tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post899496387231087247..comments2023-12-18T07:59:16.525-05:00Comments on Hats and Rabbits: Why I am Finished with Game of ThronesChris Matarazzohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-72663405168046081472014-06-11T17:38:36.414-04:002014-06-11T17:38:36.414-04:00Escape is underrated, Jeff. I think it is a wonder...Escape is underrated, Jeff. I think it is a wonderful and rare kind of reading/viewing. I know during my time in school it was so often rejected (Tolkien was ridiculed by my teachers and professors) that maybe readers and writers think that misery is the only real subject matter. It is really too bad. <br />Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-61451552891428535742014-06-11T13:07:48.038-04:002014-06-11T13:07:48.038-04:00I think it's quite interesting (and smart) of ...I think it's quite interesting (and smart) of you to see the soap-opera influence. As mainstream TV has changed from being episodic to being serialized, it's picked up several of the soaps' bad habits. It's funny how touchy people are about being told their favorite show has more in common with "The Young and the Restless" than with Tolkien!<br /><br />I agree with you that there's something special about the Leguins, Alexanders, Beagles, and Tolkiens, but my former patience for brutal, realistic movies and TV has most likely just been undone by contact with reality. A decade ago, I visited Serbia and met people who'd survived the Balkan wars; not long ago, my barber told me how she'd escaped Vietnam only to end up in the Philippines in a refugee camp where the guerrillas in the surrounding mountains routinely tried to break into the camp to commit rape; and then there's the simple matter of having lived for 20 years in a city full of power-hungry freaks. With that world so lucid before me, so unavoidable, why would I want to see it in things that are supposed to be entertaining?Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-24601660650976534782014-06-11T10:58:56.404-04:002014-06-11T10:58:56.404-04:00Alexis -- Don't be silly. It is a pleasure to...Alexis -- Don't be silly. It is a pleasure to hear from you whenever you feel inclined. You always offer interesting insight and interesting perspectives. Comment twice a day if you want! <br /><br />It is certainly all about that "line" -- when it becomes too much for the reader/viewer And I do think Martin is a good writer. As I said, he is no newbie. But there are a lot of writers whose work I respect but don't enjoy -- Michael Chabon is a prime example. He is a master novelist, but I have, to date, stopped reading three of his books right in the middle because I just stopped caring. Hard to accoutn for that...Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-47058798766931505882014-06-11T10:31:36.197-04:002014-06-11T10:31:36.197-04:00Jeff -- I guess it resonated with people who are n...Jeff -- I guess it resonated with people who are not really into either fantasy or medievalism. On the coat tails of a lot of really bad but successful TV fantasy, people saw this as a sophisticated super-epic thing. To those who know the real epics and to those who, like myself, are in love with the shimmering gauziness of great fantasy lit, it just falls sort. GoT definitely taps in to the post Terrantino era and the soap-opera concept of stretching an aimless story forever. Fortunately, Martin is a good writer, so it has more worth than the actual soap opera. But, it is weird when something becomes such a pop-phenomenon; a whole different mindset seems to come along with it -- in this case a dark kind of Beatlemania. Strange, indeed. My youngest son and I are reading LotR together, now, aloud. I'll Take Tolkien any day and, sadly, some younger readers of Martin might completely miss the LeGuins, the Alexanders and the Beagles looking for more "edgy" fantasy like Martin's. For me, the best fantasy (and even the best medieval lit) has always been aligned with a kind of sinewy poetic beauty that Martin seems to have shunned. To each his own, I suppose, but meetings of the Literary Curmudgeons Club will begin next Tuesday, if you're interested in joining me...Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-12765677515536879022014-06-11T03:43:56.624-04:002014-06-11T03:43:56.624-04:00Chris, I've also hit the point where I can'...Chris, I've also hit the point where I can't understand why something like 18 million people tune in each week not only to be entertained by spending an hour in a relentlessly brutal fictional world but also to film their own shocked (and sometimes sobbing!) reactions. Maybe I'm just crotchety and old, maybe it's having spent years studying the real Middle Ages, or maybe years of teaching literature have made my cynical about the ways we let fiction beguile and manipulate us...but I just can't get into this show or the books behind it. When I was younger, I would have praised GoT for "realism" and authenticity, but now...eh. (I know I sound 150 years old when I get going like this...) <br />Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-76961345940799704812014-06-10T14:23:54.544-04:002014-06-10T14:23:54.544-04:00Before I comment, I feel compelled to apologize fo...Before I comment, I feel compelled to apologize for commenting, what I feel is, almost too frequently. I'm genuinely interested in the content you put out, but even I might understand being annoyed if someone were to comment on post after post of my own blog.<br /><br />I think what's important to remember here is that the setting and story of this series is modeled after European history -- and in that, there are going to be things which we don't see as being socially acceptable, and politics are going to be impossible to separate from the plot. I get bored of it too, I agree, but it's something to consider.<br /><br />I've been reading a manga called "Attack on Titan," which takes place in an apocalyptic world where humanity has been reduced to a few thousand people due to giant humanoids (ranging anywhere from 3 to 15 meters tall, although one specifically is 60 meters) coming in and eating them all. They retreat to a city surrounded by gigantic walls, and their entire focus is winning the war against their only natural predators.<br /><br />The reason it's relevant is because the writer of that story did a very good job of telling his readers to not get too attached to any character. Realistically, if that were going on, there are going to be character flaws, there isn't going to be romance, and there are going to be frequent, unexpected deaths. Such is the story itself.<br /><br />So while that particular aspect of it irritates an infinite number of people, to me it just makes it all the more compelling. I've only read the first book as your friend did, but I kind of feel the same way about Game of Thrones. The fact that it's so realistic just makes it more interesting no matter how disgusting and vile some of the characters and events are.<br /><br />Just my opinion though, of course, because I agree: it probably has a lot to do with tolerance, but more on the level of "how much can you stomach?"Alexis Delanoirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09507261330011665079noreply@blogger.com