The demands that Apple TV places on itself and its programs have been more than clear since last year: high-quality, high-end titles for a brand that sees itself as a premium offer among streamers. As a result, with a few exceptions, it is the big names who are supposed to give the in-house productions a shine in front of and behind the camera.
“Roar” scores on several levels. The heavily cast anthology series is based on a collection of short stories by best-selling author Cecila Ahern. So far, it has found millions of readers worldwide, especially with melodramatic romance and relationship novels.
Accordingly, Ahern’s works have often been filmed: “PS, I love you” – in a ZDF survey on the favorite book of the Germans ended up in 84th place – with its mallet agitatedness is the perfect example of the perfect amalgamation of tragedy, Romance and melodramatic, which Aherns readers like to throw themselves into and which Hollywood also likes to adapt.
Radical and feminist? Rather not!
It is all the more surprising that “Roar” ventures from shallower waters into deeper realms – the tenor of the stories gathered here is “provocative”, “radical” and “feminist”, as the cover advertises. The anthology series of the same name now grabs eight of the stories spiced with magical realism and is dedicated to the question of what it means to be a woman in the turbulent hashtag era of MeToo and BLM.
It’s about black representation in Hollywood, about being a woman in the age of toxic misogynist subcultures, about ideals of beauty, about being a mother and being successful at work away from traditional gender roles.
Big and very current topics, which fortunately are increasingly finding their way into films and series. It’s also promising that screenwriters Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, creators of the wrestling series GLOW and skilled in strong and unusual female characters, are adapting Ahern’s original. A handful of highly talented and well-known directors and actresses lend their talent, including Issa Rae, Rashida Jones and So Yong Kim.
Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman, in a personal union of producer and actress, apparently takes Reese Witherspoon as her big role model. Witherspoon had recently adapted bestsellers with a high success rate: “Big Little Lies”, “The Morning Show” and “Little Fires Everywhere” were three projects in which she created roles as a producer for which she herself liked to be in front of the camera.
Far too superficial
So far, so promising “Roar” looks on paper. But somewhere along the way, the mixing of the ingredients for success failed. Which is partly due to the unsuccessful submission. Like the original book, Roar serves up the kind of superficial empowering feminism that seems more like a fad than an act of persuasion.
Most of the individual stories do not turn out to be feminist explosives at the bulwark of patriarchy, but seem like a firework display of unsubtle allegories, clumsy dramaturgy and one-dimensional stereotypes. Coupled with plenty of naivety, a much too simple world view is being built here, the typification of which as “feminist” almost seems like an affront.
Which would probably still be forgiven if “Roar” at least knew how to entertain. Yet with uninspired rhythm and lacking verve, some of the episodes feel far longer than their half-hour runtime. Overall, “Roar” therefore sounds less like the roar of a lioness than the title would suggest, and more like the powerless meowing of a house cat.
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