Yesterday I wrote a tiny remark about tribalism:
I increasingly have this thought that tribalism is the main (genetic?) characteristic that is inhibiting true greatness for humanity as a whole. Not saying we should get rid of it, but it helps to ignore those feelings sometimes.
Interestingly, I had to give my back some rest and decided to lay down and see if I can watch some Netflix instead of reading a book. The app told me they now had AMC's Moonhaven available so I decided why not? Hadn't heard of it - the plausible reason for that is discussed below. However, I had no idea that what I wrote about earlier was going to be woven all through this series.
What it isWhat it is
This series is a bit punk; perhaps solarpunk is the right description - I saw someone on the interwebs say that. It describes humanity as a malleable thing that can be steered. In this case by an AI. The thing they focus on is tribalism and the central theme is that bloodlines lead to tribes, which leads to states, which leads to nations, and that all of these lead to war. The overall story describes a colony on the moon that gets isolated from earth, to research human nature and find ways to save mankind, which they found, and are ready to implement on Earth.
What is up with itWhat is up with it
AMC cancelled it after 6 episodes. This is probably why I never heard of it before, because it is too obscure to be on my radar. However, after doing the binge on the entire series (a real feat, haha) I must say it is probably great that it got cancelled. It leaves one with a bit of a cliffhanger or sudden ending, depending on how you look at it, but the cool thing is that there is so much unresolved that this can give many hours of inspiration. The main message was delivered, the ending is up to your imagination.
Without the abrupt ending it would have probably been a ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆ for me. But now, it's awesome. I hope they never pick it up again; this is perfect. Recommend, will watch again.
My wife loves the solarpunk aesthetic, definitely going to check this out.
(Also I'm intrigued by the comment about the abrupt ending).
The great thing about an early cancel is that enshittification takes time. Quit while you're ahead kinda. Haha
Quit while you are ahead is the most important lesson artists of this generation have failed to learn. To be fair though, it is a difficult lesson to learn.
It's often not their choice. The suits are gonna milk the popular IP regardless of if the original creators are on board with it or not
True. So am I working against my wish by reviewing this? lol
Cool, gonna watch this over the holiday! Thx for the suggestion!
Tribalism in its simplest form is about belonging and identity but when scaled up it becomes a barrier to cooperation on the level we need to solve our largest problems. Your instinct to say we cannot get rid of it entirely is correct because it is rooted in evolution but we can become conscious of when it is driving our perception instead of letting the facts shape it.
Moonhaven’s focus on bloodlines as the root of tribal structures is a strong conceptual choice. By isolating a group of humans and testing ways to reframe behavior it invites us to think about how much of our social fabric is habit and how much is choice. You are right that its cancellation actually strengthens its impact. A complete resolution might have softened the conceptual punch. The openness forces the viewer to wrestle with the message instead of waiting for it to be handed to them.
Moonhaven presents a vision of human society stripped down to its behavioral components and then manipulated under controlled conditions. It tells of a lunar colony isolated from Earth with a mission to re-engineer human nature guided in part by artificial intelligence. This blend of speculative sociology and science fiction puts tribalism at the center of its critique.