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ishtar79-If I don't find a home for the kitten soon, I'll go insane. It (possibly she) is past that tiny, constantly sleeping/cuddling phase and is at the face of running around wrecking destruction with such gusto, I'm wondering it got hold of some good uppers and is holding out on me. My hands and arms were covered in scratches anyway, but now it's decided my bare legs make an excellent scratching post. I pretty much need to constantly keep one eye on it-FFS, it's like having a KID!
-X-Men:First Class has eaten my brain. When I'm not reading a truly frightening amount of fic/meta, I'm systematically going through over thee decades of comics (and yes, the characters are older than that, but thinks really start getting interesting sometime in the late 70s) extracting pics for a “illustration of Charles/Erik's love in comics canon”) post I am planning which is at turns hilarious (oh, the crack that is comics canon), nostalgia-inducing and, above all, exhausting.
-I'm currently rereading the A Song Of Ice And Fire books, and with the distractions described above, it's taking longer than expected. I haven't actually read the last two books, but even rereading the bits I vaguely remembered has left me with A Lot Of Thoughts.
-The character screwed over the most by the book-to-screen transition and pov lost is undoubtedly Ned. While book Ned is places entirely too much faith on concepts of truth and honour and comes off as almost naïve when pitted against characters like Varys, Littlefinger and Cersei, there's still a degree of pragmatism and cautiousness in his thoughts that was completely lost on the show, to say nothing of occasional fine moments of snarkitude. He's still the ultimate fish out of water when it comes to politics and court intrigue, but I didn't spend most of his scenes itching to slap some sense into him.
-I'm not saying the Dothraki portrayal in the books isn't stereotypical and kind of racist, because it is, but the show took it to the point of almost caricature. Much as been written about the consent issues of Dany and Drogo's first night, so I won't rehash that, but what struck me the most is a relatively minor detail. In the books, the wedding feast dishes are described as rather in Martin's usual mouth-watering detail (seriously, the books are often gastronomic porn), and Dany only refuses them due to nerves. To turn what sounds like rather interesting appetizing dishes (well, once you get past the horse meat bit, which personally I'd rather pass on) into the blackened, fly-infested Fear Factor Cuisine we saw on the show comes off as tasteless and cheap visual joke.
-Another thing that lost some of its complexity in the adaptation was the relationship between Dany and Viserys. She both has more contempt (even early on where she’s still under his power, she often sees things he misses and is singularly unimpressed by his arrogance and lack of perceptiveness) and more love for him. She stresses to Jorah how her brother is her only connection to her past in the very chapter of the golden crowning, and while her feelings about his demise are ambiguous, it’s far removed from the cold detachment she had in that scene on the show (which again, is because we’re not privy to her thoughts on the show, but I think some visual cues could have hinted at those mixed feelings).
-Man, the relative importance of Lady the (noble) direwolf versus the common butcher boy is even more obvious in the book than it came off on the show. When Sandor tells Ned he killed Arya's “pet”, there's a moment where Ned is dreading explaining to Arya her wolf died too....but no, “it's just the butcher boy”, seemed to be subtext of the reveal, and the callousness of it it all was almost comical. Of course, once we get to Arya's pov, she's clearly mourning for Mycah, but as far as everybody else goes, the butcher's boy is an afterthought.
-Arya is always awesome, of course, and her resourcefulness is even more obvious in the books (I loved the extended scene of how she escaped the Kingsguard). I kind of miss her killing the stable boy deliberately, rather than accidentally, and I LOVED how in that moment all of Syrio’s lessons left her and only Jon’s “stick them with the pointy end” remained.
-Even seen through Ned’s extremely biased (biased because you just know they once had the epic bromance of the ages) perspective, Robert is as much of a dick in the books as in the show, no more, no less.
-While there is no shortage of characters providing Jon with the verbal smackdown and Teaching Him A Lesson, it seems to sink in a lot more than in the show. I had forgotten why I loved Jon so much originally until I picked up the book again-the lengths to which he went through to help Sam in particular were a lot more impressive that was shown onscreen. Sam’s loyalty makes a lot more sense in the context (also, because Sam is a sweetie, but thankfully that’s apparent in any medium). I also like that, while he plainly adores Ned, he doesn’t place him on a pedestal. There’s a fair bit of resentment coming from the secret of his birth there.
-And speaking of Jon, his relationship with Arya, as little of it as was shown, was probably my favourite familial dynamic in the books. He’s pretty much the ideal older brother-he still teases her as an older sibling might and they joke around, but there is such a depth of mutual respect and understanding between them. And I forever love their conversation of the fundamental unfairness of their world, where Jon points out that women get the arms, but not the swords and bastards gets the swords, but not the arms (I still maintain it’s easier to be a bastard than a woman, all other things being equal, and let’s not even forget the women who are bastards, but try telling Jon that).
-And yes, Catelyn was a lot harsher to Jon in the books, and her loathing also seemed to encompass bastards in general, but I still don’t think that major character flaw negates all the other ways she kind of kicks ass. Maybe it will become apparent further in the series, but right now I can’t understand the level of bashing she gets from certain fandom corners.
-So book 1!Sansa comes off as even more shallow than in the show. At the same time, while she clearly has some Disney fairytale dreams and delusions on the characters of Joffrey and Cersei, she’s also very much aware of things like class and gender roles, and tries her best to fit in perfectly to the assigned role of a noblewoman of this time. Of course, the tragedy of Sansa is that she thinks that by playing the role of the lady, everything will work out-until she’s confronted with the harsh truth that the power her courtesy and keeping of tradition grants her is just an illusions, and there is no way for her to play the game. I’m glad they toned down some of her naiveté on the show (like her going to Cersei and informing her of her father’s plan), because she got quite enough bashing from fandom as it was.
-On a completely shallow note, Renly is so much hotter in the book. Not that the actor is exactly hit by the ugly stick, but book!Renly…yum. And we do have the advantage of first seing him from Sansa’s pov, who notices handsome men as much as certain boy wizard from another series, and through Ned’s pov, who fixates on how much Renly reminds him ofhis boyfriend a young Robert, in a hilariously nostalgic way.
-X-Men:First Class has eaten my brain. When I'm not reading a truly frightening amount of fic/meta, I'm systematically going through over thee decades of comics (and yes, the characters are older than that, but thinks really start getting interesting sometime in the late 70s) extracting pics for a “illustration of Charles/Erik's love in comics canon”) post I am planning which is at turns hilarious (oh, the crack that is comics canon), nostalgia-inducing and, above all, exhausting.
-I'm currently rereading the A Song Of Ice And Fire books, and with the distractions described above, it's taking longer than expected. I haven't actually read the last two books, but even rereading the bits I vaguely remembered has left me with A Lot Of Thoughts.
-The character screwed over the most by the book-to-screen transition and pov lost is undoubtedly Ned. While book Ned is places entirely too much faith on concepts of truth and honour and comes off as almost naïve when pitted against characters like Varys, Littlefinger and Cersei, there's still a degree of pragmatism and cautiousness in his thoughts that was completely lost on the show, to say nothing of occasional fine moments of snarkitude. He's still the ultimate fish out of water when it comes to politics and court intrigue, but I didn't spend most of his scenes itching to slap some sense into him.
-I'm not saying the Dothraki portrayal in the books isn't stereotypical and kind of racist, because it is, but the show took it to the point of almost caricature. Much as been written about the consent issues of Dany and Drogo's first night, so I won't rehash that, but what struck me the most is a relatively minor detail. In the books, the wedding feast dishes are described as rather in Martin's usual mouth-watering detail (seriously, the books are often gastronomic porn), and Dany only refuses them due to nerves. To turn what sounds like rather interesting appetizing dishes (well, once you get past the horse meat bit, which personally I'd rather pass on) into the blackened, fly-infested Fear Factor Cuisine we saw on the show comes off as tasteless and cheap visual joke.
-Another thing that lost some of its complexity in the adaptation was the relationship between Dany and Viserys. She both has more contempt (even early on where she’s still under his power, she often sees things he misses and is singularly unimpressed by his arrogance and lack of perceptiveness) and more love for him. She stresses to Jorah how her brother is her only connection to her past in the very chapter of the golden crowning, and while her feelings about his demise are ambiguous, it’s far removed from the cold detachment she had in that scene on the show (which again, is because we’re not privy to her thoughts on the show, but I think some visual cues could have hinted at those mixed feelings).
-Man, the relative importance of Lady the (noble) direwolf versus the common butcher boy is even more obvious in the book than it came off on the show. When Sandor tells Ned he killed Arya's “pet”, there's a moment where Ned is dreading explaining to Arya her wolf died too....but no, “it's just the butcher boy”, seemed to be subtext of the reveal, and the callousness of it it all was almost comical. Of course, once we get to Arya's pov, she's clearly mourning for Mycah, but as far as everybody else goes, the butcher's boy is an afterthought.
-Arya is always awesome, of course, and her resourcefulness is even more obvious in the books (I loved the extended scene of how she escaped the Kingsguard). I kind of miss her killing the stable boy deliberately, rather than accidentally, and I LOVED how in that moment all of Syrio’s lessons left her and only Jon’s “stick them with the pointy end” remained.
-Even seen through Ned’s extremely biased (biased because you just know they once had the epic bromance of the ages) perspective, Robert is as much of a dick in the books as in the show, no more, no less.
-While there is no shortage of characters providing Jon with the verbal smackdown and Teaching Him A Lesson, it seems to sink in a lot more than in the show. I had forgotten why I loved Jon so much originally until I picked up the book again-the lengths to which he went through to help Sam in particular were a lot more impressive that was shown onscreen. Sam’s loyalty makes a lot more sense in the context (also, because Sam is a sweetie, but thankfully that’s apparent in any medium). I also like that, while he plainly adores Ned, he doesn’t place him on a pedestal. There’s a fair bit of resentment coming from the secret of his birth there.
-And speaking of Jon, his relationship with Arya, as little of it as was shown, was probably my favourite familial dynamic in the books. He’s pretty much the ideal older brother-he still teases her as an older sibling might and they joke around, but there is such a depth of mutual respect and understanding between them. And I forever love their conversation of the fundamental unfairness of their world, where Jon points out that women get the arms, but not the swords and bastards gets the swords, but not the arms (I still maintain it’s easier to be a bastard than a woman, all other things being equal, and let’s not even forget the women who are bastards, but try telling Jon that).
-And yes, Catelyn was a lot harsher to Jon in the books, and her loathing also seemed to encompass bastards in general, but I still don’t think that major character flaw negates all the other ways she kind of kicks ass. Maybe it will become apparent further in the series, but right now I can’t understand the level of bashing she gets from certain fandom corners.
-So book 1!Sansa comes off as even more shallow than in the show. At the same time, while she clearly has some Disney fairytale dreams and delusions on the characters of Joffrey and Cersei, she’s also very much aware of things like class and gender roles, and tries her best to fit in perfectly to the assigned role of a noblewoman of this time. Of course, the tragedy of Sansa is that she thinks that by playing the role of the lady, everything will work out-until she’s confronted with the harsh truth that the power her courtesy and keeping of tradition grants her is just an illusions, and there is no way for her to play the game. I’m glad they toned down some of her naiveté on the show (like her going to Cersei and informing her of her father’s plan), because she got quite enough bashing from fandom as it was.
-On a completely shallow note, Renly is so much hotter in the book. Not that the actor is exactly hit by the ugly stick, but book!Renly…yum. And we do have the advantage of first seing him from Sansa’s pov, who notices handsome men as much as certain boy wizard from another series, and through Ned’s pov, who fixates on how much Renly reminds him of
