Bright: The Apotheosis of Lazy Worldbuilding | Video Essay

Choose your race: Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Mexican

"You know what they say about the Italians, once with Julius Caesar, always with Julius Caesar"

Imagine beating a raccoon to death in your yard and then saying “raccoon lives don’t matter today”

We hate orcs... Because they fought under the Dark Lord... Who was an elf... Who was only defeated because of an orc. Flawless world building.

I agree with all your criticisms but one. Shrek exists in all possible timelines

In the heart of Mount Everest, great rings were forged. Three were given to the elves, immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf Lords; great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine rings were gifted to the race of Mexicans, who above all, got shit for the Alamo.

That one graffiti in there with the elf puppeteering the human that's beating on an orc feels like it comes from a much better movie that actually fully explores the implications of the stratified society.

"once with the dark lord, always with the dark lord" is such an insane line

Imagine someone saying “once with hitler always with hitler” about Germans

So, is Shrek like, a historical drama in the Bright universe?

I've just realized one thing. Jakoby blasts in the car heavy metal and Ward turns it off with "we will not be listening to orkish music" So Orcs like heavy metal. That is their genre. THEN WHY DO THEY ALL WEAR DURAGS AND HAVE HIP-HOP INSPIRED URBAN GANGSTA FLAVA?!

The fact they could’ve named it belferly hills is a heartbreak I will never recover from

Me about British people: “You know what they say, once with King George always with King George”

The movie just drops a centaur in the background and never ever comes back to it

I think what frustrates many people about Bright is that "fantasy creatures in a contemporary setting" actually sounds like a novel and fresh idea in a genre that is dominanted by medieval stasis.

“Were Mexicans one of the nine races?” is basically all the commentary you need to make about Bright’s awful worldbuilding 😂

"WHO WERE THE NINE RACES?! WERE MEXICANS PART OF THE 9 RACES?!" I love that line.

I wonder if, in that universe, "Shrek" is their equivalent of "Song of the South"

I got into an argument with my partner about Bright today so I’m back watching this again. I can’t stop thinking about Background Centaur Cop. They have Orc affirmative action but none of those bathrooms we see are centaur accessible. How does he go to morning briefing? He can’t get up the stairs. Do they have minimum size requirements for lifts to accommodate centaur citizens? How does this impact city planning and architecture? The big stairs up to city hall at the end are not centaur friendly. Is there a centaur booth at the strip club? Can orcs and humans have babies? What about elves? You know humans would have tried to smash with every other race by now. I don’t want to think about centaur porn.

I will never get over the "BE YORCELF" graffiti at 5:11. That's not punk graffiti, that should be a dopey motivational poster on Jakoby's desk