Fairy tale instead of the apocalypse. What's Wrong with Netflix's Sweet Tooth: The Boy with the Antlers

On June 4, Netflix will release a series based on Jeff Lemire's post-apocalyptic comics Sweet Tooth. Director Jim Meekle (July Cold) came up with the project back in 2018 for Hulu, and was produced by Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan. After a long development, the series has moved to Netflix. Filming began only in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

The plot of "The Boy with the Deer Horns" is very relevant in modern realities. However, the desire to soften the presentation of the original comic, along with the drawn-in hot topics, spoils the entire viewing experience. So far, the press has only been provided with half of the season, but four episodes already show the main problems of the project.

A naive travel story

The world is swept by an epidemic of a new deadly virus. There is no cure for it, thousands of people are dying and chaos reigns everywhere. At the same time, strange children begin to be born, combining the genes of humans and various animals. One of these unusual hybrids, Gus (Christian Convery), secretly lives in the reserve under the supervision of his father.

He brings up the boy, telling him about the dangers of strangers pursuing such children. But when his father dies, Gus breaks his promise not to leave the reserve and decides to go in search of his mother. He encounters the gloomy but caring Tommy Jaepperd (Nonso Anosi) and for the first time in his life enters the human world.

An unsociable warrior who travels with a child across the post-apocalyptic world is an eternal theme of cinema. You can remember at least "The Road", at least "Six-String Samurai". In recent years, the idea has experienced a new peak in popularity, thanks to "Logan" and "The Mandalorian".

Shot from the series "Sweet Tooth: The Boy with the Antlers"

But "The Boy with the Antlers" shifts the emphasis and shows the main character not a stern man, but a child, which greatly affects the atmosphere. The post-apocalyptic world in the perception of Gus looks very bright and kind. The series seems to be built on his ideas about others: even when faced with difficulties, the boy continues to see the best in people.

A feed unexpected for a plot about a deadly virus could have worked. But the authors finally turn the series into a fairy tale, changing the whole story into a set of scenes. Each time, the main characters simply move to the next location and meet new people there who invariably want to help and support.

All evil is shown to be impersonal and lacking specific motivation. It is known that hybrid children are not infected by the virus, but only aggressive fools persecute and hate them. And all at least some interesting characters have a positive attitude towards Gus.

We can only hope that the authors of the film adaptation will preserve at least part of the original comic book plot and at some point will reveal the dark secrets of some of the characters. But the ubiquitous nobility already initially makes it difficult to take what is happening seriously.

The fragmentation is also emphasized by additional storylines. One is dedicated to Dr. Singh (Adil Akhtar), who is trying to find a cure for the virus in order to save his wife. The second is to the woman Amy (Dania Ramirez), who is raising a hybrid child, hiding from everyone.

Probably all these lines will converge over time. But so far, the constant switching between different stories only gets in the way.

Spoiled comic book ideas

Jeff Lemire began producing the Sweet Tooth series (usually translated as "Sweet Tooth") back in 2009. He was inspired by Harlan Ellison's novel The Boy and His Dog, The Punisher: The End comics by Garth Ennis and other dark works.

As a result, the author created a depressing post-apocalyptic survival storyline that creates a complete sense of doom. And all the more surprising that on Netflix it was turned into such a sugary-positive sight.

The world of "Sweet Tooth" Lemir looks decaying and dying out. He is pale and cruel, and even the main character is shown here not too charming. The author describes the consequences of the epidemic in the most unpleasant way: dead bodies are dumped everywhere, and the survivors have turned into selfish marauders.

But this is not just shock content that should evoke feelings of disgust, like the legendary "Ruins" from Marvel. In a gloomy setting, Lemir revealed human nature. Almost every hero of "Sweet Tooth" turned out to be a scoundrel and a scoundrel. But then it turned out that the characters had reasons for this: a desire to survive, to help loved ones, or at least to pay tribute to them. There is no other way in such a world.

The producers of The Boy with the Antlers said that they decided to turn the comic into a story that can be watched with children on the couch. Therefore, instead of dumping corpses, the viewer is shown the magnificent landscapes of New Zealand (you must pay tribute, the field shoots are mesmerizing) and cities overgrown with greenery. And all the heroes are initially noble and, committing any cruel act of necessity, are tormented by their conscience for a very long time.

Of course, the adaptation does not have to follow the original in everything, especially since Lemire personally approved the series. Sometimes change is only beneficial. For example, the famous film "Kingsman: The Secret Service" by Matthew Vaughn turned Mark Millar's deliberately crude comic strip into a witty and aesthetic spectacle.

But if the main villain of this story, Richmond Valentine, instead of plans to take over the world, really gave people free cellular communications, the plot would hardly have looked interesting. And in "The Boy with the Antlers" they did just that.

Lemir's comic plot is often described as: "Bambi meets Mad Max." Alas, in the film adaptation, the first part clearly prevails over the second, although in the original they did exactly the opposite.

Inappropriate analogies with the modern world

The motives of the authors of the adaptation are understandable. The series was filmed in 2020, when something similar to on-screen events was happening in the world. Perhaps that is why the action was greatly softened, wanting not to scare, but to support the viewer. But at the same time, the scriptwriters could not resist and wrote many parallels with reality in the plot.

First of all, personal protective equipment is striking. The theme, on which in life everyone and all and sundry have joked, in The Boy with Reindeer Horns evokes a new stream of irony. One of the families we meet, even at the table, does not want to take off the masks until the heroes explain that they cannot be sick.

Aimee is a model of self-isolation. Initially, she locks herself in the office, and then lives with the child, trying not to contact others. And when he goes to the store he puts on gloves and rubber boots.

But most of all analogies with a real pandemic in the thread dedicated to Dr. Singh. Here they are already playing around with the questions of widespread testing for the virus and even the habitual cruelty, when people literally track down the sick. This part brings the plot at least a little closer to the ambivalent morality of the comic book, but it is too distracted from the rest of the narrative.

It all looks ironic and sometimes funny. But in such jokes there is no originality: they simply repeat in a grotesque manner what is happening in reality. And many are already tired of the consequences of the pandemic in order to have fun looking at it in the series.

As a result, "The Boy with the Antlers" leaves a very strange impression. He seems to immerse oneself in the post-apocalypse, but the constant positive turns the action into a naive fairy tale, preventing one from being imbued with all the difficulties of this world.

The series tries to play up analogies with reality, but it does it too bluntly and absurdly. And if viewers who have not heard of the comics have any chance of enjoying watching them, fans of the original Sweet Tooth will feel cheated.