OH FANDOM YOU NEVER DISAPPOINT: Game of Thrones edition

[pocochina]

So about five months ago, I had every intention of writing about at least one narrative decision which I love and which fandom hates. And then I got sidetracked from the meme (not sure why, since opening up this document I see that I had several of them either planned or done???) but also, which decision? I've already talked about plenty of roundly

Comments

[sakuraberries]

Maybe I'm biased, because my hatred for D&D and their creative decisions probably eclipses my reason by this point, but anyway.

I think the exclusion of Stoneheart is pissing people off because it's just a way for D&D to spit on Catelyn's grave after pretty much robbing her of a proper storyline in favor of Robb, though she is a POV character with a lot more depth in the books. There are far more convincing reasons that demonstrate why D&D are misogynists. Plus most of the diverse and complicated women from the books are shadows of their former selves (Arya's "I like being a girl" turned into "Most girls are idiots!", Cersei "defanged", Sansa's subtle acts of resistance gone, etc).

And while I understand that there are creative decisions necessary for book-to-screen adaptations (fusing Gendry and Edric Storm, for example) most of D&D's changes are completely unnecessary and are just pissing all over the source material for reasons unknown (to appeal to a broader white male audience?).

[pocochina]

Like I said, it's not "just" a way to hate on Catelyn. There are enough good reasons to cut that storyline other than hostility.

[sakuraberries]

I get that. I think the frustration comes from it being yet another exclusion/change of a beloved character/event. Straw that breaks the camel's back, kind of? Like, as a whole, a lot of D&D's changes and added scenes have been pretty gross (not LS, which is just disappointing, but others).

[pocochina]

This is what I mean about equating moral storytelling to fidelity to the book series. Whether or not she was a beloved character doesn't really have anything to do with to what extent the adaptational decision did or didn't play into gender norms and misogynistic tropes. Beloved characters can be plenty problematic, and socially responsible storytelling can fall flat

[sakuraberries]

To clarify: there are creative decisions D&D have made that do not sit right with me from a storytelling point of view, creative decisions that I believe have changed characters and story for the worse. And then there are other creative decisions made that I believe to be misogynistic. Those issues exist separately, but occasionally overlap. I completely get what you're saying about conflating these two (i.e. just because something is different from the books does not automatically make it problematic

[pocochina]

I don't really feel like getting sucked into a whole long thing about Why D&D Are The Worst. I disagree with most, though not all, of your premises, but mostly I'm not interested in debating the conclusion.

The one thing I am not willing to let slide is the claim that Jaime did not sexually assault Cersei in the book's version of the altar scene. I understand that this is a very popular view in the more loudly self-righteous corners of fandom and I am sure you heard it from a source that seemed credible, but it is still rape apologism. (see also)