@MondayYogurt
Had anyone read the book?
There's a scene in the car driving back from the school after she's been adopted where her step father looks at her in the mirror and yes, all my red flags went up.
Scott Frank adapted and directed it, he also did Logan, and I wonder if he's just someone who really understands how we are socialised to pick up these signals.
Yes - it's a really good book, better than the TV show, which is not to say I didn't hugely enjoy the Netflix version.
There are several points of divergence from the original which raise all sorts of questions about how texts are adapted and altered for today's audiences, in particular with regard to race, sex, drugs etc.
Firstly, and most controversially, there is a scene in the book where Jolene (teenage) pressures Beth (aged 8) into mutual masturbation, which Beth rejects. It's not presented as abuse as such, but more as part of orphanage life. Jolene is not depicted as lesbian. After Beth's rejection, they are hostile to each other, with Beth using the 'n' word to Jolene, and Jolene responding by calling Beth a 'cracker'. Throughout the book, Beth thinks about Jolene and wonders what happened to her - they do meet up, and Jolene helps Beth through exercise and sport, which she's studied at university. Jolene does not fund Beth's trip to Russia, and when Beth tries to ring her when she's on her way there, Jolene is not home. They don't have conversations about Jolene being a guardian angel etc. Beth admires and looks up to Jolene, and she misses her throughout the story. In the TV show, Jolene disappears in the middle.
Secondly, the Townes character is very minor. Beth does have a crush on him but he only features in the book very briefly. Later in the text, Beth reflects on how Townes was her adolescent crush, but that Benny is a better fit because they are intellectual equals.
Thirdly, the match in Paris where Beth loses - this is almost entirely rewritten. There is no 'Cleo' character, she doesn't lose because she gets drunk or high, she just loses, while struggling with her addiction. The loss is presented more as an ordinary part of the level she's reached, but with her particular issues around growing up and trying to leave the props (drugs and alcohol) behind.
Overall, the book as a whole is structured more closely around the idea of a series of games, with (I think) the central idea that 'white' will always be more likely to win because 'white' makes the first move. 'Black' wins are dependent on the error of the other player. So there's a big acknowledgement that 'white' has all the advantages. A great many of the metaphors are based around chess.
There are other differences, but these are main points. In many places the TV show follows the book word for word.
Walter Tevis also wrote a book called Mockingbird, which is pitched somewhere between Brave New World and Fahrenheit 45. It's sci-fi, and imagines a future where robots are in charge and humans are dumbed down by drugs to the point they neither think nor read books. Tevis' themes would seem to be championing intellectual life, and concern about modern culture across a range of issues. It's well worth a read.