With Season 4 now over (thank god), I just wanted to discuss the direction the show has taken. If you haven't watched Season 4, please leave because this post is going to be full of spoilers. That's right people, SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED ALL OF SEASON 5!!!
Now that they've all left, we can begin our discussion. I want to start by saying I've only read the first book. However, I have a friend at work who's read them all and he keeps me up to date on whether or not the show is following the books. In the case of season 4, no, they're not following the books anymore. And it's not really their fault. George R.R. Martin writes slow as crap. Sorry, not sorry for saying it. He does and it's annoying. I mean I get that they're long, extremely detailed books, but I sincerely think that two years should be enough time to push out another book. I digress.
What I really want to talk about today are the things that have made me really dislike the show this past season. A lot of the fans have been outraged and every single thing they've been outraged over have been liberties the show has taken, not things that happened in the books.
Let's just start with the rape of Sansa Stark. My blood is boiling just thinking about. Now, this isn't the first time we've seen rape on this show. We saw it in Season One with Kahl Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen. She was sold off to him from the start and he raped her. Eventually their relationship changed and it became consensual, but we witnessed a rape probably in either the 2nd or 3rd episode. And that was hard for me to watch. We also witnessed a rape scene in Season 3 when Jamie Lannister rapes his sister Cersei in the room where their dead son's body lays. And even though both these rape scenes were upsetting, they didn't get to me the way Sansa's did. Why is that? Is it simply because it didn't happen in the books? Is it just because it's Sansa?
Maybe partly. Sansa has been through a lot since Season 1 and she's grown a lot as a character. Once a shy girl, obsessed with the idea of marrying the prince and one day becoming queen, she's no longer a girl who can be quietly controlled. She's strong and brave, proven in the scene where she's in the bathtub, getting ready for her wedding and is threatened by Ramsey's girlfriend. She looks at her and basically says, "this is my home and I won't be intimidated by anyone." This to me was a pivotal moment for her character, breaking out of that quiet shell of hers and standing up for herself. She was a strong independent woman in that scene and then, not ten minutes later she's being brutally raped by her husband with Theon Greyjoy being forced to watch, tears streaming down his face. I feel like the rape scene was simply a way to redeem Theon, to show that he hasn't lost all feeling. And that is not okay. It's not okay to use rape to redeem a different character. There were other ways that Theon could have redeemed himself. The rape was unnecessary violence and it disgusted me. I felt like the shown not only did it to redeem Theon, but also just for the shock/violence factor. I felt like this whole season was about them keeping up with the death counts and the violence. I'm okay with violence and I'm okay with characters dying, but it has to be for a purpose: to move the plot forward, to help a character grow, etc. But this rape? This was for nothing.
And then there was the death of Princess Shireen, Stannis's daughter. The red woman mentions earlier in the season that burning the girl, who has royal blood, will be a sacrifice to the Lord of Light, allowing him to guide them to victory at Winterfell. I never thought that Stannis would go through with this. Stannis was never really a bad guy in my mind. I'm not saying I want to see him sit on the Iron Throne, but I don't think he'd be the worst person to sit there. Now, my whole opinion of him has changed. Again, this never happened in the books. Once again, I feel as if the show did this for the shock factor and the violence. I could not believe that her parents stood there as their little girl screamed in pain from being burned alive. It was horrible and disgusting and just wrong.
Surprisingly enough, the season finale didn't make me mad, just shocked. I, of course, did not see the whole Jon Snow thing coming. But the finale didn't seem like there was unnecessary violence. It felt more true to the story than the rest of the season did.
So after this terror of a season, I'm kind of wavering on whether or not I want to continue the show. I think know I will, just because I'm going to have to find out what happens, but if next season continues down this road of never-ending, unnecessary violence, I'm not sure I'll be able to stick around. I can't support a show that rapes and kills innocent girls just to shock their audience. It makes me feel sick to continue to watch this. I sincerely hope HBO makes some changes for next season and turns it around.
Do you watch GOT? What did you think of this past season? Were you as frustrated with the unnecessary violence as I was?
Hmmm…I haven't thought about it that much so this is pretty much off the top, but it seems like it's just as violent as it has ever been. I mean, Season 1 had Ned Stark losing his head right in front of his daughter. And, as you pointed out, Daenerys was raped in season 1 as well. Sansa, amazingly, has been sheltered (to a certain extent) from this until this season. But there was no way it wasn't going to be rape since it involved evil crazy Ramsey. That guy is sick. It would have been out of character for it not to be rape. To me, it just shows how far Sansa has come for her to survive that and still be fighting back. So perhaps there was a point to it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as for Shireen, that was heartbreaking. But again, I think it shows how low Stannis has sunk (remember his nephew who he was going to kill?) I've hated that guy for quite awhile.
You didn't mention Cercei's walk of shame. How many times do we see naked women but not naked men? And if we do see naked men, they're gross. :)
Jon Snow…I was beyond shocked. What will happen????
And then Cersei's daughter being killed…again, they're just falling left and right.
I've heard rumblings about fans being unhappy with the direction the show has taken and I'm not entirely sure whether it's the violence, what's been happening to the women, etc. or whether it's because the show's not following the book, or a combination. Again, my feeling is that it seems consistent with all of the other seasons (Red Wedding was a bloodbath).
I haven't read beyond the first book either by the way. ~Pam
You make a lot of good points. The show has always been really violent. So I guess I don't know what it is, but it was just very painful to watch this season. I think the whole Sansa storyline I just didn't like. I agree that the rape was in character for Ramsey, but I don't think Sansa ever should have been forced to marry him in the first place. Although I do like your point about her being strong enough to survive. I do appreciate that bit of her character development. Still, I think the rape served more to pull Theon out of his haze then to develop her character and that's the part that really gets to me.
DeleteSee I never really saw Stannis as super bad. Sure, he's not a great guy and he's done some very questionable things, but compared to many other characters in the shown, he's practically a saint. To kill his own daughter just seemed a bit extreme for him. And the fact that the mother just gave up and didn't fight harder to save her daughter. It just made me sick.
Cersei's walk of shame was very difficult to watch. As much as I hate her, I felt horrible watching that happen to her. And you're right about the naked women vs. men. I really think the show is a bit biased against women. They know that naked women make for better TV maybe. Although the show is set in a world where women are not equal to men.
Omg I'm freaking out about Jon Snow!!!! What the hell!!!! I never in a million years saw that coming and I'm devastated. I'm in extreme denial. He is definitely not dead and he will be fine. I'm wondering if the Red Woman is going to save him somehow.
I think it might be a combination of all these things. The show is going off in their own direction which really isn't their fault since Martin can't seem to push the next book out, but I think it's causing quite the upset with the fans. Same as we get with movies when they start changing stuff.
okay so i am only on season 2 of the show. I still want to catch up. I've read through book 3. however, i know about a few crucial plot points (jon snow at the end being one of them because i forced my husband to tell me -- he's read all of them so far). ANYWAY, i can't say much regarding the violence because I haven't been watching BUT I completely, whoelheartedly agree about the killing people off for the shock factor. I know george rr martin is all about that, but there's a line between being true to stories and not being scared to kill people off and doing it to DO it because you want to show you're not scared to do it and for the shock factor. Given that, if jon snow dies, I give up. You have to give me something to root for because otherwise, I just don't care. (also according tot he books, apparently it's very ambiguous at the end and he's NOT dead, but lying there but most people think he will not die. also.... according to twitter, kit harrington was recently spotted with his jon snow hair back again. so HMMM. haha.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally agree about killing ppl for shock factor. I just want it to serve a purpose. And a lot of the deaths in the book do I guess, but this past season with the show taking its own liberties I felt like they kept killing people off because they felt like they had to to keep w/the spirit of the show. And seriously if Jon dies that's it, there's no way I'm continuing. I don't think he can die though. There's way too much speculation about who is character really is and I don't think we've seen the last of Jon Snow. I think the Red Woman will save him.
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