Nolan brothers - character subjectivity.
Westworld's style therefore is ingrained in this subjectivity, it's dependent on it. Here an attempt is made to tell a story through a character's point of view. Often we see only what certain characters can see, emphasizing their subjective views & agendas, like in many scenes involving Dolores, Ford, Bernard or Maeve. As can be seen in 'Memento', The Batman trilogy or 'The Prestige' , amongst others, Nolan is fascinated by unusual storytelling strategies. His efforts often times attempt to 'reconcile character subjectivity with large-scale cross-cutting'. This unusual narrative form prospers in Westworld where the story is told in a non-linear fashion and heavily utilizes cross-cutting.
As a result the viewer is constantly shifted from person to person, past to present, place to place. David Bordwell mentioned that in theory combining crosscutting and subjectivity might seem contrary, "One is intensive, the other expansive; one is a local effect, the other becomes the basis of the film's enveloping architecture."
Westworld tackles this by establishing a handful of key protagonists and confining the majority of it's scenes to them. The sheer volume of these protagonists however, coupled with such dynamic style makes it incredibly hard to fully convey the subjectivity of it's characters. This is where Westworld might lose some of it's viewers. While Nolan's techniques might flourish in the cinema, as a 10+ hours TV show, they are confusing. And not confusing in the show's ability to answer the questions it raised, but in how it got to these answers. While the final episodes are truly ambitious and excellently executed, the middle act is uninspiring and uneventful.
Thus when the fascination for the subject matter fades and one adjusts to the innovations Westworld has to offer, it becomes monotonous and dare I say unimaginative. Attempts to tackle this through extensive cross-cutting, wonderful acting and a unique score give Westworld a unique flare, however not for long, since the substance quickly disappears. Nolan and Joy have placed too much emphasis on the show's foundational idea as well as its actors ability to maintain the viewers interest, as opposed to building something truly thought provoking on top.
The themes that are raised within the subject matter are exciting and surely the ones science fiction fans will find familiar, asking the ever-growing questions of purpose, place and existence. Westworld initially lays down the necessary foundations to address these questions in a truly unique fashion, yet ends up being too indulgent in it's form while delivering the answers. As such, what seemingly starts as a science fiction narrative at it's core, sadly transgresses into a sort of a 'sci-fi psychological thriller', where the answers lay not within a mystical or futuristic form but are rather deep-rooted in the subjectivity of the characters.
A lesser known fact perhaps is that Michael Crichton has already written & directed Westworld, back in 1973. It was very well received publicly and critically, with the synopsis reading:
"An amusement park for rich vacationers. The park provides its customers a way to live out their fantasies through the use of robots that provide anything they want. Two of the vacationers choose a wild west adventure. However, after a computer breakdown, they find that they are now being stalked by a rogue robot gun-slinger."
As a consequence, the 2016 Westworld represents Crichton's work as a foundation that has been expanded by Lisa Joy, but most importantly and noticeably, by Jonathan Nolan.
David Bordwell in his essay titled Nolan vs Nolan talks about 4 ways a filmmaker can innovate:
You can innovate by tackling new subject matter. You can also innovate by developing new themes. Apart from subject or theme, you can innovate by trying out new formal strategies. Finally, you can innovate at the level of style
Given the premise of Westworld as well as the involvement of Jonathan Nolan, it would be fair to analyze it through this prism of innovation as well as project the influence Chris Nolan had on his brother.
The formal strategy that the writers utilized to tell the narrative, the one that relies almost solely on continuous exposition, is something Nolan fans will appreciate, while others will undoubtedly hate. It's a technique Chris Nolan has been deploying since 'Memento', and can be seen at it's peak in 'Inception' and 'Interstellar' where exposition becomes the 'meat of it', as Chris Nolan once said.
Westworld provides that continuous exposition whereby we are always learning new things about the hosts abilities, their creators, the park itself as well as the true ambitions of it's stakeholders. As a result, we become involved with a plot not through learning about characters background and traits, but rather through learning the information along with the characters, while they work through the mechanics.
While Westworld's style might seem simple, it echoes the efficiency and consistency that can be seen in his Nolans' work. Westworld employs mainly mid-range shots to establish scenes while the dialogues and action packed sequences are dominated by rapid, shoulder to shoulder closeups. There is nothing highly original in these techniques as many will be overly used to them from shows like 'Game of Thrones' or 'Ray Donovan', which employ some of the same cinematographers. What separates Westworld is that it's seemingly simplistic style is overarched with exposition and continuous crosscutting while it's plot is dominated by a long time favorite theme of the Nolan brothers - character subjectivity.
Westworld's style therefore is ingrained in this subjectivity, it's dependent on it. Here an attempt is made to tell a story through a character's point of view. Often we see only what certain characters can see, emphasizing their subjective views & agendas, like in many scenes involving Dolores, Ford, Bernard or Maeve. As can be seen in 'Memento', The Batman trilogy or 'The Prestige' , amongst others, Nolan is fascinated by unusual storytelling strategies. His efforts often times attempt to 'reconcile character subjectivity with large-scale cross-cutting'. This unusual narrative form prospers in Westworld where the story is told in a non-linear fashion and heavily utilizes cross-cutting.
As a result the viewer is constantly shifted from person to person, past to present, place to place. David Bordwell mentioned that in theory combining crosscutting and subjectivity might seem contrary, "One is intensive, the other expansive; one is a local effect, the other becomes the basis of the film's enveloping architecture."
Westworld tackles this by establishing a handful of key protagonists and confining the majority of it's scenes to them. The sheer volume of these protagonists however, coupled with such dynamic style makes it incredibly hard to fully convey the subjectivity of it's characters. This is where Westworld might lose some of it's viewers. While Nolan's techniques might flourish in the cinema, as a 10+ hours TV show, they are confusing. And not confusing in the show's ability to answer the questions it raised, but in how it got to these answers. While the final episodes are truly ambitious and excellently executed, the middle act is uninspiring and uneventful.
Thus when the fascination for the subject matter fades and one adjusts to the innovations Westworld has to offer, it becomes monotonous and dare I say unimaginative. Attempts to tackle this through extensive cross-cutting, wonderful acting and a unique score give Westworld a unique flare, however not for long, since the substance quickly disappears. Nolan and Joy have placed too much emphasis on the show's foundational idea as well as its actors ability to maintain the viewers interest, as opposed to building something truly thought provoking on top.
The themes that are raised within the subject matter are exciting and surely the ones science fiction fans will find familiar, asking the ever-growing questions of purpose, place and existence. Westworld initially lays down the necessary foundations to address these questions in a truly unique fashion, yet ends up being too indulgent in it's form while delivering the answers. As such, what seemingly starts as a science fiction narrative at it's core, sadly transgresses into a sort of a 'sci-fi psychological thriller', where the answers lay not within a mystical or futuristic form but are rather deep-rooted in the subjectivity of the characters.
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