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Originally Posted by covingtoncat73
Wow. I love ya, Hitch, you know I do but, seriously, that is your takeaway? I'm not saying old G.R.R. doesn't have some kind of personality disorder. I'm sure he does. Many writers do but that is one of the things I love about the series, that the imperfect are given key roles. Haven't we had enough of fairy tales where the good are always hyper-beautiful and the physically ugly are also always evil?
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Yes. That's my takeaway. He positively loathes anyone that he thinks is undeservedly "luckier" than him. I mean...seriously, name ONE character (I can only go by the show, as the show has disinterested me in reading the books) that is either wealthy or beautiful that doesn't get utterly screwed? Or isn't, alternatively, ridiculously "evil" or perverted? The characters to which he shows some...I guess for lack of a better word, "affection," are all ugly, damaged-from-birth, etc. The only good Lannister (and even that's arguable) is the Little Person, Tyrion. The two "beautiful" ones are incestuous. The boy, Joffrey, (or, as his Native Name calls him, "Product-of- Incest") is
absurdly evil. (P.S.: eschwartz, didn't she attack him over the Wolf?)
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Anyway, as I said, that is kind of what keeps me coming to this story. Martin is great at creating complex characters. Not a bland beauty among them.
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I just don't see it that way. Sure, I like complex characters as much as the next guy, but to me, he positively feels like he's on a mission to punish everyone that's attractive, rich, or just generally "born lucky." The Starks all get screwed (at least, thus far); the Lannisters are all almost caricatures of evil--except "The Imp," who's impacted by his size, in terms of things that have already happened to him. I mean, really: what rich, or even "just" wealthy, or beautiful, or gifted character, thus far, hasn't been punished, somehow? It's pretty hard to miss his worldview, IMHO.
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I agree with everyone that the sex scenes and nudity are really egregious on the show, though. It does bug me. A witty friend, who, to my surprise (this is a middle-aged lady who plays piano for the ballet), loves the show said, "Its HBO. Of course they're hanging from the chandeliers."
/Soft spot for "cripples, bastards, and broken things."
//Tyrion forever!
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As I said: to me, it's reached the point of the paid-product-placement. I genuinely think that there's a script guy, or probably, credits-wise, "the sex guy" on the set, who checks to be sure that not more than 5 minutes of film has gone by without a tit shot. It's tedious enough, to me, that I now start reading when the ubiquitous and gratuitous TWIT shots start; and I rarely come back to the show from whatever book I've then stuck my nose in. Somehow, I don't think that's precisely the effect that the producers and HBO were hoping for.
And vis-a-vis your friend: I somewhat expect this on Cinemax, and have ever since they (also) ruined Spartacus for me with about 20 sex-scenes per 30 minutes in the first 3 episodes. I gave up on it after 3 epis. After all, they make a lot of their ducats from soft-porn, already, so...{shrug}. But I don't actually expect this much TWIT on HBO. I expect great production values; wildly varied (and mostly psycho-evil) characters;
I expect actual PLOT, silly me. I simply don't remember quite this much TWIT in Boardwalk Empire, Carnivale, True Blood, etc. A lot? Yes. But this much, to the point where it feels this
forced? No.
I guess I've just reached that point of "old fogey-ism" that occurs, where
I'm just not COOL any longer.
FWIW, I think that's why most people don't tell HBO that they're bored with the TWIT; it's because they're afraid that they'll be marked down as NOT COOL. That they'll be seen as country bumpkins, etc. So they go along with it, to be in the "in crowd," to be cool. {sigh}. Whatev!
And, don't get me wrong: I'm not dissing anyone who
enjoys the show. Just venting my own exasperation with the film-stretching TWIT. That's all.
Hitch