BUT first the lengthy spiel that has truly been coming for months now, why is everyone so stuck on the violence and the sex in Game of Thrones when it is probably the show with the best politics of difference anywhere on TV? I was a late comer to the amazingness of GoT and The Song of Ice and Fire books. I'm not a fan of epic fantasy most of the time, as it tends to demand a lot from the reader from the outset. I mean I like that you have a complex world with maps and religions and twenty thousand characters and crazy magic, but I don't need to learn the intricacies of the religion and the particular brand of magic in ridiculous detail in the first chapter before I care about any of the characters especially because you've got so many of them that character development is probably going to fall short in the long run anyway. For me, love them or hate them, the characters is what I need to buy the story especially if you are shooting for seriousness and not humour. The other thing I struggle with is the lack of difference in the kind of fantasy that goes into the fantasy that reaches a broad readership...thanks J.R.R. Tolkien! Before the rabid Tolkien fans hunt me down...chill! As a story Lord of Rings and The Hobbit are great and one of the few epic fantasies that I've enjoyed, BUT look at your cast of characters, all of the good ones are clearly white and the women, even the ones with the potential to be strong characters, are sidelined (if you haven't read the books, Arwen, Eowyn and Galadriel were all expanded in the Jackson films, and yes Eowyn does kick butt and kill the Witch King but she doesn't get much glory for it, and after she meets Faramir, she gives up being a shield maiden to marry him!) . Where oh where are the people who aren't straight white men in epic fantasy and when will they get to be the hero or at least get to be interesting villians!
All of this sums why, when GoT first aired a few years ago, I was very much in the not for me camp, and why I hadn't bothered with the books. Then time went by and I started to hear what one often hears about shows on HBO, as people kept going on and on about the amount of sex in the show, to the point where I started to think that it was more of that vein than say True Blood, which I stopped watching after the last season as it had lost all of its quality plotting and storyline, and become just a vehicle for every character to be naked alls the time except when violence was needed. I thought GoT must be wall to wall nudity with no storyline, probably quite exploitative of women and others on the margins of white patriarchal society, and yeah with a little bit of violence on the side just for fun. The problem was that a lot of people I knew who liked it weren't the kind of people who would watch a show that was remotely like that- they were people with better taste than that who liked character driven drama and good script writing. Finally I watched the first episode of the first season in December last year., and I thought hey this isn't that bad. When season 2 came out, I bought both season 1 and 2, and I watched both seasons in a week. Then I started on the books and read them at great speed. Finally season 3 was the first ever season pass I bought on iTunes as I just couldn't wait for more. George R.R. Martin (also what is it with R.R. initials and fantasy writers?) has achieved something amazing in these novels which has been translated brilliantly by the creators of the TV show. The universe of Song of Ice and Fire didn't demand that I learn religions and magic in the first chapter. Yes, there are tonnes of religions but the first book only really mentions three- the Old Gods, the Seven, and the gods of the Dothraki- and only first two of these in any detail (it still isn't much as more comes out in the later books) AND yes there is magic but the most magically things in the first book is the brief appearance of what appears to be zombies in the prologue/ opening scene of the first season of the TV series and the presence of three dragon eggs. Martin allows the characters to develop and allows the reader to care about them before laying the complexities of religions and magic on you, and also has a handy list of them in the back of every novel so you can keep track of them all as yes there are twenty thousand of them. This got me through the first hurdle but what about the politics of difference? This is a world based on medieval England so the characters are going to be white and men will have the power and anyone who is "different" by society's standard will be sidelined and/or killed, right? WRONG...well on almost all counts as pretty much every principle character is white, except the Dothraki who have tan skin and whom the TV series gives an islander/tribal appearance to (the actor who played Khal Drogo is Hawaiian but I imagine the Dothraki as Maori in appearance) and the people of Braavos who are Southern European both in my imagination and in the TV series version of Syrio Forel, and in the books, there is mention of the Summer Islanders who are black just not featured much, and my favourite people (yet to appear in the TV series but I'm so excited for them to come in the fourth season...just saying the surnames Martel and Sand are the winners) the people of Dorne whom I imagined to be Middle Eastern in appearance but though it appears the TV series has gone with a Latin American/Spanish look. There is this great quote which is in the series but is lifted straight from the books where Tyrion Lannister says "I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things", and if you add women to the list (which the character definitely does have a tender spot for), and you have summarised one of the shining lights of these books/ this show. There are spoilers ahead if you haven't seen the series though I will stop with the spoilers at the end of the third season and not continue through with what I know from the books except as a hint that it gets better! The interesting things about the universe of GoT (going with the series shorthand as it is easier) is that the characters who make it, those who survive and prosper, aren't the strong physically capable men with legitimate claims to success. The back story to all of the events is the death of several such men- I'm thinking mainly of Rhaegar Targaryen but also I would argue Brandon Stark's death strongly contributes to what plays out in the books/show. The first season cuts through them at great speed, starting in the prologue you lose several men of the Night's Watch (one of whom is from a noble family), then Bran Stark is crippled, then Benjen Stark disappears, then Viserys Targaryen dies (not that he is much of a loss) followed by all of the Stark guards, Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark (it takes a confident author to kill his protagonist), Syrio Forel, and Khal Drogo. This bears onwards as the strong men continue to get sidelined as Barristan Selmy is fired from the King's Guard, Renly Baratheon is killed as is Joer Mormont and many many men of the Night's Watch, then the novel's/series's answer to the classic leading man, Jaime Lannister is maimed, and then the Red Wedding happens and we say goodbye to Robb Stark and most of the young strong men of the North who went to war with him. The men who aren't obvious on the out- the bastards (Jon Snow and Gendry), the crippled or maimed (Jaime, Bran, Varys, Davos Seaworth, the Hound, and (OK slight spoiler but it was hinted at very strongly) Theon Greyjoy), the overweight and scared (Samwell Tarly), the dwarf (Tyrion), and the wildlings- are too young (Rickon (he is even younger in the books) and Tommen), starting to get too old (Tywin), too gay and also too much suffering from profound grief (Loras Tyrell), too exiled and disowned (Ser Jorah), too clearly nuts (Joffrey- I applaud Martin in creating the perfect archetype bully in Joffrey...urgh Joffrey I despise him and his abuses of women (esp. Sansa) with every fibre of my being...and wait he is a bastard born of incest), or too having given up control for their own lives (Stannis) to be a convenient strong leading man in the world of epic fantasy. The closest you get is one of my favourite characters, the scheming backstabber that is Littlefinger who is more of sideline figure and is also short and heir to nothing.
So the men are more likely to be outsiders than not from society's standards but what of the women? I would say that GoT has the best collection of strong female characters you are going to see in epic fantasy novel or on TV at the moment...for one thing most of them are still alive and kicking (curse the Red Wedding for killing off Catelyn Stark, Talisa (granted this is just a TV series thing; in the books, Robb's wife is called Jeyne Westerling and she doesn't attend the Red Wedding so survives...spoiler for non book readers), and Dacey Mormont, AND TV series for killing Ros...that said we'd still have lost Lyanna Stark who sounds like she would be have been interesting before the action of novels starts). The list of awesome heroines and female villains (though really it is much more complex than that in the world of GoT thankfully) goes on and on from Cersei Lannister who would do anything for her twin or her children (thankfully in VERY different ways), to Catelyn Stark who though dead now is the most powerful mother figure I've seen in TV I mean she fought a guy with a knife with her bare hands (!), to Margery "I don't want to be a queen, I want to be THE queen" Tyrell, to Ayra Stark the queen of kick butt tomboys, to Ros who granted doesn't exist in the books except a brief mention and is also dead but is an amazing whore with a heart and guts, to Asha (Yara in the TV series) Greyjoy who leads her own army, to Shae another whore with a heart, to Sansa Stark (hush all you haters! Sansa is amazing!) who tracks an interesting journey from silly girl who wants to follow society's rules to abused young woman to who knows what as I can't wait to see what Martin does with her, to Melisandre who effective rules for Stannis, to Brienne of Tarth who is tougher than most knights, and finally to the amazing wildling ladies, Osha and Ygritte, who won't let the fact that they are doubly outsiders get them down.
You of keen sight will see I left someone off...my favourite of all GoT characters, Daenerys Targaryen. She is pretty much sums up the amazingness of GoT women in one hit. Firstly she is the victim of patriarchal society's machinations in her marriage to Khal Drogo (she is so meek, so innocent, and so young (14 in the books) at this point that you are certain no good will come of it), then instead of being crippled by this she gets stronger and starts to become a queen to match her horse king, then she is widowed and abandoned/betrayed by her followers but she still has the strength to take to revenge, then she leads an army made up mainly of the weak, the young, and the old and makes them strong by her strength, then she has the wisdom to reject another mercenary marriage (for those who are only familiar with the TV show another difference is the events in Qarth- she kicks more butt in the TV show as she is not betrayed by Xaro in the books- he proposes despite being gay and she rejects him as it is clearly mercenary, he is also still alive), then she smashes slave city after slave city and frees all the slaves. Basically she kicks major butt, she commands tougher, stronger men without the blink of an eye, and what did I forget...oh that's right, she has DRAGONS! That's right they left the dragons in the control of a woman!
See pretty, right?
OK so flying past the GoT rant...hoping you're still with me... two other things to promo...
Thing one- My friend has just got her first book published and all bias aside it deserves to be lighting the world of Australian YA fiction ablaze. Her name is Claire Zorn (you can read her blog and investigate who she is here- http://clairezorn.wordpress.com - she rants a little about GoT too...maybe don't go now as the current post has a little wee bit of spoiler for her book) and her book is called The Sky So Heavy. The book is set in the lower Blue Mountains and there is a nuclear explosion in the first chapter which leads to a nuclear winter leaving 17 year old main character and his little brother stranded alone in their house. I'll leave it there but just to say, it's great and you should buy it, buy it now! It might be in your local bookshop or you can get it at the penguin website- http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780702249761/sky-so-heavy .
Secondly, another friend, Phil, is trying to crowd fund (well has already been funded but it just get better with stretch goals) a game. It is called Pack of Heroes. I've played it and it is awesome fun! You should throw some cash at it as it only has 27 hours left to get more awesomely funded. Go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1425721404/pack-of-heroes-a-vintage-comic-superhero-card-game and get in on the funding fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment