Advanced Sci-fi Civilisations Too Stupid To Really Exist Ep.22 - The Divergent Factions

[@MediaZealot]

Who's next? Support Media Zealot on Patreon or through Channel membership, to vote and gain access to other perks: www.patreon.com/mediazealot kzbin.infojoin Please also consider liking the video, subscribing and dinging that bell icon. 1. The Thermians (Galaxy Quest) 2. The Glukkons (Oddworld) 3. The Mithraic and the Atheists (Raised by Wolves) 4. The Pakleds (Star Trek) 5. The Precursors (Pacific Rim) If you have any other ideas for contenders, let me know in the comments below!

[@krystaldragons6040]

3 please

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@MediaZealot 3!!!! Media Zealot I highly recommend the other Factions for the other YA Novel to Movie Adaptations you have not covered yet: World Catastrophe K1llzone Division - Maze Runner Trilogy Ministry of Magic and De@theaters - Wizarding World (Harry Potter) US Government - The Darkest Minds Film Ember City Government- City of Embers Film Hegemony and the Formics Hives - Enders Game Films Volturi Coven - Twilight The Souls - The Host Btw in case anyone is wondering why there are so many YA Novel Adaptations despite few being much good, the answer can be found in the fact that they all end in Cliffhangers, they are attempts at recreating the Financial Success of Harry Potter, Suited Execs convinced the YA Novel Genre MUST contain a new Gold Mine…somewhere. Similar to attempts at Cinematic Universes post-MCU, it’s rarely worked much.

[@zephyrna6249]

The Precursors! (Pacific Rim)

[@John-qv5ux]

We look for things. Things that make us go. Pakleds please!

[@Aleiza_49]

P A K L E D S

[@Etherealsighting]

It should be noted that Dauntless doesn't just execute their rejects; they're sent to the hordes of faction-less. Even if they're well advanced in their training, they're just sent to the homeless community. This means that at about a fifth of the oppressed hordes have had some amount of parkour and paramilitary training. How the factions weren't overthrown much earlier is beyond me lol

[@antonpayne919]

cause the faction-less are as stoopid as the rest. "im faction-less... guess i can do nothing about it."

[@oooiluvpancakesooo7781]

Probably more than a fifth. The recruits were surprised and upset when they were told that those cut would become factionless. That shows that, for at least some of the other factions, rejection is not something that happens to them. Triss was surprised too, so when you join abnegation you just get accepted. So it’s possible many of the factionless could be ex dauntless recruits.

[@patrickkelmer6290]

Because the plot says so!

[@andpeg]

Not really. The top rule for Dauntless was only in place for like 5 years. Not nearly enough kids at a high enough training level for them to really do anything.

[@Zadrias6386]

Far higher than 1/5, more often about 1/3rds. Especially recently in the lore, as the dauntless training got more brutal, their washout rate skyrocketed.

[@thesneakymemedealer5071]

The fact that the big twist of the series being that what makes the protag “special” is that she’s actually just a normal person feels like excellent satire of the YA genre that it would be brilliant in any other series.

[@Blaze6108]

It’s a legitimately smart twist that the series completely wastes into the trash can.

[@burningice8451]

@Blaze6108 All they had to do is have Tris acknowledge how ridiculous that is.

[@SocialExperiment232]

That’s a very realistic and valid plot twist. It just wasn’t executed well.

[@SomeRPGFan]

I feel like this setup would have worked much better as a Truman Show-like grotesque drama, where something just seems "off" and you gradually realize that no one is acting like a normal person.

[@predatitor4183]

Yeah, it would be a great thing to say to the teenagers, im one but i believe that something like that would be awesome, the specials things that we dont notice that are truly specials in ourselfs only being "simple" humans.

[@alexanderchippel]

There's one faction that produces food, one faction acts as the military, and three factions who's job it is to just sit around and think about shit? Why isn't there a construction faction? Why are the factionless just sitting around doing jack shit instead of doing absolutely anything?

[@zecorezecron]

You mean the politicians?

[@Stomo444]

i see one faction that does a coup and four packs of suckers

[@sprinkle61]

A construction faction would have made a lot of sense, if they wanted to use any of those old buildings just sitting around in ruins.

[@dr1742]

Because the city would have been being restored, technological and economical increases would have been forced to manifest, and it would have expanded the system and the reality (we still don't know which faction makes toilets flush or even an oven turn on, let alone performs maintenance on units.) In short, that would have made sense and we can tell this was never meant to.

[@steventodd787]

That's what the factionless do, construction. But it's so poorly organized that it doesn't get anything done.

[@clearspira]

As the Honest Trailer of this movie noted, no ordinary teenager would ever pick being a farmer over joining the cool faction that wears black and goes on adventures. And the fact that joining the cool faction requires you to cut your hand with a knife soaked in the blood of several other people - which seems like a great way to catch an infection.

[@cmike123]

Everyone had to cut their hand. Not just Dauntless.

[@clearspira]

@@cmike123 That's not how I remember it, but if so then that is even worse.

[@MrDoenyon]

@@clearspira Yeah everyone, you even see her brother choosing erudite by cutting his hand over the ball in this very video. :)

[@darthjekyll3648]

And cinema sins said it.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@darthjekyll3648Cinemasins is hardly a reputable source of criticism information. Not a defence but they could easily clean it between uses

[@zephyr8072]

I'm just upset that we'll never have the big finale movie: Detergent.

[@Reiner547]

Made me chukle here have my like

[@SilverMKI]

It's been scrubbed from the world.

[@TFAltHist]

On the one hand, the third book is called Allegiant. On the other hand, your joke was funny.

[@KangwithoutaKangdom]

😂😂😂😂 good on ya

[@dormghost]

They never made it, cause the main character died virgin. Huahuahuahua

[@franslair2199]

There's a Russian joke: Lion, the king of animals, orders all animals to sort themselves two groups, the smart and the beautiful. They do so, only the monkey's left. He asks why she's just standing there, and she says "What am I supposed to do, tear myself in half?" This children's joke is exactly the plot of Divergent.

[@BrunoMaricFromZagreb]

It is amasing.

[@maveric619]

The test for becoming candor is just having to sit stoically at a desk while a guy cries and screams at you that he IS a doctor

[@claudiarey699]

He is not just a doctor.... HE IS A SURGEON!!

[@FictionHubZA]

I am candor, Doctor Han. I am candor.

[@creed8712]

Ironically that’s the same test that got Ozai to be the firelord

[@Scowleasy]

The only proof you need that they’re idiots is that Chicago has had 2 separate fires AND a flood, and still managed to rebuild faster than they have in the series.

[@JayJayM57]

and a riot.

[@werlin8352]

@@JayJayM57what riot

[@jaymevosburgh3660]

Ha! That's actually a pretty good point.

[@jaymevosburgh3660]

​@@werlin8352Chicago riots of 1968.

[@JayJayM57]

@@jaymevosburgh3660 thanks for answering

[@RobertNLee]

When the first book released, the buzz was all OMG You Will NOT Believe a 19 Year Old College Freshman Wrote This. So I read the first few chapters at the library. I actually LOLd: wow, The Hunger Games only it's about how the most oppressive thing in the world is *picking your major.* Surely no 19 year old could come up with that!

[@Pixel22-fs3tt]

My mother read the book and begged both me and my sister to read them. I didn't but my sister did and she did not like them at all according to her

[@seff6533]

Tbf it's a 19 year old writing as good as jkr was when she wrote harry potter

[@zephyrna6249]

A 19 year old writing this series is the most believable thing about it.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

Christopher Paolini was not much older when he wrote the Inheritance series and you could tell that there were large gaps in his life experience that he could not contribute to the writing of the series. The books were decent enough but not groundbreaking.

[@Kamasutrawhat]

@@seff6533 It pretty much is ripping off HP.

[@andreasl_fr2666]

This thing genuinely sounds like a parody of a YA universe nobody would ever actually commit to paper.

[@TheNotoriousMrDee]

Don't give the Wayans any ideas. Too many of those movies exist as it is lol.

[@Hakar17]

I mean it's not any dumber than The Hunger Games

[@kman9884]

@@Hakar17Best thing hunger games has going for it is the graphic depictions of killing. Everything else is insanely boring and nonsensical

[@MrRjh63]

@@kman9884 I feel like if you just want violence you should just read Battle Royal instead.

[@louisduarte8763]

The YA Dystopia subgenre turned into self-parody fast, didn't it?

[@RicardoAlmeidatm]

There is 0 reason to pick any faction other than Candor. You either have to be smart enough to "do science", perform heavy labor under rain and sun every day, be beat up, backstabbed and potentially killed or live a dull, boring life of nothing. Candor just have to sit in a room and philosophise all day.

[@Blaze6108]

Technically Candor runs the court system. So if you were smart, you’d have another faction running the Executive and a third running the Parliament. That’s interesting material for political intrigue. Instead, there’s a faction that just generically ‘runs the government’ (just wait until you learn what courts are part of!!), the other brains factions is just scientists. This without going into the REALLY CREEPY anti-intellectualism of how they’re depicted.

[@chrisspock2078]

Yapping all day without even needing to give serious proof (like science people should do), basically all the benefits without risks best choice ever

[@sarademoor]

Plus they get to be rude, cause that's just in their nature xD

[@BawdyBadger]

​@@sarademoor "I've got a golden ticket..."

[@SocialExperiment232]

I’ll take the dull boring life of nothing. Some people are content with a decent life.

[@seanentzel9616]

"selflessness and charitability can be faked pretty easily, just ask our own real world politicians" God man that one had me dead, literally laughed out loud for a couple seconds. Bravo bravo

[@DrgnLdyLizzie2001]

I was driving at that part! Luckily I was at a stop light.

[@antonpayne919]

"they know all about it" made me crack up 😂

[@slevinchannel7589]

Fyi, Homelessness, Revolutions and other topics were epicly covered by Youtubr Some More News. Or if you want more Sarcasm in your Education, try Terrible-Writing-Advice !!

[@Scowleasy]

If this actually took place in Chicago then the groups would be divided into Italian beef, sausage, hot dogs and deep dish

[@MamaMOB]

More like the Crips and the Bloods. Oh don't forget the GDs.

[@manoz6194]

lol, I would in the deep dish faction!

[@kman9884]

Deep dish is a tourist dish. Tavern style is the real za

[@michaelolivero1626]

Oh my God, but I like more than one! I must be ... Digestant!

[@alastor8091]

Where do Pineapples fit in?

[@frankg2790]

Divergent is "We Have Hunger Games At Home": all of the dystopia and teen angst in a post-apocalyptic world, none of the effort to make it work.

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

and the hunger games wasn't the greatest at credible world building to begin with.

[@eugeneoisten9409]

Let's be honest here. The Hunger Games also does a sh^^ty job at its own world building!

[@BeeHatGuy]

​@@eugeneoisten9409and it is a halfass adaptation of Battle Royale

[@arvinroidoatienza7082]

​@@BeeHatGuyas if Battle Royale is original. Hunger Games is a lot more political and the games are actually ended unlike Battle Royale.

[@Honkious5824]

@@eugeneoisten9409 Suzanne Collins didn't write The Hunger Games for the worldbuilding, she wrote it as a commentary on the reduction of violence into a spectacle. War journalism has become just as entertainment focused as reality TV, with The Hunger Games being a twisted combination of these forms of media so as to outline the madness of it.

[@sugoistalin7809]

This series is basically "Lets do a eugenics program without actually understanding what a eugenics program is."

[@FictionHubZA]

To be fair or not the author wrote the story in less than a month.

[@Kat-vz4in]

And was apparently 19... girl should've googled a few things lol This video points out the flaws in the "purification" plan which essentially just show that the plan was actually doing the opposite of the author's intent

[@GeorgeMonet]

And let's make sure to never put any time into research genetic engineering.

[@myafelicia]

The best part of the Divergent franchise was reading fanfiction stories that were a million times better written and far more entertaining. Good times!

[@YEY0806]

It's the same with Harry Potter, I don't even remember the Canon at this point because most fanfic canons are just better

[@Brakiros]

The Divergent movies were better than the books as well lol

[@theresaurus9820]

@@YEY0806100%. Also, I just can’t unsee all the transphobic and other yikesy stuff in those “books”.

[@grahamturner2640]

@@theresaurus9820 what transphobic and other “yikes” stuff did JK Rowling put in those books?

[@Jack-4v]

​@grahamturner2640 she didn't they are bring her political beliefs into her work

[@g.mitchell7110]

The most glaring flaw to me in Divergent is that this is a society that has roughly equal numbers of politicians/social workers, scientists, lawyers, police/military, and farmers. Four of those groups have relatively small representation in every society on Earth; Amity should by itself outnumber all the other factions combined, especially since they don't seem to have advanced farming equipment. Oh, and they don't seem to have any service workers, by far the largest labor class in existence, larger than all five of the official factions combined, while at the same time having a large group of factionless. This is bad planning. You don't exile them (in a dystopia; I'm not advocating for this system), you put them to work in factories and service professions and then tell them they're better than the other classes because reasons (you tell every group they're better than the others to keep order). For an actually good take on a SF society divided into rigid factions, the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown is really good. It's also six fairly hefty books, and the first one is the weakest (though still good), but once it's off and running, it's a great read. Also, if several different core traits come together in a single person, the word for that is convergence. Tris is convergent

[@MamaMOB]

Her traits are convergent. She is divergent from the system. She diverges from the system which only allows you one trait. Even though the whole point of the factions was supposed to be to fix the problem with only having one trait. Basically it's let's solve racism with racism! It's today!

[@lex1455]

"noooo, you don't understand, that is not how my high school works. There are kids, like me, who are not into sports, science, student council..., we are the fractionless, we exist"

[@alastor8091]

Damn, I read Red Rising back in the day. Then Golden Son. Didn't realize the series kept going. Honestly the second book was a good ending. I don't wanna see Darrow suffer any more.

[@qng3975]

I was wondering if the farmers can really produce enough food to support the population without advanced equipment and being a huge part of the population

[@michaelolivero1626]

Imagine being a societal outcast because you're a well-rounded, multi-talented individual

[@SocialExperiment232]

That happens in every middle school in the world.

[@dirtyprancing5930]

It’s just weird to me that people are alive and middle aged who know about the purpose of the experiment, and yet somehow divergents are literally being killed. Would’ve loved a twist that it was a rumor started by the fact that when they’re identified, they’re taken out of the experiment and “disappear” so they can make sure they don’t breed it back out. But nope, just letting the entire purpose of the experiment be murdered. Why not

[@wsconsn]

How could a member of the faction that helps the faction-less not know that the military faction eliminates the bottom recruits and makes them faction-less?

[@EmiStar070]

I think you'd have to actually talk to the homeless people for that to happen

[@board-qu9iu]

@@EmiStar070but many of them do tho. And it would be really obvious once many of the factionless are from a certain faction

[@creed8712]

@@board-qu9iusomebody else had said the rule was relatively new like in the last 5 years?

[@TheNotoriousMrDee]

This is it. This is the dumbest sci-fi civilization. Pretty hard to beat San Angeles, but here we are.

[@aidanlela4872]

Idk man San Angeles is like insanely dumb. I think this is second,but that’s just my opinion

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

San Angeles was at least meant to be dumb, right?

[@peterg76yt]

San Angeles was never meant to be a good system, it was just a prediction that so far is eerily accurate.

[@greenkoopa]

Be well!

[@greenkoopa]

​@peterg76yt because the GenXers are getting love bots and real dolls? Well why are they still rude 😢

[@spartan7375]

honestly its a miracle that human civilization didnt implode in this series since every faction is doomed to fall apart for one reason or another

[@sagaswp]

So the five factions are Hufflepuff (Amity), Ravenclaw (Erudite), Gryffindor (Candor), Slytherin (Dauntless), and Muggles (Abnegation). Got it.

[@aritraroy6592]

Um....no? Slytherin as the Dauntless? Bro, that's Gryffindor all the way. The real Slytherin join Candor because having to tell the truth is not a real obstacle to raw ambition. Abnegation might be the leaders, but dear gods, Candor is the place of *lawyers*

[@mandalorian_guy]

You are right that Ravenclaw would be Erudite, Hufflepuff would be Amity, and Muggles/Squibs would be Abnegation (or factionless). However, Gryffindor is almost 1:1 Dauntless and Slytherin/Candor don't really correlate unless one wants to link Honesty with Cleverness, which is a stretch.

[@Arcananine77]

​@@mandalorian_guy The Bureau of Genetic Welfare is clearly this story's version of Slytherin.

[@dr1742]

@@sagaswp 😂

[@User_5tjk42gj9]

Dweebs.

[@filipvadas7602]

I find it hillarious that one faction produces food, one is the military and the other 3 are students, scientists and/or politicians who just sit around doing jacksh!t, but still make all the decisions. Not to even mention the irony of someone being "divergent" and the idea of it being a "superpower" only applying to someone from a higher social status/class There was potential for some pretty funny social commentary and satire, but the author wasn't that self-aware.

[@inquisitive6786]

An american 19yo girl in college wrote this. There was never any potential

[@Randomusername56782]

The "Military" faction doesnt even operate like an actual proper military at all lol, and If I'm being honest they'd probably get annhilated back backwater hillbilly joe and his work friends who form a "Militia"

[@masoncomes6783]

The funniest part to me is that since apparently outside the fence is the only actually dangerous part of the world, technically the farmers are also the military. The same farmers who apparently havent even advanced to using oxen to drive plows are somehow literally doing the jobs of 5 factions and are the only ones in danger. Like how are you going to have 40% of the population either researching or learning to fight, yet you have the only producers for your entire civilization completely fending for themselves with stone age technology? All they have to do is run away and they literally have nothing to lose and everything to gain; it's not like they use any tech they can't just pick up off the ground anyways.

[@mbarker_lng]

I had to laugh just at "the hellscape that lies beyond" and its a wide shot of a tranquil, verdant landscape.

[@theboredguy2107]

Watching this when i was younger, i was so mad that the problem for the world was people are factionalized via genetics, but the bad guy didnt let them mix genetics to return to normal humanity. Meaning he just did bad science, which mace my nerd brain soooo mad!

[@katetickner7141]

I know! They didn't control for any of their confounding variables and when their experimental evidence showed the opposite of their hypothesis, they didn't even acknowledge it. Just the worst science.

[@EmiStar070]

Also, "the lab rats have started systemically killing the few positive results of the experiment" seems like a REALLY GOOD REASON to shut the whole thing down. Clearly it isn't working

[@mistmanjones3555]

I like how this critique of the faction system just descended into a roast of the Divergent franchise

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

Everyone in these clips look like the director is holding up their hand to hold off a firing squad until the scene is over

[@shelby2697]

I thought it was just me lmao the acting is so stiff

[@NJEH8TE]

They had to hold that post-casting couch expression for the whole movie.

[@potatoheadpokemario1931]

I mean that's how they're supposed to feel living In dystopia

[@wolfgangervin2582]

8:54-9:15 so this small police force in a (presumably) small population area are using the same backstabbing training system as Imperial Stormtroopers, who have a MASSIVE population pool to work with. That TOTALLY sounds smart.

[@Spuggky45]

I’ve never seen this franchise. But I’m only four minutes in and I can already bet that this whole thing was written by an edgy teenager observing the cliques at his/her local high school and thinking that they’re some brilliant artist for making this stuff.

[@wos1223]

Tecnically it was an edgy 20-something year old trying to recapture their cliquey high school expierience as the "not like the other girls" girl but close enough.

[@RobertNLee]

LOL, see my comment - I think it's actually about how picking your college major is like the cruelest test life will ever hand you.

[@BoringAngler]

FWIW, author was 22 or 23 and an undergrad when she wrote the first book. She's pictured @6:51.

[@billweirdo9657]

I mean it's " young adult" genre duh it's dumb

[@samuelwoodouse4482]

Dude this series literally ended the YA dystopia bubble. It is the ET video game of its day and genera

[@CrypticCharm]

what i always wondered about was you had a test that suggested the best faction for you, but then had the option to choose the one you wanted. but then if that was the wrong choice and you didn't fit it, or failed the test. you were kicked out anyway and became factionless, and hopefully not starve to death. which makes no sense at all.

[@Grizabeebles]

In all honesty its not much dumber than the real word. Appartheid South Africa had all kinds of incredibly stupid rules for sorting "coloured" from "black" and "white". One of the conditions for being "white" was a test where they'd stick a pencil in your hair to see if it would fall out. Depending on the score of these kinds of BS "tests" children could be taken from their parents and given by the state to families of a "correct" race. If a child or grandchild caught a case of recessive genes and scored differently, they'd be put up for mandatory adoption too. Given what we now know about genetics, South Africa was actually going to ludicrous effort and expense to *guarantee* interracial marriages happened in a society where interracial sex was illegal.

[@Uruz2012]

It's a thinly veiled metaphor for college education. Standardized tests, strictly defined areas of study, you get some guidance but choose your own path, if it doesn't work out you're poor forever...

[@cameronspence4977]

I mean literally none of this series makes any sense apparently, so... only saying apparently because I value my time too much to waste it watching this

[@_alux_689]

As an aspiring writer I personally would like to write a sci fi civ so dumb it ends up on this channel because it would be funny to me.

[@lynxbelow6922]

But that would be low hanging fruit. The object is to try really hard and fail spectacularly

[@_alux_689]

@@lynxbelow6922 Sounds like a challenge

[@madkoala2130]

I think you will end up with something on opposite end ("It so stupid that it becomes genius").

[@Freenure]

An anime profile picture tells me everything I need to know about your aspirations.

[@_alux_689]

@@Freenure what

[@breeze4766]

Never watched these movies but my biggest problem with the whole five factions thing is how limited it really is. What faction makes clothes? What faction does constuction work for new houses? what faction manufactures ammo and weapons? There is so much that is required for society for function that does not fit nicely in any of the factions. The fact that the society lasted as long as it did defies logic.

[@chrisspock2078]

Indeed, plus all the factions - in the real world - represent just a small percentage of the overall population. Where is the engineers faction? Or the welders faction? The vast majority does not have technical skills, even the "scientists" are just theoretical people

[@edge_ucation]

I just thought of something. How is it that in the 200+ years of Chicago's existence after the war do they don't even come close to rebuilding the city? You can't rebuild construction equipment, farm equipment, aerial craft? Yet they can hoist up wind turbines and mount them to the sides of their crumbling buildings. Doesn't sound safe when most of their buildings are falling apart. I think it took Hiroshima and Nagasaki less than 30 years to rebuild.

[@crystalmoone]

No, they just build holograms instead😑

[@kanetaylor8330]

Were they not allowed to go up to the top floors of buildings in the series? Cause Ohare is close enough that they’d definitely see that downtown. So having that giant technologically advanced building should’ve definitely been visible to them.

[@nyetloki]

Wasnt there a hologram wall involved?

[@daviddavids2884]

43 idyuts

[@444coole444]

honestly didnt realize how much tuvok from star trek voyagers quotes fit in so many situations

[@100Servings]

Believe it or not, there was an entire line of Nerf Rebelle blasters to tie in with the Divergent series. I would love to find some.

[@grimneeldrakia7173]

I try to convince myself any of these civilizations are too stupid to exist and then I look at Dubai.

[@angusreed7113]

The burj Khalifa isn't even connected to the city's sewers

[@kman9884]

Anything is possible with a shit ton of natural resources and slave labor

[@hambor12]

@@angusreed7113apparently it’s got a sewer system. In progress. Which they only started work on like 2 years ago.

[@louisduarte8763]

@@angusreed7113 Um, ew.

[@KateeAngel]

What's Dubai? Look at Saudi Arabia! 😂

[@BlackCover95]

My suggestions for Advanced Sci-Fi Civilizations Too Stupid to Really Exist: •Time Lords, _Doctor Who_ •Children of Tama, _Star Trek_ •Oceania, _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ (1984)

[@clearspira]

The Ferengi, Star Trek. A race so preoccupied with money that if you promise to sell off your corpse after death - and you have the misfortune of not dying - then you have to kill yourself or risk being exiled! Not to mention the fact that all of their women are naked. I get it, it is probably meant to be a parody of the burka, but wouldn't all of their women burn or freeze to death every time the temperature changed?

[@jacara1981]

SeaQuest DSV lol

[@samuele7098]

To be fair Oceania kinda works perfectly for those in power, to the point that it's impossible to rebel against it. It's an exaggeration, a caricature and a "perfected form" of the totalitarian regimes that did actually exist and I'd say that it isn't stupid, as we can find a lot of "Oceania" in our history books and news. Can you elaborate on what exactly you find stupid about it?

[@BlackCover95]

@@samuele7098 The fact that their surveillance and oppression work 100% where intended, DESPITE the fact that the economy and infrastructure is in shambles. Realistically, that should undermine their efficiency.

[@jaymevosburgh3660]

​​@@samuele7098The totalitarianism and Authoritarianism is what makes it stupid, personally speaking of course, but only because I personally dislike those types of systems. *edit* So I should probably just shut up.

[@richardvhal8140]

the Factionless could've been sent out outside the walls as scouts.

[@MajorHickE]

What if Attack on Titan was a YA series

[@louisduarte8763]

Or just made into another faction that DOES something in this society. What's a fancy-shmancy word for "builder"?

[@Xanegoh]

@@louisduarte8763 constructor, fabricator, crafter. Architect, if you want to get real pretentious.

[@thesneakymemedealer5071]

They should have just had the factionless do all the tasks the other factions don’t like construction and cleaning. Hell it would have also helped with the secret goal of fixing the genes of the masses considering this new faction would be comprised of a grab bag of other factions and divergents all intermingling and this the ability to mix with the more ridge ones

[@Xanegoh]

@@thesneakymemedealer5071 nah, that would make too much sense.

[@daluigi1]

*A Divergent person has the basic complexity of a regular human been* Their entire society: "insert pikachu shock meme"

[@charlessaint7926]

Of course it's going to fail. Your head of Bureau of Genetic Welfare is Harry Dunne, from Dumb and Dumber.

[@nyetloki]

Hey he ran NASA!

[@codyjones3311]

Someone cashed in on the Hunger Games success without thinking much about the actual plot.

[@orangecat504]

Or the biting social commentary and themes

[@patrickkelmer6290]

@@orangecat504 "Let´s ditch exploring the somewhat interesting themes and commentary so we can focus on Mary Sues shallow and pointless romance with the guy with only one facial expression"

[@orangecat504]

@@patrickkelmer6290 that was the the worst part and was clearly meant to attract young women and worked. The concept itself was from collins seeing celebrity channels going on at the same time iraq was being bombed. She thought about how war snd murder could be turned to entertainment

[@evanharrison4054]

You...kinda managed to put more thought into this story than the creator(s) "What if the high school clique system was society" is basically the entire premise of Divergent. It's just ridiculous even to consider it for a fraction of a second. How is a world going to run for more than fifteen minutes if a group maintains monopoly on food production and the knowhow and the tools, and another group maintains a monopoly on weapons and the use of force. I don't care about the guys who argue or...any of the other factions. If the farmer faction arms up and manages to hold off the military police faction long enough for them to starve to death, they win. If not, then the military police will take over and start dictating. If, by some weird reason, neither of those things would happen, the large number of huddled masses of factionless would force the system to collapse. ...what, they can't even be used for forced labor? Their society thinks these people are born so useless, that if something needs to be, say, scrapped for metal(like 'em big skyscrapers), then they can't go out with basic tools and pull apart stuff? It's like if the Hogwarts sorting hat just told one out of like ten kids to just jump out of one of the towers. In any case, the "Dauntless" are raising psychotic, violent, maladjusted idiots who really aren't fit to safeguard a society where everyone is autistically adhering to an artificial identity or living on the fringes because they didn't want to jump off a moving train or they failed to successfully argue in defense of child murder(debate club is sometimes weird) or couldn't successfully germinate seeds...etc. They are an army that makes absolutely no sense in the absence of a credible outside threat. What if, while running around, they knock me and my basket of onions over and I tell them to go shove it? They either lynch me or the FFA kicks me out because it's not very "farmlylike" to get angry, because that's the other guys, and when I try to defend myself, it gets pointed out to me that that's yet another group of guys. Since there is nobody they fear beyond some walls or something, there's really no reason for anyone who doesn't have a pathological need to fit in, to just pack up and go somewhere where they can farm as well as defend themselves, both on a battlefield and in a court of law. ...I know the later movies/books kinda unwrite most of this, but I wanted to point out that the premise of the original story would simply not last for a week, and a cursory glance at social experiments on wikipedia would make that painfully obvious in half an hour tops, depending on reading speed.

[@Redem10]

I think every time I heard someone having the Divergent premise explain to them they answered with "That's stupid"

[@MadnessInLivingColor]

I love the scathing, deadpan humor behind these videos so goddamn much

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

For years it has been funny to me that what made Triss special was that she was basically a regular person in a city full of people soo incapaable to balance their emotions in a functional (let alone healthy) way that they border on subhuman. That's like writting a YA trilogy in which the main character is considered by everybody else to be superhumanly agile and then its revealed in the third book that her "power" is that she's the first human with two functionimg legs to be born in 200 years. Its ridiculous

[@vonfaustien3957]

In a world ruled by the 5 great powers. The deaf, Dumb, Blind Mute and Legless a hero with natural powers shall arise to restore Balence and make humanity whole The Ablelist born with all 5 sense and working legs Coming to the discount bin next to the YA novel section of a book store near you

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

@@vonfaustien3957 _"Hearing. Tact. Vision. Smell. Taste. Long ago, the five nations lived together in armony. Then, everything changed when the Eyesight Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all five senses, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished."_

[@3Rayfire]

Wait a minute....isn't....isn't that the plot of Idiocracy?

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

@@3Rayfire 🤔🤔🤔 ... in broad strokes, yes, it is

[@wolfbane7497]

HE'S BACK YES YES YES Scorch the Divergent series they deserve after not giving us a final conclusion

[@mcb187]

…except they did. The 3rd movie is like, 90% of the 3rd book. Literally the only thing they didn’t show was the 2 chapters of the book after the big fight to stop the release of the memory serum. Basically, “and they all lived happily ever after”

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@mcb187personally I still wanted to see Ascendant. Just to know what happens and see how insane it gets.

[@KingRidley]

Scorch the series for it's audacity to be what it is.

[@Maddinhpws]

0:40 I legit didn't know they were supposed to be teenagers. I thought they were supposed to be young adults. Like 21ish

[@zanlooney343]

An even more dystopian Brave New World. There was a canceled TV series in the 70's based on Logan's Run with this idea.

[@basedbattledroid3507]

Jumpscared by Picard reacting instead of Tuvok the chain of command was brought in for this one

[@thegreenmanofnorwich]

I'm so glad you've uploaded again. I do always find your critiques both humorous and insightful

[@MrAmeame]

Bro I remember when this whole series started as like a top 10 type style video now we getting full form videos on 1 civilization like proud of you 2 years really flies 😭🙏🏾

[@tomfox3429]

Another great episode in the best series on KZbin! Big fan of your work!

[@khamankhoma8232]

I'd like to forget these movies too, but then the danger is that I would end up rewatching them forgetting that I watched them already.

[@CaitiffFTW]

Are we going to just gloss over the fact that pretty much everyone in Dauntless is a fucking coward, blindly following along with whatever orders they're given, solely out of fear of being alone?

[@MediaZealot]

Good point, the leader of Dauntless also showed himself to be a coward (by their standards) after admitting he was scared to die, while under the influence of the truth serum. Seems they're not so tough after all.

[@CaitiffFTW]

@@MediaZealot I'm not even talking about "their standards." I mean that almost every person in the group is a peer pressure caving bitch. Courage would mean that they do what they believe to be right, without regard to the pressures around them. But, none of them do. And, even that ignores the real issue with Dauntless. If they were what they claim to be, and genuinely have no fear, that isn't courage. That's insanity. They literally claim to be insane. And, I concede that mindset is pretty on brand for this franchise, but almost none of the characters in the series actually possess the primary character traits espoused to them. (For that one, we can blame Stephanie Meyer level bad writing.)

[@sillypuppy5940]

what's funny is that dauntless means fearless.

[@daybidbanderbecht5299]

When you get a thesaurus and immediately make a shitty YA dystopia series.

[@wolfbane7497]

The bene gesserit breeding program was much better that the faction system

[@ldti]

What if breeding program, but run by COMPLETE MORONS?

[@Reiner547]

And its an awfull low bar too

[@teejaylecapois9741]

Welcome back, we missed you, Snark Man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Scowleasy]

As someone that *is* neurodivergent, I find the whole “being fundamentally different is actually a superpower!” bit really patronizing, especially when it only applies to the protagonist and everyone else is homeless.

[@beepbop6542]

Also the plot twist is that she's actually normal and everyone else is retarded

[@UncleJrueForTue]

The worst part of "neurodivergency as a superpower" is that it's actually dangerous to development. It's stunts a person's incentive to actually be more than their diagnosis and justify and handwave all their problems and actions they don't have to be beholden to. It's the literal pop science equivalent of "Sorry, I'm a virgo after all 🤪".

[@UncleJrueForTue]

What's worse is said "superpower" is only granted to people who aren't lower class. Speaking from personal and anectdotal experience, I and many other of america's lower class with mental conditions don't get the "superpower" label and benefits. We're here for someone else's cheap laugh and to "put the fries in the bag".

[@masako8980]

@@UncleJrueForTue now that you've said that, that almost sounds like solid satire. You know, assuming this wasn't divergent. Otherwise I might have believed it.

[@UncleJrueForTue]

@@masako8980 Well seeing as I'm speaking from my personal experience with Aspergers and the experiences of people I met leading group therapy meetings, "divergence as a superpower" certainly reads like satire.

[@ahmednasrulla4766]

They took the sorting hat scene from Harry Potter and made a whole ass series

[@mmmghool]

😂

[@ranchoth]

This society actually sounds like it's being run by computer. Specifically, one of the ones from the original Star Trek that was designed to run a society, but was misprogrammed, damaged, insane, or just too oblivious and gormless to realize that it was grinding the populace down in a dysfunctional mockery of it's original function.

[@-Azure.EXE-]

4:53 I AM (neuro)DIVERGENT. I AM (neuro)DIVERGENT.

[@nmutuasehtam5542]

This made me cackle (also neurodivergent) 😂😂😭

[@aces6262]

Fancy seeing you here fellow EFAPer.

[@TitoVespasianus]

The memories of these movies had actually been wiped out from my mind somehow but you made me remember.

[@SRow_Plays_Games]

This whole movies plot feels like an improve group skit. And then and then, so then and then, and then, and then, the end

[@thearksideofthought]

This movie deserves the Media Zealot treatment.

[@Aaron282]

The craziest thing about these films is that at some point the normal society that we know now agreed to this stuff when we can’t even agree that the world is round is unbelievable

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

since when has our society needed to all agree to something to do it?

[@johntoto5496]

Look around you, many things that were unbelievable/unacceptable few decades ago are now common and mainstream.

[@willhiggins9563]

These YA stories with their stratified clicks. (Faction here, Houses in Harry Potter, the different groups in Maze Runner) they always have the portage be in ‘the brave group’, wonder if there’s a YA that has the portage be in the ‘smart kids’?

[@bluelanternguardianangel8038]

The divergent series is the most YA Novel turned movie out of the YA novels turned movie ever. Its like a house of cards thats over 6ft tall. Its quite impressive that you built it this high but one smallest push from logic and it all falls apart lol

[@jacara1981]

If I remember right they didn't just split into factions, humans were doing extensive genetic engineering and that is what led to the war. A Divergent is someone that more "whole" and more to what humans were before we started engineering ourselves.

[@jupitersnoot4915]

Exactly. The point is that all non-divergents are genetically flawed. According to the lore of the series, non-divergents are literally physically incapable of being anything other than 1 thing. A non-divergent member of Candor is physically incapable of acting like a Dauntless. They're genetically broken. The idea is that the Divergents are just normal humans, who don't have the genetic flaws that Non-Divergents have.

[@orangecat504]

@@jupitersnoot4915but still an dumb system to get rid of genetic inpurities

[@Grizabeebles]

The idea of governments attempting to make supersoldiers and the wealthy buying their kids "superior" genes without any thought for how that would cause long-term psychological instability is a fertile premise. Plenty of other movies and shows have used it. Where it all breaks is that the society we see in the first movie *isn't* a dystopian beehive of genetic supermen and David is neither ecstatic at the "progress" now that the Factions were finally overthrown by Divergents and Factionless nor behaving like a panicked bureaucrat realizing he's worked himself out of a job. The self-contradiction and stupidity inherent in "personality types", racism, eugenics, class divisions, bureaucratic structures, etc is *especially* stupid when a story goes so far out of its way to never directly *use* any of those words even though the entire plot is built around a the lingering aftermath of a worldwide race war.

[@MamaMOB]

Watch the video. He literally says that.

[@Uruz2012]

Why isn't there a DNA test to see what faction you belong to? Would have taken a few minutes of screentime to fix that.

[@Velereonics]

the initiation is less like a frat hazing and more like being jumped into an LA gang. they just mercilessly beat you for like 5 minutes and then you're in the gang

[@cheftristone]

The common phrase quoted "Jack of all trades master of none," is incomplete, it finishes with "but is better than a master of one." Because you are inherently more valuable being good at many disciplines in society than hyperfixating on one

[@midori_the_eldritch]

Even forcing people into there most matching faction and forbidding internal marrage would be a more effective method.

[@nomadmalachi]

Always great to go flipping through the same old videos and then see Media Zealot has posted something new!

[@filipvadas7602]

Honestly, if the entire population of Chicago was *intentionally* being treated like sh!t for entertainment; that would have made the story a hundred times better. The idea that this hyper advanced society is essentially playing a Sims game by making intentionally bad decisions and throwing wrenches into this society they've built just for the sadistic pleasure of watching their puppets, who they don't consider human, dance would have been insanely dark, but also would have made for a WAY better story tbh.

[@BlackMercy-it1jp]

Wow, I had forgotten that even this movie franchise existed even though I was the target audience for this when it released. I honestly thought you were talking about Hunger games in the first few seconds. Awesome video btw

[@NL-xu6qb]

Interestingly enough, I think the fact that the first book was written in two weeks and the author probably never fought that she is gonna be a professional author, made her kill of so many main figure during the movies and films... this was actually refreshing to see.

[@MamaMOB]

Bad writing is refreshing to see? You haven't been paying attention for the last decade have you?

[@MarvinPowell1]

San Angeles is just real life 2020s California.

[@kman9884]

@@MamaMOBKilling off characters is refreshing in a genre and age where barely anyone dies. Imagine how much better every MCU crossover movie would be if a hero got seriously maimed or killed

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@MarvinPowell1 not really. California has plenty of s3x, and toilet paper

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

​@kman9884 why would that make it better. I get the the mcu aren't perfect films by any stretch of the imagination, but why would killing off more characters improve it? Does every series need to be written by grrm for it to be good? Do you just want gore?

[@riichobamin7612]

The fight stance of Dauntless looks like a moronic version of the Philly Shell 😂😂😂

[@mmluon]

The breakdown of the story was the most succinct and funny description of this genre that I have ever heard.. Spot on and hilariously witty.

[@jo_smough]

These movies make the Hunger Games look like a masterpiece in comparison

[@orangecat504]

Susane Collins was actually saying something about society (iraq war) rather than being an thought experiment. Even if the world building isnt great its the social commentary that makes the Hunger Games the best

[@Quaila]

Omg the reveal that the protagonist’s home faction is “Abnegation” is so funny I thought they were just peasants

[@koobs4549]

I love how these post-apocalyptic films always have a major war that left everything in ruin, but absolutely no companies like Black Rock or Black Stone exist 😂

[@ogerpinata1703]

Killing your own people when they are supposedly the only thing that cannot be replaced easily is just stupid.

[@eugeneoisten9409]

Divergent judicial system in a nutshell: Judge: the protagonist stands accused of being a Mary Sue! Prosecutor: we shall prove beyond any doubt that the protagonist is in fact a Mary Sue! Defense: since I can only tell the truth my client is not only a Mary Sue but a very poorly written Mary Sue at that..........the defense rest!!

[@HeroNotFound05]

I’d love to see you do one of these analysis videos, but for a fictional setting that has a GREAT civilisation, and you explain why it works so well

[@StevenSchultz-j8k]

At laughed at this movie the whole time in theaters. Like my friends were confused and uncomfortable but I couldn't stop laughing at how stupid it was and couldn't describe it to them during the movie 😂

[@pikeyMcBarkin]

Not sure if I've said this before, but I really enjoy your videos. Love the tone, the cadence, all of it. LOL

[@slevinchannel7589]

Fyi, Homelessness, Revolutions and other topics were epicly covered by Youtubr Some More News. Or if you want more Sarcasm in your Education, try Terrible-Writing-Advice

[@qq-wy7zs]

Solution to the genetic problem: Just charge a large fine to marry someone in the same faction, and bam, most people will marry outside and their kids will have toned down traits.

[@irystocrattakodachithatmooms]

The New Republic from Disney Star Wars is also quite stupid.

[@louisduarte8763]

The New Republic from Legends had its crap together.

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

9:15 so somebody made the old sith into cops?

[@Paula1114S]

I have always thought that instead of Amity, they should have called that Faction Benevolence. That way they'd be A, B, C, D and E. It would have hinted at the whole "sorting" thing that was being done by the people outside.

[@justme22154]

That'd be clever

[@pennzilla57]

I have waited so long for this! The single most underrated channel on KZbin

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

Yes we also enjoy it

[@Hawkatana]

At least with the Hunger Games, Panem was clearly *meant* to be stupid. The thought process behind Divergent's factions can be boiled down to "What if the Hunger Games had the houses from Harry Potter?".

[@TFAltHist]

If I remember correctly, the outside world wasn't a wasteland in the books, and Chicago wasn't the only experiment.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

WTF I recently just suggested this. What luck. What a strange coincidence. Media Zealot I highly recommend the other Factions for the other YA Novel to Movie Adaptations you have not covered yet: World Catastrophe K1llzone Division - Maze Runner Trilogy Ministry of Magic and De@theaters - Wizarding World US Government - The Darkest Minds Film Ember City Government- City of Embers Film Hegemony and the Formics Hives - Enders Game Films Volturi Coven - Twilight The Souls - The Host Btw in case anyone is wondering why there are so many YA Novel Adaptations despite few being much good, the answer can be found in the fact that they all end in Cliffhangers, they are attempts at recreating the Financial Success of Harry Potter, Suited Execs convinced the YA Novel Genre MUST contain a new Gold Mine…somewhere. Similar to attempts at Cinematic Universes post-MCU, it’s rarely worked much.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

ALMOST FORGOT this Advanced Sci-Fi Civilization from a YA Novel to Movie Adaptation that can be covered: The Magisterium from The Goldan Compass Film and His Dark Materials TV Show.

[@JohnSpartan-v8g]

Finally! Where ya been? What about Cobra or da Klingons?

[@antonpayne919]

if i remember correctly its implied that members of amity are high most of the time so there are some benefits choosing this faction

[@lostbutfreesoul]

Just want you to know, I literally cheer when I see your work uploaded.

[@JustaGuy_Gaming]

A true milestone, the first "too stupid" of a movie I never even heard of, let alone watched.

[@puggs_2128]

What's so weird is if you make a couple changes, this world would make so much more sense. Say, years ago, the experiment went awry for some reason (evil person, bias against others, etc), and all these rules about factions and killing divergents were made up after it went awry, and remove the whole part where people can choose their faction. And say that the genetically pure just gave up on the experiment, and thus don't care what happens to the test subjects anymore, as long as they stay in their bubble. Then you can keep most of the plot, still have Tris be divergent and choose Dauntless (she would still get a choice because she would tell the testgiver what result to put in, since it's a lie anyway), and keep the whole "outside faction no one knew about" and genetically pure/unpure thing.