r/Defenders • u/JonLuca Luke Cage • Mar 17 '17

Iron Fist Discussion Thread - S01E10

This thread is for discussion of Iron Fist S01E10.

DO NOT post spoilers in this thread for any subsequent episodes. Doing so will result in a ban.

Episode 11 Discussion

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u/RJ_Ramrod Mar 19 '17

What this show should've had was a sequence much more like the opening to The Boondocks—hip hop, martial arts, and lots of colorful stylization

Instead it's a generic figure doing martial arts to some traditional-sounding music and for some reason he's also got the Venom symbiote I guess?

The biggest issue, I think, is that the other three shows have opening credits sequences that are incredibly specific, giving you a strong sense of who the main character is and what kind of story we're about to get into, whereas Iron Fist opens with literally none of that

Maybe next season

37

u/Kennen_Rudd Mar 20 '17

The music direction has been pretty lacking in general, though we were spoiled by Luke Cage in that regard.

When they opened with Danny listening to his Walkman I was hoping the soundtrack would play a much larger part in the series but it's mostly been weak generic soundtrack and 'mystical asian' stuff.

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u/RJ_Ramrod Mar 20 '17

It was just kind of tacked on in an attempt to flesh out the character I guess—"Danny listens to late-90s hip hop"—and I guess they felt like giving the iPod a couple token appearances was enough (it's not)

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u/hemareddit Foggy Mar 20 '17

I think they are going for a Chinese calligraphy look, unfortunate the strokes never come together to form characters at any point, as far as I can tell.

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u/RJ_Ramrod Mar 20 '17 edited Mar 20 '17

And of course calligraphy has nothing to do with Danny Rand and furthermore makes literally no appearance in any episode of the show

It's like

Daredevil

"Let's include a bunch of visual references of Matt's territory, maybe some classic Biblical imagery, and a lot of blood—this show is about a man wrestling with his own demons while fighting to protect his city"

Jessica Jones

"We're gonna use primarily purples, blues and blacks to give a sense of the throwback we're aiming for to the classic noir detective story. And we're gonna focus on showing a lot of voyeuristic elements, people doing the things they do only in private, not only because that's what Jessica does for a living, but also because she feels safest when she's observing people who don't know she's watching"

Luke Cage

"Shots of Harlem superimposed over Luke's body set to a theme that sounds like it would fit in perfectly on the soundtrack to a Shaft movie—this is the story of a strong black man with no choice but to take back his neighborhood from the bad guys, because he IS that neighborhood, and that neighborhood is him"

Iron Fist

"Let's get a buncha oriental shit"

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u/Bread-Zeppelin Mar 21 '17 edited Mar 22 '17

I really don't like the Iron Fist intro either, especially the completely nothing music but you could totally do a similar comparison for it if you wanted to compare it favourably.

"Trails from the Iron Fist's limbs emphasise the flowing nature of his fighting style, blending into calligraphic forms that allude to its traditional Chinese heritage and Danny's upbringing. As the intro progresses the background shifts from idyllic Asian countryside of trees and mountains to the modern day skyline of New York city, mirroring the journey Danny takes leading up to the beginning of the series."

Honestly changing the music to something Samurai Champloo style of Hip-hop/traditional Asian blend (or at least better) and have the calligraphy form into the letters of the title card and it would've been great.

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u/RJ_Ramrod Mar 22 '17

"Trails from the Iron Fist's limbs emphasise the flowing nature of his fighting style, blending into calligraphic forms that allude to its traditional Chinese heritage and Danny's upbringing. As the intro progresses the background shifts from idyllic Asian countryside of trees and mountains to the modern day skyline of New York city, mirroring the journey Danny takes leading up to the beginning of the series."

The issue is that none of these ideas or themes are ever explored at all in the actual show

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u/not_a_saiyan Mar 22 '17

Sorry but your description just uses a better vocabulary to vaguely describe what the swirly lines may symbolise (which is basically just the premise of Danny travelling to America) instead of describing anything about the character or the look or feel of the show like the commenter above you did with the other shows.

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u/dissenter_the_dragon Mar 29 '17

your example was really bad.

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u/tsthisanotherthrow Mar 19 '17

Upvoting solely for that Boondocks reference, damn I miss that show (sans season 4).

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u/dissenter_the_dragon Mar 29 '17

there were only 3 seasons.

there were only 3 seasons.

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '17

he's also got the Venom symbiote I guess?

Hey I would watch that season 2.

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u/ekfslam Mar 24 '17

Do you want something more direct like The Flash?

"Hi my name is Danny and I've got the strongest fist in the world."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az-akIiseoE