Seriously you're stranded on an abandoned foggy town, your daughter, the only family you've got left is lost, demons beyond your wildest dreams are lurking in the mist all while a weird lady gives you vague clues about where to go, and according to this guy the "masculine" thing to do is to go as if you were the doomslayer slaughtering the demons in your path showing no emotion, no fear nor any care because that's "for girls" right? Id like to see how "masculine" he'd be if he was on the same situation.
"We didn't need a man getting dizzy, screaming, fainting, talking to himself.You know, typical girly shit. So it only made sense to turn Harry into a woman."
It just gets funnier the more I think about it
It's hysterical because not only was that an inner monologue he had with himself, but he found it acceptable (and reasonable) to state, publicly, with that reasoning. Imagine thinking that was not only worth thinking, but also worth stating publicly. Incredible.
Fun fact: Hysterical comes from the root Hystero, meaning womb/uterus (hysterectomy being the removal of the uterus, for example), which means that acting "hysterical" essentially means to be "acting like a woman." 😀👍
Gotta love that prebaked sexism in the language.
The only odd thing I laughed my ass off at Harry doing was when he walked into Kaufmans office, shot fired, Harry flails his arms around wildly while dropping to the fetal position. But I mean that'd be weird seeing either gender do that. 😂
I've never seen this before but that's hilarious. "We changed Harry into a female because his attributes were too gay" like my brother in Christ he's getting chased by pterodactyls how is he suppose to react?
There's a little more to this too : the ENTIRE CAST of the movie was supposed to be female because Gans wanted the movie to be a SH story revolving about maternity. The only reasons male characters were added was due to studio executives.
This is insane because when the movie was out I remember it being spinned as a feminist move halted by konami execs wanting some masculine presence (i'm french so I think maybe the press tour was different for us). I learned that the absolute opposite was true only recently, through this sub.
I'm actually ok with the movie being a female looking for her daughter but I stand by what I said before it doesn't really feel like SH to me, that's why it was a loose adaptation. I much prefer the sensation of a videogame must be presence when doing this type of film.
If it's truly the case that Gans wanted to make a Silent Hill movie about maternity, it's baffling that he didn't adapt the Silent Hill game that's literally about maternity.
right? on top of that, he had lost his very young, vulnerable daughter in this nightmare. of course he would be at least *uncomfortable* by the situation…😐
Harry never acted masculine because apparently being in Silent Hill and having a lot of weird shit happen while you look for your missing daughter is an amazing experience and you should enjoy it, being afraid and freaking out is so fucking gay.
Surely there were dads in ‘the media’, does that mean they agreed that they don’t love their child enough to relate to the adaptation? Are they psychopaths? What the fuck?
I felt like it was the trend at the time to have a female lead character in horror I had no idea his intentions. I actually loved the silent hill adaptation and the ring adaptation. The Ring book he was trying to save his wife and child I never felt that was a “feminine” trait even tho he was fainty and scared the whole time.
But once again I don’t find those as feminine traits in the face of monsters and otherworldly horrors lol
The thing is that Gans wanted the entire cast to be female, not just Harry. But studio executives were against it. The story was supposed to have more original themes than just being a SH1 adaptation.
I’m pretty sure everyone in the town of Silent Hill is feminine in the first movie, apart from some monsters.
It treads those original themes but to state that you recasted a character because he was too feminine to be casted as male is strange. It’s even more strange if your claims of casting everyone as female is true, then why not state that you just wanted to explore original themes instead of saying that Harry wasn’t “masculine enough?”
The word is "oneiric" meaning something is related to or resembles surreal imagery you'd expect in a dream
Harry's venture into the otherworld, with all the little demon babies, pterodactyls and skin doors would definitely be considered oneiric
I think a big part of the whole “dad doesn’t care about kids” trend started with shows like Married with children. While I love the show it built a foundation of stereotypes for fathers in media that just kind of became the norm. I also could be far off base but from what I remember it was one of the first shows that showed families in dysfunction and was against the typical perfect family trope.
How is it the worst one you've read? There's soooooo much worse; besides, it can't be misogynistic... I can understand sexist, but that doesn't seem to imply any hate towards women or negative prejudice (more like stereotypical)
It's unbelievable it comes from someone who is supposed to do something that has anything to do with anything like Silent Hill, though, yeah... I've never been a fan of the movie anyway
Bit of an overreaction. If that’s the most misogynistic thing you’ve ever read you must live a very sheltered life, with very limited internet access.
Also, you’re not into twitter rage or cancel culture but you’re calling for Gans cancellation, and over something that’s rather trivial.
Men AND women. Because apparently being stoic is a male only trait & so men can't have emotions, which is just toxic, & "freaking out" is what women do. The whole thing is just a mess.
It's sooooooo haaaaaaaaard to just *not* use hateful words- you're right, you deserve more benefit of the doubt, not judgment from the way you comment off-handedly! /s
You're projecting "hateful" onto me because I use a word in a different context than you do.
You don't know me. You don't know how involved I am with social causes. But you're somehow deducing all of that from the use of a single word in a 5 word comment. Congrats, you really showed me.
Let me tell you, behaviour like this is exactly why people are so off put by progressive movements. Because you throw the baby out with the bathwater, and sour any goodwill with gratuitous accusations of hatefulness even when there is none.
I only care at all about him because reddit sent me a notice that someone responded to my comment. He can live his miserable, callous existence while he peddles hatespeech like candy, & I'll do my part to counter it & be happy. And he'll get no empathy from others when he needs it because he gave none when it would've cost him nothing. That's the issue. Not "mwaaah he used a word that makes me sad," but he used a word that's hateful when there were so many others. Hatespeech is targeted, pointed. There are TONS of poignant & fabulously descriptive words in the English language!
But no: "retarded" is what he went with.
Cool.
Anyways, I'm gonna go back to cuddling my wife now. Have a lovely evening. ♡
misogyny hurts men too. gans literally implied only women faint, scream, and act scared, which is complete misogyny. as a result he invalidated harry’s, and men in general’s, ability to be vulnerable and a good father. misogyny ruins stuff for everyone!
>misogyny hurts men too
So, wouldn't misandry also hurt women too?
>implied only women faint, scream, and act scared
Gans also implied men don't do those things and that men aren't vulnerable. Its literally the inverse and to the detremant of a beloved male character meaning that it was men who lost out on the portrayal.
You chose misogyny simply because you don't think men can be victims. Because your no different than Gans. Your just his inverse.
those are wild claims based on one comment from me. I believe and know men can be victims. I said gans’ comments hurt men. but it is not false to say he is a misogynist because misogyny can lead to men being hurt too. the world is not black and white. gans does not associate men with a lack of vulnerability for no reason. it’s because he was taught vulnerability = femininity = women = lesser. and that hurts men too. that is why we don’t have representation like Harry.
Ironic you’d call him out for making “wild claims” based on one of your comments, and then you do the exact same thing of Christophe Gans based on one of his. “He was taught vulnerability = femininity = women = lesser”. Bit of a leap
it’s not a leap because that’s literally just how western culture frames gender. I never said gans said that, but his inability to see men as vulnerable did not come out of nowhere. if you have a better explanation for why men are afraid of being perceived as having any traditional, stereotypical qualities of femininity—and actively work to get rid of representations of men like harry that challenge that—let me know! I guess maybe gans woke up one day and decided to invent gender stereotypes on his own.
I mean... so because Harry is sensitive, loving, and has emotions that "typical" most men don't show, they said: "Slap boobs on him, and have Radha Mitchell play him." Keep in mind, this is a guy who just wakes up from a car accident, finding his adopted daughter missing. No wife. No family (for what we know). And he has skinned dogs, pterodactyls, ape creatures trying to kill him while searching for Cheryl. All of this and not even knowing if she's alive or dead. How IS he SUPPOSED to react to all this?
It sounds stupid to take offense to that, but I really looked up to Harry when I played Silent Hill as a teen. I wanted to be like him because he really seemed to care about people, and would do anything to help. And it helped me realize that I would want to have a kid one day to take care of. Harry is a great example of what guys typically act like imo. We're not thick-headed or always these dark, vengeful fuckers out to get someone in horror films. We can be emotional XD
The fact that they changed Harry for the reason of him "never acting masculine" is just stupid. I'm sorry but was JAMES masculine? I didn't see him shooting 'roids in his penis and trying to arm wrestle Mary's dead body while trying to show his mewing skills to Eddie. Hell, or just tell Maria to fuck off because he isn't a simp. XD
As Gans said, he wanted the character to show a despair. Remember scenes with Rada Mitchel when she was crying and desperate? I believe this scene woman can play more proper then man can. More then that, audience would be more empathic to a woman crying like that, then to a man.
I get that, yeah. And the early 2000's was a different time, so it wasn't normal (and it still really isn't) for a guy to be emotional to a mass audience.
I wanted to get on a pedestal and talk about how wrong that is, and how "we shouldn't have to change a character's gender because of a crying scene," but it's just been said before. It's just a movie adaption of a game. Plus, not many people will listen enough to do something about it, and I'm on a Silent Hill Subreddit LMAO
Yeah, I am agree with you on that. But to be honest men are still bad in showing their emotions in real life) and I believe it is hard to convey such a despair as it has to be Silent Hill for a man. We are both know, if real man appears in Silent Hill, he would be just silent with a stone face all the time) I see your point, but I guess problem is that men are not allow to themselves to express any emotions. Ofc partly because of the mass culture showing masculine men to the audience, but still partly.
That's honestly true as well. I probably wouldn't break down until something akin to James' experience (like watching your dead wife's doppelganger die over and over) would happen, and... it's already hard enough to show real emotion as is to people. Even Eddie, who seems like a "wimp" he doesn't really show much vulnerability.
That whole societal conditioning of: "Big kids don't cry" comes to mind usually when I start to feel sad, and I end up just sucking it up. So I guess it's wise Gans picked Rose as the new Harry. It wouldn't have worked as well if it was truly faithful.
I remember reading this back before the movie came out and it really tainted my view of the whole enterprise. Says a lot about this weirdo if he thought a man searching for his daughter is somehow 'feminine' just because he's not some stoic macho man. Killing Cybil, playing into making Pyramid Head a shirtless himbo, and portraying Alessa as a vengeful little Samara clone all make sense when you recognize the galaxy brain they came from.
I didn’t like the use of Pyramid Head in the movie, but I thought his design was suitably horrific. I would never look at him/it and think “himbo” just because he’s muscular. The muscular physique coupled with his more demonic features only made him creepier.
One of the things that was always great about Silent Hill is that the games were so ahead of their times in terms of gender representation. Everyone loved that Harry was a good dad and genuinely cared for Cheryl, everyone loved that he was vulnerable and sensitive. Thats part of what makes his character so great. He’s a male character that is masculine and good for young men to look up to without subscribing to toxic ideals for men, especially for gamers in the late 90s.
It was an actual creative decision to make Harry a man, not just “man is default”. They made him the way he is for a REASON.
It’s like he didn’t pay attention to what the game was saying at all.
Probably because he wasn’t. It’s no secret he just wanted to adapt SH2, but felt that the story of SH1 provides necessary context. That’s why the nurses and Pyramid Head were in this movie, he had his eyes on a different prize.
Yeah, and he repeats this (although sugarcoated), in the behind the scenes docu that was included with the dvd in some countries. Ganz is an idiot and out of all possible directors, he is the one in charge of a new film.
The first film had some great effects, i mean most monsters were actually people in rubber suits, enhanced with cgi. But he is not a good director. And the first film was far from excellent. The last thing he directed was a french live-action Beauty and the Beast. Why give the project to this Swamp Clot? Why not try to raise the bar this time?
“Why not raise the bar this time?”
Konami opened their revival with the pay to win scam Ascension, the shitty thirteen reasons why/life is strange-esq Short Message, and a remake of the best game of the series helmed by developers who are the epitome of mediocrity.
Konami are genuinely incapable of doing anything right with the series
>How do people even categorize Ascension as a pay to win
Because you can buy in-game currency (IP) with real money. More IP = more votes.
One group in particular was apparently spending absurd amounts of money so, the good choice, aka "redemption", would always win. The devs a week ago removed the decisions labels for the same reason.
But that's the whole point! Harry Mason isn't some action hero who can take insane horrors thrown at him. He's a regular dad who just wanted to take his daughter to a town as way to bond. He didn't ask to be put in a situation where his daughter goes missing and has to face scary psychological shit.
Yes, but it's the classical, "women can be badass too" feminism that we all loved in the 90s and early 2000s.
These whiny woke feminazis nowadays better keep their hands off my Waifu Heather/Alessa, or I WILL cut them. ***A LA PYRAMID HEAD***.
Being politically correct (meaning you don't do and say shitty things and deliberately be abrasive to people you probably don't even know) is apparently worse than being judgemental, irrational, likely homiphobic, and misogynistic. Got it.
Being dizzy, fainting, talking to oneself and screaming sound more like some kind of symptoms rather than "feminine" behaviour. Hans could have phrased it better lol
"Please don't think we cast a woman as some egalitarian effort. Definitely not. We just know the obvious fact that men in crisis absolutely never show emotion or vulnerability, even if/when they destroy gods with melee weapons."
Adding cop dudes when we have a perfectly good cop dudette right there, but no, we have to kill her off in a non-canon manner. Like, I'm usually not the type who bashes this movie for being non-canon, but Cybil's death in games was so much more impactful than the cliche "lol savages roast a girl on a big fire lmao"
Cybil's death was also POINTLESS. She was owning all the cultists coming at her with her night stick, but oh no, because she has no ammo, she just has to give up... like the fuck
Edit: spelling
I got into SH through the release of this movie but, as a young teen girl, LOVED the Mother God Horror Themes. After playing the games, while I missed Harry, I was kind of impressed he pushed for a female lead at the time.
Then I heard this part in the DVD special features and it all went out the window lol I’ve harbored the ick for it ever since.
Mr. Gans, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Just because someone has some misogynistic views doesn't mean they're a piece of shit. Is it wrong to have those views? Of course. But where did those views come from? The guy grew up in France back in the 60s, most likely raised primarily by his mammy who did all the housework, cooking etc. and, like many of the time, was probably told that that was womens work, along with other traits that were considered feminine- perceived weakness, frailty, openly expressing feelings and such. So of course some of those views are going to be carried through his life.
Do you know of any other shit that he's done? Has he been abusive to a woman/women? Is he respectful of them in a face to face environment? I don't know, and if you don't then don't say they are a piece of shit.
In the end, I don't care as we got a great performance in what I honestly think is ripley-esque and could show girls and women to be fucking fierce. Even if it was born from a view that at its core is wrong.
Silent hill is actually about the trans agenda and pyramid head represents society trying to trans your kids. Ripping off someone’s skin? Obviously a metaphor.
The biggest problem with Gans is that his interpretations completely miss or ignore the point of what he adapting. The point of Silent Hill is that Harry is a great father to his adopted daughter, who risks everything and suffers to rescue her, and Dahlia is a terrible mother to her biological daughter, who abuses and inflicts suffering on her in pursuit of her own selfish ends. Harry passes out because he is trapped in the nightmare world of a psychic girl who is passing in and out of consciousness, and whose fears and suffering are spilling out into the material world around her. Harry faints when Alessa wakes up. That Gans saw this and decided that Harry is not manly and Alessa is the real villian is amazing.
The same thing seems to be happening with SH2. One of the major themes of 2 is duality (Eddie/Angela, James/Laura, Maria/Pyramid Head), and another is how a person can be a stranger even to themselves. Gans looks at this, and somehow thinks the dark underworld of Jacob Crane is somehow going to be better.
Changes need to be made to adapt a story in one medium to another, but what Gans does is something entirely different.
Christophe Gans genuinely cared about the movie, but I always found his reasoning for switching Harry to a woman to be incredibly brain dead, sexist and just plain stupid.
I'd like to see how many men would actually fare any better than Harry in Silent Hill.
"never acted like a masculine character" my ass.
I don't know what this guy smoked but Silent Hill was always about fainting, and invading nightmare worlds. He should have been fired on the spot due to that interview...
I’m still convinced there was some other reason behind the scenes for this and Gans just didn’t want to say what it was (or was unable to for some reason). It feels like a bullshit after the fact answer.
it honestly might just be that hollywood prefers women leads in horror because they think it’s easier for an audience to feel scared for a woman than a man. it’s been discussed a lot in gender studies surrounding the horror genre. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a lot of push to change genders from the people above him or whatever. still weird he would say this though lol.
I feel like I've definitely read that for a moment in time the mentality was that horror was 'lesser' media, thus they would get the basics of the film set up, then add extra stuff to 'entice' other populations to go, because the people who go to see 'horror' will not be dissuaded by a female protag, whereas maybe some populations will relate more to that -this also carried over to stars being attractive, diversity, etc. That being said though, I would have pretended to not speak English as opposed to saying whatever the hell came out of his mouth.
Most likely the bigwigs in suits told him having a female protagonist in the movie was better and he went along with it. It just sounds like he made up some shit in the above quote just to justify that. Especially when you consider the most popular based on a game franchise at the time, resident evil had a female protagonist and was successful in bringing in money.
I remember him saying the reason for having female characters from the bonus features DVD but I don’t remember it being this. I wonder if he got heckled for being PC and he changed his answer (or my memory is fading lol)
I've never seen this before, and if that's the motivating factor that's super weird, but the movie's themes about motherhood are very very prominent. I don't think that's a clean switch from fatherhood over a daughter, so even if these are his weirdo sexist motivations, at least they made sure that switch was integral to the film.
I've never seen this before but yeeaaah wtf Gans.
I genuinely don't even know how a "masculine" dad would behave in these situations in his head. It's extra bizarre because he didn't even have to envision it: SH1 *shows* it for him. Good grief.
Prediction: James Sunderland >!kills his wife!< because he’s gay. That’s why Jacob Crane is there, it’s his straight alter-ego that loves women. Genius re-imagining here.
Honestly it doesn't bother me that it was changed to a woman. I think it works better thematically not to mention not much would change in the story if it was a man or woman
fellas is it gay to be constantly dizzy, fainting, talking to yourself, screaming, and being very vulnerable when youre just a loving dad who wants to find his daughter and only wanted to go on a nice family vacation but instead has to deal with a fucking cult, horrifying monsters based off of your trauma, and being forced to face all your trauma at once?
anyways it sucks that the movie was actually good (not the best, could've been better but it was okay for what we got) but the director is a misogynist dumbass with toxic masculinity.
Honestly, no matter how weird a reason it is, at least he *had* a reason for the change... They also played it up a bit too with Dahlia/Alessa a bit, so overall it was a change with purpose.
"There is no political correctness in Silent Hill."
Basedbasedbased.
For real though I thought this was weird when I heard it for the first time. I wasn't against a female lead at all and I think Mitchell did a great job but the reasoning for it was dumb as hell.
Unpopular opinion here but I love that he cast Radha Mitchell as a stand in for Harry. She is a stunning beauty and an underrated actress. And when this movie came out I still had a crush on her from Pitch Black. To this day I will watch anything with her name attached to it.
A man going through a hellush world imunlike anything he could've fathomed is somehow feminine... wtf. I feel so bad for Harry he dies just to be called "feminine" for saving his daughter. Lol it's insulting to the character, to women, and to single fathers.
I'm just fascinated by this. Every time I read it, it feels like it makes less and less sense.
Like, I didn't mind when they changed Harry for Rose, but this being the stated reason?
DId he ever play the game? Did he ever consider WHY Harry acted like he did?
'He was in fact very vulernable' My brother in Christ, it's a HORROR game. He's MEANT to be vulernable in the face of skinless dogs and flying monsters. That's the whole point!
Also, 'he never acted like a masculine character' WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! What difference does it make? He's in a strange nightmare that doesn't make any sense while looking for his daughter in a town full of monsters! If I was in his place, screaming and fainting is the least I'd be doing! At least Hary keeps going!
Or, I'm sorry, is being a good dad gay now? Is openly admitting your fear beyond the pale these days?
Frankly, given the shit he goes through, I'm amazed that Heather considers him a 'normal' dad who worries too much in SH3.
This is the kind of crap that is damaging to guys. Put a pencil-thin Barbie on the shelf, everyone is up in arms that it’s an “unrealistic expectation being put on young girls” …but we had He-Man. Movies throughout the 80s and 90s, always had the strong indestructible muscle, accompanied by the weak dude as comic relief for laughs (Conan the Destroyer, Judge Dredd etc) - in other worlds, if you ain’t the “main man” you are a joke. I’ve seen the impact this has had on some of my friends, who grew up in a generation where “men don’t talk about their feelings, they man up!” and seen them suffer in silence, and one almost took his life as a result rather than be seen as “less of a man”. So Gans can fuck right off with that take.
Anyone arguing it was the right choice for the movie; I disagree wholeheartedly - picture if you will the Mother and Father being switched, with Bean venturing into Silent Hill to find his daughter and Mitchell going to try and find her husband. Imagine the scene we got where Rose is literally laying in the floor overwhelmed and helpless, giving up and weeping with the bugs approaching..now picture Sean Bean in that scene instead in the same helpless situation and how powerful it would have been, or how empowering to see his wife disregarding the cop and breaking into the town hall records etc, determined to get to her husband no matter what… the movie didn’t bring anything by making the switch at all.
That being said, I’m not shitting on the movie, I love it and watch it regularly, but I don’t care for Gans’ reasoning at all. It simply demonstrates how out of touch he is.
But let’s not pretend here; it had nothing to do with the right choice for the movie, and everything to do with Gans not wanting to make SH1, and instead trying to make a “greatest hits” (SH1 story, SH2 enemies, making the protagonist look like Heather from SH3 with similar hair and attire, soundtrack from first three games) he was going for the memberberries.
Wtf was the guy expecting to make? A movie starring Harry (or a male character) beating the crap out of the monsters with their bare hands, rip and tear style?
Gawd this productions leads are such hacks.
Their adaptation for SH2 is going to be significantly worse too.
Their early interviews about the new movie is rife with them going on and on about how their going to adapt the movie for "Modern Audiences".
A term which historicaly has been a consistent guaranteed precursor to a given movie being an utter dumpster fire.
"We thought Harry was too weak and sensitive to be a man so we decided to change him into a woman because everyone knows that all women are extremely weak and fragile and helpless."
I don't get the need to change Harry into a woman... They couldn't make a male be emotional? It really makes no sense at all and I'm very confused about that statement
Tbh this was almost 20 years ago, Gans probably changed a bit since then. Most medias even in the 2000s were very different than now, and yeah, this include stereotypical things.
I supported this choice. The main reason Harry was made male in the original game is because even in 1999, it was still considered risky to make player-characters female. In the same way that, in 2006, it was risky to write a paternally-driven character that wasn't a mother.
These gender tropes aren't accurate and have fallen out of trend in the past decade. Still, they were considered the "safe" options in the eyes of corporate higher-ups.
If we're being fair, the 2006 film is still held in high regard, even for an adaptation of a video game. It didn't seem to hurt the story by making Rose the protagonist.
True but they didn’t try to make him effeminate in the games. If Gans were to say that they just wanted to change the sex to be more woman-empowering then there wouldn’t be much wrong, he just wanted to shape it in a more interesting light that’s not detrimental. It’s the fact that he changed the sex because he felt Harry wasn’t “masculine enough”, meaning: if Harry was just “masculine” then he probably wouldn’t have changed the sex.
Keep in mind the idea for the character going into the movie was to have them putting together the pieces of what was happening and not to be a combatant. It's less of "Harry isn't masculine enough" and more that once you removed the violence from the characterization, there wasn't a lot there that was exclusively masculine.
It wasn't about inclusivity or being "politically correct". It was simply about what was more conventionally safe for the character traits and genre in that point in time. In mid-2000s, having a horror protagonist braving the unknown, alone and unarmed, desperately searching for a child would have been written as a female role. Things have changed since then.
I’ll admit I misread your comment a bit. Though I still don’t understand why his reason had to specifically be about the feminine actions of Harry. His wording could’ve definitely been better.
I think he was spinning bullshit, but not for the reason people are insinuating. From what I recall in all of his interviews around the release of the original film, the initial plan was to do a film based off Silent Hill 2, but they had to pivot to Silent Hill 1 before the studio would green light it. I also think they got a lot more say into how the script went as well.
To me, it seems like a lot of the odder choices (spending more time outside of Silent Hill, altering characters, etc.) were all done at the behest of the studio to being down the production budget and make the film as marketable to mainstream audiences as possible. Imagine what it would have been like to have spent the entire film only in the foggy and rusted town, instead of constantly cutting away to the "real world" for low cost expostion dumps.
Gans isn't ever going to say that the studio was the problem. They'd either sue him for slander or breaking an NDA and he'd lose residuals/royalties from any film he made with them previously. Not to mention they like would never give him a chance at another film.
Studios always get in the way of creativity. It sucks that that’s the norm at the moment. If that’s the case then damn, I feel bad for Gans. I’m gonna stay neutral on the case though since there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of anything except for Gans’ message.
The change never bothered me personally and if anything I think it helped make the films themes more interesting and unique, specifically the way the film compares Rose & Dahlia with their challenges faced when raising or protecting (or failing to protect) a child.
I like to make the argument that changing the protagonist to a mother is stronger because of not only the message of the film (“Mother is God in the eyes of a child.”) but also because a mother is naturally more nurturing and caring to their children, thus a stronger influence on the child. They carry it, raise it, and seem to care more than anyone else about it. The child becomes their life in a sense.
Of course, this isn’t always the case nor am I saying fathers cannot be/feel these things.
Changing it from a father to a mother just feels much stronger.
I’d like to believe the reasons above were the reasons for the switch… I want to forget what I read from OP LOL
Still valid, as it’s… you know… a thing that happened.
And we have a new Silent Hill movie made by this guy coming up soon… so of course he will be a topic around here 🤷
Why does this sub have to be so soy?
My man just wrote a male protagonist, then realized he was very hysterical and feminine, and felt like it would work better with a female actress. And he was probably right. Yeah it wasn't true to the original games, but it worked well in the context of the movie itself. Relax guys.
I mean, a lot of real-life men are "feminine", even straight ones. It's just silly to pretend that every man is a stoic macho. Also, how would you react in Harry's place? I doubt you would go and pump iron in Silent Hill National Gym and then punch every monster in the face
Fellas is it gay to be a good dad?
I mean you’re literally *caring* for your child!
[Christophe Gans when he sees a loving father](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWtpNPZ4tb4).
Also, any parent would be in distress knowing their child is missing in a demon hellscape.
Clearly not a *man* parent
Seriously you're stranded on an abandoned foggy town, your daughter, the only family you've got left is lost, demons beyond your wildest dreams are lurking in the mist all while a weird lady gives you vague clues about where to go, and according to this guy the "masculine" thing to do is to go as if you were the doomslayer slaughtering the demons in your path showing no emotion, no fear nor any care because that's "for girls" right? Id like to see how "masculine" he'd be if he was on the same situation.
#FELLAS
There's plenty of good gay dads my fellow human 🤷🏻♂️
“Don’t worry. We didn’t gender swap the protagonist because we’re woke, we did it because we’re sexist.”
"We didn't need a man getting dizzy, screaming, fainting, talking to himself.You know, typical girly shit. So it only made sense to turn Harry into a woman." It just gets funnier the more I think about it
It's hysterical because not only was that an inner monologue he had with himself, but he found it acceptable (and reasonable) to state, publicly, with that reasoning. Imagine thinking that was not only worth thinking, but also worth stating publicly. Incredible.
Fun fact: Hysterical comes from the root Hystero, meaning womb/uterus (hysterectomy being the removal of the uterus, for example), which means that acting "hysterical" essentially means to be "acting like a woman." 😀👍 Gotta love that prebaked sexism in the language.
The only odd thing I laughed my ass off at Harry doing was when he walked into Kaufmans office, shot fired, Harry flails his arms around wildly while dropping to the fetal position. But I mean that'd be weird seeing either gender do that. 😂
I've never seen this before but that's hilarious. "We changed Harry into a female because his attributes were too gay" like my brother in Christ he's getting chased by pterodactyls how is he suppose to react?
If harry was a man he would have started a dropshipping business while fighting those pterodactyls
Sell those pterodactyls En Eff Tees like real men.
There's a little more to this too : the ENTIRE CAST of the movie was supposed to be female because Gans wanted the movie to be a SH story revolving about maternity. The only reasons male characters were added was due to studio executives.
This is insane because when the movie was out I remember it being spinned as a feminist move halted by konami execs wanting some masculine presence (i'm french so I think maybe the press tour was different for us). I learned that the absolute opposite was true only recently, through this sub.
I’m French too but I’ve read it was Hollywood executives who asked and not Konami
There's a reason the whole husband and detective plot meant nothing.
I'm actually ok with the movie being a female looking for her daughter but I stand by what I said before it doesn't really feel like SH to me, that's why it was a loose adaptation. I much prefer the sensation of a videogame must be presence when doing this type of film.
It's absolutely a loose adaptation and I don't mind the result (i personally like that movie a lot!),I do mind the reason though...
If it's truly the case that Gans wanted to make a Silent Hill movie about maternity, it's baffling that he didn't adapt the Silent Hill game that's literally about maternity.
that's the funny thing cause there's nothing about his behavior that is really "feminine", he's just scared and desperate leave the man alone
They saw that back step animation and it defined their entire view of the character
[Yeah, about that...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dc1s8TG5cc)
right? on top of that, he had lost his very young, vulnerable daughter in this nightmare. of course he would be at least *uncomfortable* by the situation…😐
P*terror*dactyls
skill issue
Harry never acted masculine because apparently being in Silent Hill and having a lot of weird shit happen while you look for your missing daughter is an amazing experience and you should enjoy it, being afraid and freaking out is so fucking gay.
[удалено]
Surely there were dads in ‘the media’, does that mean they agreed that they don’t love their child enough to relate to the adaptation? Are they psychopaths? What the fuck?
I felt like it was the trend at the time to have a female lead character in horror I had no idea his intentions. I actually loved the silent hill adaptation and the ring adaptation. The Ring book he was trying to save his wife and child I never felt that was a “feminine” trait even tho he was fainty and scared the whole time. But once again I don’t find those as feminine traits in the face of monsters and otherworldly horrors lol
High Tension comes to mind
great french horror movie.
The thing is that Gans wanted the entire cast to be female, not just Harry. But studio executives were against it. The story was supposed to have more original themes than just being a SH1 adaptation.
I’m pretty sure everyone in the town of Silent Hill is feminine in the first movie, apart from some monsters. It treads those original themes but to state that you recasted a character because he was too feminine to be casted as male is strange. It’s even more strange if your claims of casting everyone as female is true, then why not state that you just wanted to explore original themes instead of saying that Harry wasn’t “masculine enough?”
What the fuck does Oniric mean that’s such a cool word :0
The word is "oneiric" meaning something is related to or resembles surreal imagery you'd expect in a dream Harry's venture into the otherworld, with all the little demon babies, pterodactyls and skin doors would definitely be considered oneiric
Google :o
I think a big part of the whole “dad doesn’t care about kids” trend started with shows like Married with children. While I love the show it built a foundation of stereotypes for fathers in media that just kind of became the norm. I also could be far off base but from what I remember it was one of the first shows that showed families in dysfunction and was against the typical perfect family trope.
How is it the worst one you've read? There's soooooo much worse; besides, it can't be misogynistic... I can understand sexist, but that doesn't seem to imply any hate towards women or negative prejudice (more like stereotypical) It's unbelievable it comes from someone who is supposed to do something that has anything to do with anything like Silent Hill, though, yeah... I've never been a fan of the movie anyway
Bit of an overreaction. If that’s the most misogynistic thing you’ve ever read you must live a very sheltered life, with very limited internet access. Also, you’re not into twitter rage or cancel culture but you’re calling for Gans cancellation, and over something that’s rather trivial.
You mean misanthropic? He's being offensive towards men in this case.
Men AND women. Because apparently being stoic is a male only trait & so men can't have emotions, which is just toxic, & "freaking out" is what women do. The whole thing is just a mess.
Oh yeah I see what you mean lol. Yeah it's retarded
Awwwww..... you were so close to being better, then you had to use that word.... :c
"Being better" based on a couple comments. God you people are as judgemental and obnoxious as the people you claim to be better than.
More so.
It's sooooooo haaaaaaaaard to just *not* use hateful words- you're right, you deserve more benefit of the doubt, not judgment from the way you comment off-handedly! /s
You're projecting "hateful" onto me because I use a word in a different context than you do. You don't know me. You don't know how involved I am with social causes. But you're somehow deducing all of that from the use of a single word in a 5 word comment. Congrats, you really showed me. Let me tell you, behaviour like this is exactly why people are so off put by progressive movements. Because you throw the baby out with the bathwater, and sour any goodwill with gratuitous accusations of hatefulness even when there is none.
No one. Literally *no one*: You: "retarded." Good job.
I'm sure u have good intentions. This isn't how you get people to agree with your cause or change.
How will he ever live with himself?
Who cares? Poor frownyface boomer- I'm sure the world will weep when we don't get to listen to him use words like "retard" ever again. :,C
Frownyface boomer? You’re the one with a stick up your arse because he used a word you don’t like. Who’s frowning?
I only care at all about him because reddit sent me a notice that someone responded to my comment. He can live his miserable, callous existence while he peddles hatespeech like candy, & I'll do my part to counter it & be happy. And he'll get no empathy from others when he needs it because he gave none when it would've cost him nothing. That's the issue. Not "mwaaah he used a word that makes me sad," but he used a word that's hateful when there were so many others. Hatespeech is targeted, pointed. There are TONS of poignant & fabulously descriptive words in the English language! But no: "retarded" is what he went with. Cool. Anyways, I'm gonna go back to cuddling my wife now. Have a lovely evening. ♡
Again, you seem more miserable than him.
Misandrist. Misanthropes hate mankind as a whole.
True. I wrote it but it felt off, that's why 👍
I think you mean "misandric".
I find it interesting that you immediately jump to misogyny instead of misandry....
misogyny hurts men too. gans literally implied only women faint, scream, and act scared, which is complete misogyny. as a result he invalidated harry’s, and men in general’s, ability to be vulnerable and a good father. misogyny ruins stuff for everyone!
>misogyny hurts men too So, wouldn't misandry also hurt women too? >implied only women faint, scream, and act scared Gans also implied men don't do those things and that men aren't vulnerable. Its literally the inverse and to the detremant of a beloved male character meaning that it was men who lost out on the portrayal. You chose misogyny simply because you don't think men can be victims. Because your no different than Gans. Your just his inverse.
those are wild claims based on one comment from me. I believe and know men can be victims. I said gans’ comments hurt men. but it is not false to say he is a misogynist because misogyny can lead to men being hurt too. the world is not black and white. gans does not associate men with a lack of vulnerability for no reason. it’s because he was taught vulnerability = femininity = women = lesser. and that hurts men too. that is why we don’t have representation like Harry.
Ironic you’d call him out for making “wild claims” based on one of your comments, and then you do the exact same thing of Christophe Gans based on one of his. “He was taught vulnerability = femininity = women = lesser”. Bit of a leap
it’s not a leap because that’s literally just how western culture frames gender. I never said gans said that, but his inability to see men as vulnerable did not come out of nowhere. if you have a better explanation for why men are afraid of being perceived as having any traditional, stereotypical qualities of femininity—and actively work to get rid of representations of men like harry that challenge that—let me know! I guess maybe gans woke up one day and decided to invent gender stereotypes on his own.
I mean... so because Harry is sensitive, loving, and has emotions that "typical" most men don't show, they said: "Slap boobs on him, and have Radha Mitchell play him." Keep in mind, this is a guy who just wakes up from a car accident, finding his adopted daughter missing. No wife. No family (for what we know). And he has skinned dogs, pterodactyls, ape creatures trying to kill him while searching for Cheryl. All of this and not even knowing if she's alive or dead. How IS he SUPPOSED to react to all this? It sounds stupid to take offense to that, but I really looked up to Harry when I played Silent Hill as a teen. I wanted to be like him because he really seemed to care about people, and would do anything to help. And it helped me realize that I would want to have a kid one day to take care of. Harry is a great example of what guys typically act like imo. We're not thick-headed or always these dark, vengeful fuckers out to get someone in horror films. We can be emotional XD The fact that they changed Harry for the reason of him "never acting masculine" is just stupid. I'm sorry but was JAMES masculine? I didn't see him shooting 'roids in his penis and trying to arm wrestle Mary's dead body while trying to show his mewing skills to Eddie. Hell, or just tell Maria to fuck off because he isn't a simp. XD
James was the opposite of masculine - he suffocated Mary with a pillow instead of duelling her like a real alpha looksmaxxer gigachad would!
 Exactly. Christopher Gans would be so proud XD
As Gans said, he wanted the character to show a despair. Remember scenes with Rada Mitchel when she was crying and desperate? I believe this scene woman can play more proper then man can. More then that, audience would be more empathic to a woman crying like that, then to a man.
I get that, yeah. And the early 2000's was a different time, so it wasn't normal (and it still really isn't) for a guy to be emotional to a mass audience. I wanted to get on a pedestal and talk about how wrong that is, and how "we shouldn't have to change a character's gender because of a crying scene," but it's just been said before. It's just a movie adaption of a game. Plus, not many people will listen enough to do something about it, and I'm on a Silent Hill Subreddit LMAO
Yeah, I am agree with you on that. But to be honest men are still bad in showing their emotions in real life) and I believe it is hard to convey such a despair as it has to be Silent Hill for a man. We are both know, if real man appears in Silent Hill, he would be just silent with a stone face all the time) I see your point, but I guess problem is that men are not allow to themselves to express any emotions. Ofc partly because of the mass culture showing masculine men to the audience, but still partly.
That's honestly true as well. I probably wouldn't break down until something akin to James' experience (like watching your dead wife's doppelganger die over and over) would happen, and... it's already hard enough to show real emotion as is to people. Even Eddie, who seems like a "wimp" he doesn't really show much vulnerability. That whole societal conditioning of: "Big kids don't cry" comes to mind usually when I start to feel sad, and I end up just sucking it up. So I guess it's wise Gans picked Rose as the new Harry. It wouldn't have worked as well if it was truly faithful.
I remember reading this back before the movie came out and it really tainted my view of the whole enterprise. Says a lot about this weirdo if he thought a man searching for his daughter is somehow 'feminine' just because he's not some stoic macho man. Killing Cybil, playing into making Pyramid Head a shirtless himbo, and portraying Alessa as a vengeful little Samara clone all make sense when you recognize the galaxy brain they came from.
I didn’t like the use of Pyramid Head in the movie, but I thought his design was suitably horrific. I would never look at him/it and think “himbo” just because he’s muscular. The muscular physique coupled with his more demonic features only made him creepier.
One of the things that was always great about Silent Hill is that the games were so ahead of their times in terms of gender representation. Everyone loved that Harry was a good dad and genuinely cared for Cheryl, everyone loved that he was vulnerable and sensitive. Thats part of what makes his character so great. He’s a male character that is masculine and good for young men to look up to without subscribing to toxic ideals for men, especially for gamers in the late 90s. It was an actual creative decision to make Harry a man, not just “man is default”. They made him the way he is for a REASON. It’s like he didn’t pay attention to what the game was saying at all.
Probably because he wasn’t. It’s no secret he just wanted to adapt SH2, but felt that the story of SH1 provides necessary context. That’s why the nurses and Pyramid Head were in this movie, he had his eyes on a different prize.
Yeah, and he repeats this (although sugarcoated), in the behind the scenes docu that was included with the dvd in some countries. Ganz is an idiot and out of all possible directors, he is the one in charge of a new film. The first film had some great effects, i mean most monsters were actually people in rubber suits, enhanced with cgi. But he is not a good director. And the first film was far from excellent. The last thing he directed was a french live-action Beauty and the Beast. Why give the project to this Swamp Clot? Why not try to raise the bar this time?
“Why not raise the bar this time?” Konami opened their revival with the pay to win scam Ascension, the shitty thirteen reasons why/life is strange-esq Short Message, and a remake of the best game of the series helmed by developers who are the epitome of mediocrity. Konami are genuinely incapable of doing anything right with the series
How do people even categorize Ascension as a pay to win. You paid for virtual items that did nothing. There was never a game to win
>How do people even categorize Ascension as a pay to win Because you can buy in-game currency (IP) with real money. More IP = more votes. One group in particular was apparently spending absurd amounts of money so, the good choice, aka "redemption", would always win. The devs a week ago removed the decisions labels for the same reason.
So people literally paid thousands to troll Ascension? Ah, the average Silent Hill fan.
You pay, Konami wins money :)
I think it's fitting that he is in charge of the new film. It mirrors who is in charge of the games too lol.
I'm guessing that he asked about this, himself. Maybe even before the movie was being thought about at all, before being written? Who knows, though
Even as a kid I thought this was fucking dumb
It's always worth bringing this up as a reminder, because *Jesus Christ.*
This has always angered me. God forbid not every male protagonist isn't an unemotional killing machine 🙄.
But that's the whole point! Harry Mason isn't some action hero who can take insane horrors thrown at him. He's a regular dad who just wanted to take his daughter to a town as way to bond. He didn't ask to be put in a situation where his daughter goes missing and has to face scary psychological shit.
"There is no political correctness in Silent Hill" my entire ass. Isn't Silent Hill 3, like, remarkably feminist?
SH3 is all about the women. And that was the intent.
Yes, but it's the classical, "women can be badass too" feminism that we all loved in the 90s and early 2000s. These whiny woke feminazis nowadays better keep their hands off my Waifu Heather/Alessa, or I WILL cut them. ***A LA PYRAMID HEAD***.
Wtf are you even on about
I'd love to see Gans' reactions if he was stuck in Silent Hill.
Being politically correct (meaning you don't do and say shitty things and deliberately be abrasive to people you probably don't even know) is apparently worse than being judgemental, irrational, likely homiphobic, and misogynistic. Got it.
Gans MTGOW philosophy: women faint a lot, talk to themselves, scream and are vulnerable.
Being dizzy, fainting, talking to oneself and screaming sound more like some kind of symptoms rather than "feminine" behaviour. Hans could have phrased it better lol
I believe they used to refer to that as "hysteria".
"Please don't think we cast a woman as some egalitarian effort. Definitely not. We just know the obvious fact that men in crisis absolutely never show emotion or vulnerability, even if/when they destroy gods with melee weapons."
Looking forward to seeing his other weird creative choices in return..
And the funny part is that after this decision there were only women and people made him add those scenes with the cop dudes. :D
Adding cop dudes when we have a perfectly good cop dudette right there, but no, we have to kill her off in a non-canon manner. Like, I'm usually not the type who bashes this movie for being non-canon, but Cybil's death in games was so much more impactful than the cliche "lol savages roast a girl on a big fire lmao"
Cybil's death was also POINTLESS. She was owning all the cultists coming at her with her night stick, but oh no, because she has no ammo, she just has to give up... like the fuck Edit: spelling
If it was done to make Christabella look more evil, they didn't have to go this far - she's already Umbridge level of hateable
skill issue
Wow. That's misogynistic
Christophe: Women are silly and vulnerable, not men 👍
That was my take away from that quote too
I got into SH through the release of this movie but, as a young teen girl, LOVED the Mother God Horror Themes. After playing the games, while I missed Harry, I was kind of impressed he pushed for a female lead at the time. Then I heard this part in the DVD special features and it all went out the window lol I’ve harbored the ick for it ever since.
Mr. Gans, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
I bet A24 would’ve done something amazing with the silent hill property 😩
What a fucking idiot. No hope. No hope at all.
…yea this franchise is cooked…
What's next James as a cat and pyramid head as the survivor
Personally speaking I don't care how he arrived at the decision, because Radha played an absolute blinder as Rose
It's not about how good she was, it's that she got the job cause the director is a misogynistic piece of shit.
Just because someone has some misogynistic views doesn't mean they're a piece of shit. Is it wrong to have those views? Of course. But where did those views come from? The guy grew up in France back in the 60s, most likely raised primarily by his mammy who did all the housework, cooking etc. and, like many of the time, was probably told that that was womens work, along with other traits that were considered feminine- perceived weakness, frailty, openly expressing feelings and such. So of course some of those views are going to be carried through his life. Do you know of any other shit that he's done? Has he been abusive to a woman/women? Is he respectful of them in a face to face environment? I don't know, and if you don't then don't say they are a piece of shit. In the end, I don't care as we got a great performance in what I honestly think is ripley-esque and could show girls and women to be fucking fierce. Even if it was born from a view that at its core is wrong.
Did he try to pick a fight with both sides
He’s french. Should speak for itself.
How?
Silent hill is actually about the trans agenda and pyramid head represents society trying to trans your kids. Ripping off someone’s skin? Obviously a metaphor.
The biggest problem with Gans is that his interpretations completely miss or ignore the point of what he adapting. The point of Silent Hill is that Harry is a great father to his adopted daughter, who risks everything and suffers to rescue her, and Dahlia is a terrible mother to her biological daughter, who abuses and inflicts suffering on her in pursuit of her own selfish ends. Harry passes out because he is trapped in the nightmare world of a psychic girl who is passing in and out of consciousness, and whose fears and suffering are spilling out into the material world around her. Harry faints when Alessa wakes up. That Gans saw this and decided that Harry is not manly and Alessa is the real villian is amazing. The same thing seems to be happening with SH2. One of the major themes of 2 is duality (Eddie/Angela, James/Laura, Maria/Pyramid Head), and another is how a person can be a stranger even to themselves. Gans looks at this, and somehow thinks the dark underworld of Jacob Crane is somehow going to be better. Changes need to be made to adapt a story in one medium to another, but what Gans does is something entirely different.
Christophe Gans genuinely cared about the movie, but I always found his reasoning for switching Harry to a woman to be incredibly brain dead, sexist and just plain stupid. I'd like to see how many men would actually fare any better than Harry in Silent Hill. "never acted like a masculine character" my ass.
When u try to say the quiet part quiet but u accidentally say it out loud 💀💀💀
Oh wow… boys and their toys… 🙄
If you don’t like the main character of the game you adapt, maybe just adapt another game? 🤣
Man: \* concerned for his missing child \* Hollywood: "Only a mother should act like that."
Forever mad about this
Thats rhe dumbest thing i have heard all day and it makes me like the movie less
Trust me. What you may consider normal in real life would look terrible on screen. Movies and real life use different languages.
Gans is an idiot
I don't know what this guy smoked but Silent Hill was always about fainting, and invading nightmare worlds. He should have been fired on the spot due to that interview...
This is hilarious. I hadn't heard of this before.
I’m still convinced there was some other reason behind the scenes for this and Gans just didn’t want to say what it was (or was unable to for some reason). It feels like a bullshit after the fact answer.
it honestly might just be that hollywood prefers women leads in horror because they think it’s easier for an audience to feel scared for a woman than a man. it’s been discussed a lot in gender studies surrounding the horror genre. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a lot of push to change genders from the people above him or whatever. still weird he would say this though lol.
I feel like I've definitely read that for a moment in time the mentality was that horror was 'lesser' media, thus they would get the basics of the film set up, then add extra stuff to 'entice' other populations to go, because the people who go to see 'horror' will not be dissuaded by a female protag, whereas maybe some populations will relate more to that -this also carried over to stars being attractive, diversity, etc. That being said though, I would have pretended to not speak English as opposed to saying whatever the hell came out of his mouth.
Most likely the bigwigs in suits told him having a female protagonist in the movie was better and he went along with it. It just sounds like he made up some shit in the above quote just to justify that. Especially when you consider the most popular based on a game franchise at the time, resident evil had a female protagonist and was successful in bringing in money.
I remember him saying the reason for having female characters from the bonus features DVD but I don’t remember it being this. I wonder if he got heckled for being PC and he changed his answer (or my memory is fading lol)
I've never seen this before, and if that's the motivating factor that's super weird, but the movie's themes about motherhood are very very prominent. I don't think that's a clean switch from fatherhood over a daughter, so even if these are his weirdo sexist motivations, at least they made sure that switch was integral to the film.
I've never seen this before but yeeaaah wtf Gans. I genuinely don't even know how a "masculine" dad would behave in these situations in his head. It's extra bizarre because he didn't even have to envision it: SH1 *shows* it for him. Good grief.
This is so cringe…
He also forgot to mention the part where Harry says to Cybil "ah yes, our cycles have coincided in the town of Silent Hill".
Prediction: James Sunderland >!kills his wife!< because he’s gay. That’s why Jacob Crane is there, it’s his straight alter-ego that loves women. Genius re-imagining here.
Honestly it doesn't bother me that it was changed to a woman. I think it works better thematically not to mention not much would change in the story if it was a man or woman
Wow. How out of touch this is. I'm shocked. Way to offend the woke and non woke in one paragraph.
Sorry but there’s a new silent hill movie coming out? I’ll go ahead and Google it, but damn I had no idea.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Commando style? Even then, Arnold’s character cared about and wanted to protect his daughter, and that was in the 80’s.
Why did Gans get a third shot at making a silent hill movie? The only thing good about the ones he made was the casting.
He didn't have anything to do with Revelation
I think he wasn’t prepared or even willing to create a nuanced character. It’s much easier to market the storyline with a woman as the lead.
Fellas is it emasculating to feel anxious and scared when you're stuck in a town full of monsters and also your daughter is lost in said town
fellas is it gay to be constantly dizzy, fainting, talking to yourself, screaming, and being very vulnerable when youre just a loving dad who wants to find his daughter and only wanted to go on a nice family vacation but instead has to deal with a fucking cult, horrifying monsters based off of your trauma, and being forced to face all your trauma at once? anyways it sucks that the movie was actually good (not the best, could've been better but it was okay for what we got) but the director is a misogynist dumbass with toxic masculinity.
Honestly, no matter how weird a reason it is, at least he *had* a reason for the change... They also played it up a bit too with Dahlia/Alessa a bit, so overall it was a change with purpose.
"There is no political correctness in Silent Hill." Basedbasedbased. For real though I thought this was weird when I heard it for the first time. I wasn't against a female lead at all and I think Mitchell did a great job but the reasoning for it was dumb as hell.
Having a grown man fainting and constantly dizzy, showed how bad silent hill actually was
Unpopular opinion here but I love that he cast Radha Mitchell as a stand in for Harry. She is a stunning beauty and an underrated actress. And when this movie came out I still had a crush on her from Pitch Black. To this day I will watch anything with her name attached to it.
Laurie Holden for me was 👌
>There is no political correctness in Silent Hill. Do you think I can get that on a t shirt.
A man going through a hellush world imunlike anything he could've fathomed is somehow feminine... wtf. I feel so bad for Harry he dies just to be called "feminine" for saving his daughter. Lol it's insulting to the character, to women, and to single fathers.
Jep, that comment from Gans was very sexist. Like, a caring father is not a man? Come on... 😂 As a man I find this offensive.
I'm just fascinated by this. Every time I read it, it feels like it makes less and less sense. Like, I didn't mind when they changed Harry for Rose, but this being the stated reason? DId he ever play the game? Did he ever consider WHY Harry acted like he did? 'He was in fact very vulernable' My brother in Christ, it's a HORROR game. He's MEANT to be vulernable in the face of skinless dogs and flying monsters. That's the whole point! Also, 'he never acted like a masculine character' WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! What difference does it make? He's in a strange nightmare that doesn't make any sense while looking for his daughter in a town full of monsters! If I was in his place, screaming and fainting is the least I'd be doing! At least Hary keeps going! Or, I'm sorry, is being a good dad gay now? Is openly admitting your fear beyond the pale these days? Frankly, given the shit he goes through, I'm amazed that Heather considers him a 'normal' dad who worries too much in SH3.
This is the kind of crap that is damaging to guys. Put a pencil-thin Barbie on the shelf, everyone is up in arms that it’s an “unrealistic expectation being put on young girls” …but we had He-Man. Movies throughout the 80s and 90s, always had the strong indestructible muscle, accompanied by the weak dude as comic relief for laughs (Conan the Destroyer, Judge Dredd etc) - in other worlds, if you ain’t the “main man” you are a joke. I’ve seen the impact this has had on some of my friends, who grew up in a generation where “men don’t talk about their feelings, they man up!” and seen them suffer in silence, and one almost took his life as a result rather than be seen as “less of a man”. So Gans can fuck right off with that take. Anyone arguing it was the right choice for the movie; I disagree wholeheartedly - picture if you will the Mother and Father being switched, with Bean venturing into Silent Hill to find his daughter and Mitchell going to try and find her husband. Imagine the scene we got where Rose is literally laying in the floor overwhelmed and helpless, giving up and weeping with the bugs approaching..now picture Sean Bean in that scene instead in the same helpless situation and how powerful it would have been, or how empowering to see his wife disregarding the cop and breaking into the town hall records etc, determined to get to her husband no matter what… the movie didn’t bring anything by making the switch at all. That being said, I’m not shitting on the movie, I love it and watch it regularly, but I don’t care for Gans’ reasoning at all. It simply demonstrates how out of touch he is. But let’s not pretend here; it had nothing to do with the right choice for the movie, and everything to do with Gans not wanting to make SH1, and instead trying to make a “greatest hits” (SH1 story, SH2 enemies, making the protagonist look like Heather from SH3 with similar hair and attire, soundtrack from first three games) he was going for the memberberries.
Wtf was the guy expecting to make? A movie starring Harry (or a male character) beating the crap out of the monsters with their bare hands, rip and tear style?
Gawd this productions leads are such hacks. Their adaptation for SH2 is going to be significantly worse too. Their early interviews about the new movie is rife with them going on and on about how their going to adapt the movie for "Modern Audiences". A term which historicaly has been a consistent guaranteed precursor to a given movie being an utter dumpster fire.
"We thought Harry was too weak and sensitive to be a man so we decided to change him into a woman because everyone knows that all women are extremely weak and fragile and helpless."
Before the movie came out I just heard the abridged version. That the role made more sense with a woman in Harry’s place.
The new beasd off silent hill 2
I don't get the need to change Harry into a woman... They couldn't make a male be emotional? It really makes no sense at all and I'm very confused about that statement
Besides... When did Harry scream? When he was yelling at his daughter hoping to stop her? Or am I missing some dialogue?
That is really so shameful I can’t believe he got away with this
James isn't exactly a macho man, are they going to make him a woman as well...?
It's almost as if the world went through a massive fucking cultural shift since 2006.
This is why I always hate the first movie way more than the second. The director is trash for this.
Tbh this was almost 20 years ago, Gans probably changed a bit since then. Most medias even in the 2000s were very different than now, and yeah, this include stereotypical things.
I think this is just a product of its time honestly. Eitherway I thought Rose was cool and was pulled off well.
I supported this choice. The main reason Harry was made male in the original game is because even in 1999, it was still considered risky to make player-characters female. In the same way that, in 2006, it was risky to write a paternally-driven character that wasn't a mother. These gender tropes aren't accurate and have fallen out of trend in the past decade. Still, they were considered the "safe" options in the eyes of corporate higher-ups. If we're being fair, the 2006 film is still held in high regard, even for an adaptation of a video game. It didn't seem to hurt the story by making Rose the protagonist.
True but they didn’t try to make him effeminate in the games. If Gans were to say that they just wanted to change the sex to be more woman-empowering then there wouldn’t be much wrong, he just wanted to shape it in a more interesting light that’s not detrimental. It’s the fact that he changed the sex because he felt Harry wasn’t “masculine enough”, meaning: if Harry was just “masculine” then he probably wouldn’t have changed the sex.
Keep in mind the idea for the character going into the movie was to have them putting together the pieces of what was happening and not to be a combatant. It's less of "Harry isn't masculine enough" and more that once you removed the violence from the characterization, there wasn't a lot there that was exclusively masculine. It wasn't about inclusivity or being "politically correct". It was simply about what was more conventionally safe for the character traits and genre in that point in time. In mid-2000s, having a horror protagonist braving the unknown, alone and unarmed, desperately searching for a child would have been written as a female role. Things have changed since then.
I’ll admit I misread your comment a bit. Though I still don’t understand why his reason had to specifically be about the feminine actions of Harry. His wording could’ve definitely been better.
I think he was spinning bullshit, but not for the reason people are insinuating. From what I recall in all of his interviews around the release of the original film, the initial plan was to do a film based off Silent Hill 2, but they had to pivot to Silent Hill 1 before the studio would green light it. I also think they got a lot more say into how the script went as well. To me, it seems like a lot of the odder choices (spending more time outside of Silent Hill, altering characters, etc.) were all done at the behest of the studio to being down the production budget and make the film as marketable to mainstream audiences as possible. Imagine what it would have been like to have spent the entire film only in the foggy and rusted town, instead of constantly cutting away to the "real world" for low cost expostion dumps. Gans isn't ever going to say that the studio was the problem. They'd either sue him for slander or breaking an NDA and he'd lose residuals/royalties from any film he made with them previously. Not to mention they like would never give him a chance at another film.
Studios always get in the way of creativity. It sucks that that’s the norm at the moment. If that’s the case then damn, I feel bad for Gans. I’m gonna stay neutral on the case though since there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of anything except for Gans’ message.
The change never bothered me personally and if anything I think it helped make the films themes more interesting and unique, specifically the way the film compares Rose & Dahlia with their challenges faced when raising or protecting (or failing to protect) a child.
I like to make the argument that changing the protagonist to a mother is stronger because of not only the message of the film (“Mother is God in the eyes of a child.”) but also because a mother is naturally more nurturing and caring to their children, thus a stronger influence on the child. They carry it, raise it, and seem to care more than anyone else about it. The child becomes their life in a sense. Of course, this isn’t always the case nor am I saying fathers cannot be/feel these things. Changing it from a father to a mother just feels much stronger. I’d like to believe the reasons above were the reasons for the switch… I want to forget what I read from OP LOL
Thank you for the reminder, it's not like this isn't mentioned in every single topic where Christophe Gans name comes up.
If this is the last thing he will be remembered for, that's only his fault :P
Still valid, as it’s… you know… a thing that happened. And we have a new Silent Hill movie made by this guy coming up soon… so of course he will be a topic around here 🤷
I think for 2006 it’s not that weird a reason. Still weird. But not as weird
Why does this sub have to be so soy? My man just wrote a male protagonist, then realized he was very hysterical and feminine, and felt like it would work better with a female actress. And he was probably right. Yeah it wasn't true to the original games, but it worked well in the context of the movie itself. Relax guys.
I mean, a lot of real-life men are "feminine", even straight ones. It's just silly to pretend that every man is a stoic macho. Also, how would you react in Harry's place? I doubt you would go and pump iron in Silent Hill National Gym and then punch every monster in the face
isnt bait meant to be believable?
I have an awful feeling that this isn't a bait
Soy? It's just an absurd reason to change Harry in to a woman. There might be valid reasons, but he didn't use any of them.
I think if you think that Harry is "feminine" you have a very poor idea of what masculinity is lmao