love is a place
23 years old
BSc Psych
canadian
feminist
writer
tv addict
Don’t you know this is the last time you’ll see me,
won’t you look back one last time and say goodbye?
i am so prepared to cringe at what they’ve done to catelyn, based solely on the previews with her sobbing and begging her husband not to go. i understand that it gives the series a feeling of foreboding, foreshadowing that ned becoming the Hand is probably not gonna turn out all sunshine and flowers… but remember that awesome scene where catelyn is the one who tells her husband to buck up, do what’s best for his family, take his ass on down to King’s Landing, and hurry the fuck up about it? catelyn is certainly one of my favourite ladies in the series and i really don’t want hbo to take it away from me.
genre discrimination, part 2
Okay, I know. I know, I should stop harping on about it. But this is my blog, and I can say what I want. And it’s more classy than leaving complaints on the actual articles and making GoT fans seem overly defensive.
Let me clarify: I don’t have a problem with negative reviews. There were several negative reviews this week that I appreciated reading, because they had legitimate grievances beyond “I need a meteorology report.” I have nothing but respect for the opinions of journalists who write unfavorably about the show but have articulate explanations why. See: Ryan McGee, Maureen Ryan, (and more minorly critical) Adam Serwer. All very well written.
However, I found the The New York Times review not just frustrating, but offensive.
Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times writes:
The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to “The Hobbit” first. “Game of Thrones” is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.
As a woman myself, I’m astounded by this rationale. Astounded. The illicitness has been tossed in exclusively for my benefit? Do you mean Tyrion’s prostitutes, or Dany’s sexual objectification? Because both are just so overwhelmingly titillating to me (sarcasm). And I can honestly say that I’ve never heard of Lorrie Moore, and I love The Hobbit. I took a Tolkien class last semester, and the ratio of male/female students was equal. “No woman alive” would watch it? I know more female LOTR enthusiasts than male. I know more female than male ASOIAF fans, for that matter.
Perhaps the thing that’s so enraging to me about this gender/genre compartmentalization is that it comes from another woman. It’s frustrating enough when you have males insinuating that females who don’t like ASOIAF just aren’t smart enough to “get it,” but now we’ve got women snidely condemning other women who read “boy fiction”?
Can’t we just read what we like without having our genre preferences turned into character judgments about our gender?
Quick! Where’s that GRRM meme “about to write female POV…lesbian sex scene!”?
I can never remember a time when fantasy wasn’t my favorite genre. I hate being told it’s for boys. (Seriously, the term “fanboy” is very different from the term “fangirl”. “Fanboy”, you’re just a nerd who really loves his series. “Fangirl”, you’re just obsessed over a good-looking celebrity. Fuck that.) Who the hell is Lorrie Moore? Why should women be attending a bookclub anyway? (Not to bash bookclubs, I loved my high school one.)
Will I enjoy the scenes that get Nikolaj out of his clothes? Sure. But I wouldn’t watch a show solely for that. Sexytiems don’t make me want to watch a show. And they sure as hell aren’t why I love ASOIAF.
- I’m pretty sure the phrase is “sex sells”. Not “sex sells to women, so quick let’s add some INCEST to our show so those dum bitches will actually watch it”. because… that’s just not clever. Come on, it’s hbo. did you expect that there WOULDN’T be sex?? and really, is incest like specifically a lady kink? did i not get the memo? i think the incest is pretty hit-or-miss, but it depends way more on individual differences than gender differences, imo.
- i also know more female asoiaf fans. just… as anecdotal counter-evidence, i guess.
- and the thing about the lesbian sex scene(s) (and the sex in general) is i think it has huge implications for character development. i won’t add more because i don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t read as far as the lady/lady scenes… but i think grrm’s sex scenes are generally meaningful, not added in to specifically titillate female audiences (FEW THOUGH WE ARE)
- the twincest is meaningful. (haha because they are sooo narcissistic; and then they are apart for most of the books, so you can really see how they both have changed once they come back together)
- tyrion’s prostitutes are meaningful. (obviously with the heavy-handed stuff about his first wife and all that, but also just as a reflection of what tyrion thinks of himself and his worth)
- dany becoming sexually interested in drogo is meaningful (giving her agency, instead of being a victim; and later, her taking charge of her own sexuality and needs, etc. AND HAVE I MENTIONED, I CANNOT WAIT FOR HER TWO HUSBANDS because HAREM).
- and also JON/YGRITTE is pretty meaninful. he’s all BUT MY VOWS and she’s like SUCKS TO YOUR ASSMAR VOWS and he’s like WELL IF YOU PUT IT THAT WAY
(all right, all right, i’ll allow that i found jon/ygritte delightfully titillating. YOU GOT ME, GRRM. YOU WIN. i may or may not have read their scenes like six times over)
IN SUM: (1) ladies enjoy fantasy; (2) sex in fantasy novels can (and does, in the case of asoiaf) serve a purpose - i.e., is not there exclusively to lure in a lady audience
Arya: Shut up!
right click —> save as
i feel i will need this .gif in the future
(Source: amenmagdalene)
They are not even trying with these wigs, you guys.
haha, I actually feel like mark addy is doing a great job making Robert PRECISELY as annoying as he is in the book. Like well-cast, sir. But yeah, enough with him. I’ve loved all the added scenes except this one and it was so. bloody. long.
also lancel. lollll.
Strange thing, first time you cut a man… You realize we’re nothing but sacks of meat and blood, with some bone to keep it all standing.
(Source: robbstark)
Jon messed up her hair. “I will miss you, little sister.”
Suddenly she looked like she was going to cry. “I wish you were coming with us.”
“Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle. Who knows?” He was feeling better now. He was not going to let himself be sad.
Arya ran to him for a last hug. “Put down the sword first,” Jon warned her, laughing. She set it aside almost shyly and showered him with kisses.
The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north.
one thing i really loved about Game of Thrones/ASOIAF was the figurative language that the characters used, the idioms and metaphors they used. they seemed to perfectly fit in Westeros, and although we can understand them (i.e., “different roads sometimes lead to the same castle” is pretty straightforward; we understand it, but we’d never use it) they are just the right amount of foreign and unique and you can see how the phrase came into use if you lived in Westeros.
Ned: Sansa will be married to Joffrey someday. She cannot betray him. She must take his side even when he’s wrong.
arya understands that sansa is put on a terrible trajectory toward marrying a complete sociopath, and that sansa is put on this trajectory by her own family (and because sansa doesn’t know the full extent of joffrey’s awfulness because she assumes the world is/should be like what she heard in stories and songs). and i think arya’s gut reaction is so critical… arya sees things plainly, because she is a child and because she is not politically-minded. her question cuts to the heart of the matter: why are the starks putting sansa in danger like this?
so really, when sansa “betrays her family”… the starks sort of betray her first. They leave her in the position where she is expected to choose her future husband over her family, even to the point where her own father expects her to make this choice.
so um… SHUT UP, FANDOM.
team sansa!
Ned: Sansa will be married to Joffrey someday. She cannot betray him. She must take his side even when he’s wrong.
arya understands that sansa is put on a terrible trajectory toward marrying a complete sociopath, and that sansa is put on this trajectory by her own family (and because sansa doesn’t know the full extent of joffrey’s awfulness because she assumes the world is/should be like what she heard in stories and songs). and i think arya’s gut reaction is so critical… arya sees things plainly, because she is a child and because she is not politically-minded. her question cuts to the heart of the matter: why are the starks putting sansa in danger like this?
so really, when sansa “betrays her family”… the starks sort of betray her first. They leave her in the position where she is expected to choose her future husband over her family, even to the point where her own father expects her to make this choice.
so um… SHUT UP, FANDOM.
team sansa!
Going with this, that whole “the lone wolf can’t survive” theme is even creepier. Ned, are you basically saying “Don’t hate your sister, we’re letting her die”? Ew.
Possibly spoiler-y!
I read Ned as being truly naive, or at least really (really) slow on the uptake. Prime example: he has no idea what to do with someone like Littlefinger who tells you five different lies and yet you’re never quite sure how far you are willing to distrust him, because what if one of those lies was true? (THE BENJAMIN LINUS OF ASOIAF, IF YOU WILL). Ned takes just a day, just a moment too long to decide whether to trust Littlefinger or not, and that ends up being so important.
I loved Sean Bean in the small council scene, his shock that money could be wasted so extravagantly. For Ned, obeying your king is synonymous with doing the Right Thing. But when it is not so straight forward, like when Robert asks him to betroth his daughter to his sociopathic son, I think Ned is truly at a loss. He views establishing a good marriage for Sansa as his duty, the way he can do right by his daughters. And he’s arguably arranged the best possible marriage. And as far as naive, noble Ned is concerned, that should be The Right Thing. But… it totally isn’t, and he’s at a loss as to what to do about it, and the expression on his face in this scene just conveys the ~inner conflict~ Ned’s going through, trying to sort out why he THINKS he’s doing the right thing but he FEELS like he’s not. (it’s actually kind of funny watching him stumble around the political scene like a bull in a china shop. no deftness at all.)
So I don’t think Ned actually equates what he’s saying to “We’re leaving her to die”, I think he’s just slow in coming to the conclusion that he’s putting her in serious danger by betrothing her to Joffrey. Because… he’s kind of an idiot when it comes to politics.
Ultimately, Ned is that Classic Fantasy Hero with buttloads of Nobleness and Honour, and that just doesn’t really cut it in King’s Landing (or this whole series, actually) where clear-cut Good Guys and Bad Guys either don’t exist or can’t survive. And I think we might all agree that’s what makes ASOIAF so good.
