So, being injured and snowbound and on a no-work day, I marathoned HBO's Game of Thrones in two days. Because I literally had nothing else to do. Then insomnia hit! Cuz if there's one way to make boredom worse, it's making it last all night.
So you know: I have not read any books in A Song of Ice and Fire.
I tend to gravitate towards fantasy that has no or little magic in it, and Game of Thrones delivers on that account. We've got a made-up continent full of people scheming for the throne to rule the Seven Kingdoms (you ever thought of splitting it up like they do in The Twelve Kingdoms so this kind of dispute won't happen?) and other people who just want peace, others who just like living and will pay off anyone so they can continue to do so, and others trying to keep out a mysterious, terrifying race of, um, "zombies" (White Walkers). Medieval-style intrigue, scheming, travels over foreign lands I like fantasy that does this kind of thing because we see how people react to situations that we really never had in our world. It uses fantasy as a means to the end of showing us how people behave in certain situations (yet we still have the same tired portrayals of class and gender roles--more on that later).
Ultimately, characters make or break a story for me. If I like the characters, if they're unique, multi-layered, and/or dynamic, I like the story. If I don't care, then forget it. There are a few exceptions, like a really interesting storyline or new way of storytelling, but characters are the main thing. That's perhaps why Band of Brothers is my favorite series--I love every one of those characters. So, Thrones eventually kept me going because I liked enough of the characters. Arya has self-motivation, courage, and intellect, yet still conveys the vulnerability a child would have. I liked the way her "dancing master" taught her fighting and technique. You never know whose side the bald eunuch is on, and since he's both an actor and not seen as a threat, I'm interested to see how he interacts with others.
Dany has the best character arc; immediately I knew she was one to watch, because in her first scene she looks so defeated and sad that, whatever she does, she has nothing to lose, and she slowly gains self-confidence and ends up on one of the coolest season closers ever. And the sex was very well used in her story, using it as part of her arc rather than titillation. I liked how we kept seeing more layers of Drogo--first we see him as a silent rapist, then as a gentle, kind husband, then an eloquent speaker, and then a tough, vengeful warrior. Tyrion...is awesome, I agree. Always witty, smart, able to talk himself out of any situation, vulgar and coarse, and not really that bad a person. He's definitely on his own side, doing anything to keep living because he loves it, yet still has a good heart and seems to want peace. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he handles Joffrey in season 2 (and loved the smackdown he gives him in episode 2). On the other hand, I think Tyrion got all the good lines, as in none of the other characters got anything as good as him.
One thing that really bothered--and sometimes, disgusted--me, was that apparently there are only two professions for a woman in this series--get married to a powerful man, and thus maybe get some power for herself through him, or become a whore. And occasionally be a servant. That's it. If you're doing fantasy in a different world, why continue the same tired gender roles? Even in medieval times, women could be something other than wives, nuns, or whores if the circumstances or time period were right. In some times and places, women could take up their husbands' trades if he died and she were trained in it. After the Black Death, most women gained professions because so many men died that women had to take up men's jobs. They started businesses. They could run castles and sue in court to keep them. Not in this show. Having one or two prostitute characters (like Ros and Shae) is fine, but when every single woman who's not married to a powerful man has to be in a brothel, it feels really degrading to women, and to be blunt, really gross, as is everyone talking about dicks and breasts and vaginas all the time. Seriously, at least every other conversation mentioned genitalia. No wonder there's so many whores--none of these men can stop thinking about sex for two minutes and apparently none of them have learned to masterbate.
I guess I've been spoiled on good anime, because when you repeatedly see non-sexualized portrayals of women as doctors, detectives, scholars, philosophers, bards, writers, computer techies, bodyguards, scientists, astronauts, musicians, mechanics, pilots, assassins, mercenaries, librarians, teachers, farmers, bakers, monarchs, hotel owners, travelers, diplomats, journalists, vigilantes, gangsters, thieves, CEOs, soldiers, swordswomen, and war generals, you start to expect the same of other works, especially from a country that considers itself as having achieved equality between the sexes. As long as portrayals like this continue to be the norm, there is no equality. Life and art imitate each other, and degrading portrayals like this, which are depicted as normal, only mentally reinforce degradation and inequality.
Personal disappointment, not a problem--everyone talks about how "Winter is coming." Yet the only snow we really see is at the Wall. I love depictions of snow, and this was a major reason I watched the series, and hoped for more snow here, but didn't get too much. (BUT...wolves + snow = AWESOME) Please more snow in season 2!
I enjoyed watching it and will probably watch season 2. I'll have to wait to borrow the DVDs, which will be fine--I don't anticipate it near as much as I'm awaiting season 2 of Sherlock, but if Tyrion and Arya arer in it, and there's more snow, and someone starts smacking Joffrey around, I'm in.
Edit: I stopped after two or three episodes of season 2. Just bored, I guess. When you miss an episode and think, "Oh well, whatever" instead of "Oh no!", that's a good time to stop a show.
