HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones - will this be just for nerds? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

I just realised watching a s1 episode the other day that Barristan Selmy is actually Stuart's dad in original Queer as Folk!

bronn is killing it this year. love that guy.

The three Stark brothers are Brian, Ricky and Bob.

you forgot stu stark

is the tv show planning on featuring david lannister? easily one of the best lawyer characters in any fantasy story.

had no idea Bronn was in Robson and Jerome

― GoT SPOILER ALERT (Gukbe), Monday, 30 April 2012 23:52 (Yesterday) Bookmark

yeah i only saw this recently and it blew my mind! he's been great this season

nice to see finchy up to his old tricks as well

I don't recall Theon "Ian" Grejoy being quite this whiny and pathetic in the books. Am I misremembering? I recall a twat, but not a complete twat.

Loving Stephen Dillane as Stannis. So completely humourless.

Ian was always kind of whiny douche. He expected everyone on the Iron Islands to be kissing his ass when he came back and got all sulky and petulant when that turned out not to be the case.

that guy has the proverbial face like a slapped ass

Was pretty startled by how matter-of-factly they did the shadowbabby killshot! Kind of awesome that they didn't prep with a sense of dread at ALL.

I thought it was kind of OTT, like a lot of the magicky stuff so far. I guess I liked (what felt like) an elliptical, minimal, treatment by GRRM, but I guess it's kind hard to make 'elliptical' work for TV w/o just seming vague and imprecise.

I don't recall Theon "Ian" Grejoy being quite this whiny and pathetic in the books. Am I misremembering? I recall a twat, but not a complete twat.
These things are subjective, but I did always eyeroll at him throughout his chapters.

Really loved this episode, especially Jaqen H'ghar!

xp I thought this too. was sad we missed Loras losing it though.

dear god what is margaery wearing?

I thought it was kind of OTT, like a lot of the magicky stuff so far. I guess I liked (what felt like) an elliptical, minimal, treatment by GRRM, but I guess it's kind hard to make 'elliptical' work for TV w/o just seming vague and imprecise.

IIRC there was nothing vague or imprecise about the attack on Renly; I thought that was very, very faithful to my recollection of the book.

pretty quick and understated, too (thought i haven't read the books)

in some ways GoT is a constant frustration, in others it's my favorite thing. definitely one of the coolest groups of strong, varied, kickass female characters i've ever seen on tv. catelyn, daenerys, arya, margaery, osha, brienne: more than half the reason i watch this show. post-escape discussion between catelyn and brienne was great, both michelle and gwendoline really delivering. and arya going head to head w tywin, "anyone can be killed", i mean damn.

jaqen's such a great new character, very curious to see how he develops

still think emilia clarke is rather dull as daenerys: good when she's happy, a bit bland otherwise. the part's written well, but i don't know that she's bringing much to it. gorgeous though, and that makes up for a lot.

i got pretty roundly beaten down on the internet when i suggested on a feminist thread that this show wasn't the most disgusting, misogynistic television ever created. they were having none of it.

well it is and isn't, right? it's arguably misogynist in lots of trivial ways, and the female characters are often defined according to predictably girlish/hott/maternal templates, but at the same time, it allows and celebrates strong, independent female characters like nothing else on tv that i'm aware of.

Contenderizer totally otm itt

I agree. And there are plenty of feminist critics out there singing its praises.

I think some people's brains can't cope with the idea that a story portraying an enormously sexist world and enormously sexist characters is not necessarily enormously sexist itself.

^^^ this.

wouldnt it be fair to say though that "strong, independent females" are equally predictable (and perhaps equally trivial) in this kinda nerd stuff? like there's always always warrior queens and powerful witches and one plucky ladywarrior alongside the wenches

ie putting women on an ineffable pedestal often goes hand in hand with general misgoyny

This article does a good job of addressing the series's treatment of female characters (amongst a lot of other things).
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2012/05/07/120507crte_television_nussbaum

I think some people's brains can't cope with the idea that a story portraying an enormously sexist world and enormously sexist characters is not necessarily enormously sexist itself.

this isn't strictly accurate; rather, it's more that it isn't intended to be an endorsement of enormous sexism (whether it succeeds in its criticism is really up to the viewer reaction)

The books are more successful at dealing with the topic of misogyny than the tv show, which trips itself up by adding in unnecessary sex scenes that only seem to be included to bump up ratings and get us though slow exposition.

A friend told me that every sex scene in the show was in the book. He's lying or remembering incorrectly, right?

right

A couple examples from s1 not in the books, that I could have done without:

Viserys in tub with Doreah talking dragons
Littlefinger evaluating Ros' prostitute skills

i feel like all the sex is vital and nessisary

HBO sex is a bit embarrassing and sad, like watching your dad make a dirty joke that falls flat.

I liked Viserys in the tub, but I feel a bit deviant admitting that. He was a psuedo albino cutie.

^ yeah, this is otm. the leering depiction of female nudity definitely mars any feminist cred the show might otherwise muster, though i think people make too much of it sometimes, in a way that prevents them from seeing that there's a lot of good in there with the HBO cheesecake.

while it may be partially true, as r|t|c says, that "'strong, independent females' are equally predictable (and perhaps equally trivial) in this kinda nerd stuff", i don't think that this predictability is a fault, and it certainly isn't trivial. xena, warrior princess was initially criticized as fanboy cheesecake, but wound up meaning a lot more to lesbians than it ever did to straight guys. fantasy and science-fiction have long been popular among female readers, and they've attracted a number of strongly feminist authors. the worlds that these genres create are, of course, unreal, but they allow the exercise of constructive, transformative imagination. in fantasy and science-fiction, the possibilities available are not constrained by conventional social or even physical boundaries, something that a number of liberation-minded thinkers (feminist, queer, etc) have remarked upon.

The books are more successful at dealing with the topic of misogyny than the tv show, which trips itself up by adding in unnecessary sex scenes that only seem to be included to bump up ratings and get us though slow exposition.

― Moodles, Thursday, May 3, 2012 6:59 AM (25 minutes ago)

^ the "this" i was responding to

HBO sex is a bit embarrassing and sad, like watching your dad make a dirty joke that falls flat.

― fka snush (remy bean), Thursday, May 3, 2012 10:22 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*rolls eyes deeply deeply back into skull*

Remy very otm

lol

Compared to what other sex on TV?

the sex in game of thrones works really well because its totally sensationalistic and silly just like the rest of the show

i cant really comment on all the sex on hbo ever, would require some research, ill leave it to noted hbo sex experts remy bean and forksclovetofu

noted hobo sexperts

sometimes i feel bad for the street interviews of the ppl on Real Sex, i bet they didn't think that clip of them talking about going down on their wife in 1992 was gonna be replayed all the time for the next 20 years

someday legume will have grownup sex with a real lady and it'll all be clear to him

i eagerly await that day on which the full genius of yr incisive critique into the dragons and swords nerd tv show will be revealed

hey asshole i thought we weren't talking, fall back

people really exaggerate how much HBO is "sexing the show up" IMO, there's plenty of awkwardly written weird sex stuff in the books

the whole Theon molesting his sister thing was just as weird and jarring in the book

hey asshole i thought we weren't talking, fall back

― The world is your urinal. (forksclovetofu), Thursday, May 3, 2012 1:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool terminology forks B-)

i mean my thought is that maybe .25% of the books is devoted to sexy times, whereas significantly more of the TV show is devoted to oddly graphic (but for the most part unhot) scenes of doin' it while delivering unrelated dialogue. It's not galling, just feels a little pandering. Necessarily there'll be more durrty business on TV b/c of the elision of heraldry and endless verses of The Bear and the Maiden Fair. I'm beefing with the way it's done, not with its inclusion.

the entire show is a little pandering!