About an hour ago I ended ‘My Watch’ of all four seasons and all episodes of “Game of Thrones”—Took me all of three days to get through it, soup to nuts, but I really had nothing better to do anyhow.
Certainly there are quite a lot of rabid fans out there belonging to “Game of Thrones” and this I do not deny, and I may even count myself among their numbers now, but…
And my intent here is certainly not to rain upon anyone’s parade. However I must admit that a few years ago I was curious to understand “Why all the hype?”, so I went to my Amazon dot com and purchased the first Season.
And I Tried, Ever So Hard, to get “Into” it.
Fail.
Major Fail.
Got bored pretty much instantly with the show.
I am no prude (and anyone who has read even ten percent of my blog posts should know this), but what turned me off almost immediately was all the HBO gratuitous sex and violence. I don’t need to see people fucking every ten minutes to understand the dynamics of ‘intimate’ relationships.
And even though all the fight scenes were Oh So most ‘tastefully’ done, and pretty much well-choreographed, every once in a while, I would rather just hear the severed head hit the ground, rather than have to see it.
“Trust me HBO”: These kinds of graphics do not interest me, even though upon occasion we, as audience, might need to see them… but for the most part we do not. (Actually, I am speaking only for myself. You do you.)
My opinions are generally not worth a cup of warm spit.
If I want pornography and / or snuff films, I can certainly find them outside the realm of ‘Serious Drama.’ In other words, when I want porn, I want porn; when I want good literature or drama, I want good lit or drama. Not to say that the two are mutually exclusive, but a preponderance of one over the other is a waste of time. Just a waste of time (and film).
If you would like to explore a decent contemporary, well-done balance, take a look at Polanski’s “Macbeth” for a start,
Then perhaps, even Zeffirelli’s “Hamlet”
(if you want to get into all that Oedipus and violence stuff).
Or…
Branagh’s “Henry V”
***
The thing that never rang true for me in “Game of Thrones” was the silly justification that “For One Thousand Years, The Men of “Lannis-Sister” Always Had Sex with Their sisters.”
Or Whatever…
In short, I have just now finished, as I did preamble, the Entire Series up-to-date. And, I would be less than honest if I said I could have easily stopped watching.
There are some intriguing characters to be certain, and some plot twists, or at least some of those, “Oh my fucking God! I did not see that one coming!” moments.
After watching all four seasons however, there are only two characters I take away and hold dearest to my heart and interest. And even truly care about.
It will probably be extremely easy for y’all to tell me which ones they are…
That is, if y’all know me at all.
(Or, at least, if I follow that typical male, raised-on-video-games cliché)
Now That, That above is a joke. I hope you know that.
Here is a ‘clue’ for one of them. Hahaha!
Never watched it . . . didn’t sound like my cup of tea – like you I’d rather hear the head hit the ground, not watch it . . . BUT it seems quite popular!
And P. S. I’m in the book, if you wanna chat.
-L
LOL I am an Australian, yes, and I am actually playing catch up because I have holidays which is practically unheard of, and since I had not been in my blog for well… about 6 months.
So, as I said, playing catch up and thankfully I am a very fast typer, however I am also enjoying myself reading through your blog – not to mention relating to some of your words and your posts and music bring back some personal memories – which at the old age of 36 😛 #Snorks* I have a few of.. lol
Glad you’re enjoying the read and response process, Its almost 2am and I’m not too sure how much longer before these toothpicks pierce my eyelids.. either way.. It’s been a great read 🙂
ML
Miss Lou,
You’re an Aussie, yeah?
Good God!
I have been to Australia and I am pretty certain all the Aussies I met (anyway) could not type this fast. (Now that is not American Arrogance! Shit most Americans cannot spell ‘cat’ these days. It is just, as I did say, I am overwhelmed.
And so far behind in the comments sections, and yes! I do reply to all comments on my blog, and until today, generally in real time.
You are killing me.
But what great fun!
smile
Ah! I like both of them as well – 3rd and 4th after The short dude and the illegitamate son..
Their names are;
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (Bow and Arrow Girl)
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen (Dragon Mother)
I also like the guy that was hanging around the bow and arrow girl protecting her.. sort of..
I guess I have an eye for blondes, even though I have never had any luck with them. Nor dragons neither. Yet, I love the blonde dragon mother the best, and the girl with the bows and arrows second.
Sorry, I really don’t know the character’s names. I just know them when they appear on screen.
I do like the short guy though, I guess, if they ever kill him off, I will stop watching.
He and I would toss back some wine…. in another time.
And an addendum: I particularly loved the Bodicca Type Red Head. I really liked her. Too bad HBO killed her off. I am a celtic, true fan. Not sure if that makes any sense, coming from a Texan, but there ya go.
I very much enjoy the program, however also felt like the HBO gratuitous sex and violence was well.. ‘HBO Over the Top’ lol
My favorite Cast members are Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.
I’ve got a good eye for character and Talent, So I’ll assume you have the same two favorites and now you owe me two Dinars 🙂
Yer purty funy Lee.
Yeah, Me and Ebert.
Me and Ebert.
(Thank you)
Sincerely.
I have never watched the show but I do believe you have found your calling as a TV show critic well done .
Hi Annie,
Truth is, as I said, I watched four seasons in three days. It is hard for (even me–hehehe) to keep up with so many things going on at once, even with my finely-tuned antithetical, I mean, analytic mind..
At any rate, I must admit that overall I loved watching the series. There were of course some characters easy to love and some of course easy to hate and some… with no verisimilitude whatsoever, approaching ludicrous, but shit!
That’s why they call it ‘television’ and not ‘Shakespeare’. (Or ‘NFL’ Go Cowboys! Beat The Packers!)
Peace,
Lance
I stopped reading/watching the series because he was killing off all the interesting, positive characters. Sorry, but the Lannister bastard really was too stupid to live so long.
In truth, the entire cast of characters, save those two, could die and I’d keep on watching.
If either one of them get ‘whacked’, well then, I am going back to ‘The Sopranos’, or some other HBO thing.
Oh, and if a dragon kills killed…. well, PETA! Here I come!
Hahahah!
Just three more months. Hopefully good things will come Dany and Arya’s way.
Who am I kidding? Just hoping that they don’t die is probably the best we can expect.
Well, my Friend, I did watch the entire First Four Seasons in just about three days (Haha! Yeah, I hate to start watching a new series and then have to wait a week for the ‘next episode.’)
Anyhow, as I said, I tried GoT years ago when it first started, but guess I just was not ‘in the mood’. Now I’m stuck here waiting with everyone else for the 2015 Season.
* heavy sigh *
Cheers,
Lance
Right on! Dany and Jon Snow are often on top fave lists for GoT characters, but with no evidence to the contrary, I had to try front-runner Tyrion.
(Also because Dany and Jon both have a lot of detractors as well.)
Thanks for your observations on the series. I’m a fan of the books and the show, but I appreciate peoples criticisms, which are not unwarranted.
Glad you stuck with it to finish the most recent season.
“Arya Stark” & “Daenerys Targaryen”,
and believe it or not, both for the very same reasons.
(That, of course, is a joke, as it is obvious I am a fervent fan of strong female characters…, I am a fan of Shakespeare, especially characters like Portia and Viola, and Beatrice, and to a slightly lesser extent: Juliet Capulet.)
And above I suppose: Lady Macbeth.
Hahahaha
Thank you for your swift comment.
(It is not), I have discovered, safe to be alone with one’s thoughts while trying to analyze why one favors one character over another in Game of Thrones…
–Just kidding.
Thanks again.
Well, I don’t know you, but I’ll throw a chance at two dinars, and say your two favorite characters would be Arya and Tyrion, just because statistically speaking, they’re most likely to intersect with anyone list of faves.
Everyone’s different though. Although I like Tyrion, I’m always more of a fan of secondary characters, so I like Ser Davos and Ser Jorah, the steadfast right hand men (even if Jorah’s past has caught up with him, and Davos might not be serving the best candidate for the job as king. Although Stannis might be the best candidate in the pool of candidates.)
Best regards.