Meh. Can't bring myself to watch Game of Thrones S5.

[rheasilvia]

I'm so unenthusiastic about Game of Thrones. I haven't watched the season opener yet, and I'm not really motivated to. None of the characters interest me right now.

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

That show and its iddy rapefic tone. I'm actually not that easy to offend wrt rape in fiction; GoT is like the one show where I go, 'I would not want to meet those showrunners because they creep me out.'

We don't really share the same likes with regard to the show (Varys appearing on screen makes me want to go and... get coffee... for a while...), but I click-watched the episodes that leaked, and I don't actually think you're missing much. (This is not a spoiler re: anything you listed. I mean I thought it's writing-level bad.)

[rheasilvia]

Yeah, any hopes I might have had that the show would wise up and at least present equal-opportunities nudity after catching so much flack for being all about the boobs (particularly the rapey boobs, and the rapey underage boobs) died long ago

[jo_lasalle]

Oh, I find Theon unbearable too. That's kind of my problem, I don't actually like all that many characters. I like Sansa (though her plotline is dreary) and Margaery, and have found Cersei interesting to watch even if she's not a good person (ahem), and that's about it.** I still found myself getting pulled in in previous seasons just because of the incredible production values -- the show just *looks* so good.

(And, admittedly, people saying there was a lot of sexual violence in it intrigued me to some degree, because I actually dislike it when settings where rape would be very common -- and an analogy of the Thirty Years War sure is one -- don't deal with it. But this show just went... icky.)

**I know whether someone is 'a good person' isn't something everyone cares about that much, but when pretty much every character (who is not super-boring) is despicable, I definitely run into trouble.

[rheasilvia]

an analogy of the Thirty Years War

You give the creators more credit than I ever did. ;-)

when pretty much every character (who is not super-boring) is despicable, I definitely run into trouble.

Same here, especially when the world itself is also so bleak and horrible. That's why I had to stop watching Rome and The Tudors (also both shows in which the bleakness and horribleness of the world was illustrated by a lot of casual background rape - of women only, of course - that seemed creepily exploitative in presentation).

[rogueslayer452]

I'm not bothering with the show, either. There are too many things that I've been having issues with for a while, but last season really killed any enthusiasm I had for what was going to happen. The rape and exploitation of women on the show is horrendous. I much prefer the books at this rate

[rheasilvia]

Yeah, the rape and exploitation of women is really getting to me at this point. It just builds and builds; at this point the mere thought of yet another casual background rape exploited for the sexual titillation of the viewer makes me want to throw something

[rogueslayer452]

It shows pretty clearly that the creators of the series don't want female characters with true power.

It really saddens me when people suggest that Game of Thrones is the only show on television where there are true strong women featured, because that is simply not true. If it were, why are the creators neglecting certain female characters that have an importance to the plot and then watering down and oversimplifying the ones they do have? Why have Arya, Brienne and Asha Greyjoy use gendered insults when their characters in the books don't do such a thing? It angers me so much that the show has little regard of women as actual people, of not making them as complex three-dimensional individuals, and ruining what made their characters so memorable and admirable in the books to begin with.

I do have to say that I tried listening to the audiobooks a few months back and got through the first two books or so, and I did not find the book version easier to take as regards the rapeyness of the world.I mostly think it's how things are

[rheasilvia]

Absolutely, GoT is not about the strong women. There are a large number of important female characters, though, which - sadly enough - is in itself remarkable. A different fantasy epic would have two or three women as love interests for the main characters, period. I think that at this point, any woman whatsoever who is there as anything other than a love interest, and who even has her own plotlines, will look like a strong female character to most viewers

[synekdokee]

I haven't watched this season yet either. Idk why, I'm just kinda mehhh.

[rheasilvia]

Yeah, I get that. Totally. :-(

[setsuna_jiba]

I was supposed to start watching season five and realized I hadn’t finished season four. When I finally had tracked back to the middle of season four where I had left off and watched one episode, I gave up. So you’ve stuck it out longer than me. ^^ I just become one big knot from watching it and it just isn’t worth it anymore. What used to be good about the show doesn’t outweigh the bad.

[rheasilvia]

It's so sad, really. I used to enjoy the show so much - it's simply gorgeous visually, and the actors are (for the most part; Jon Snow only has one facial expression) excellent, and I really want a great fantasy show like GoT to exist... if only it weren't for the issues the show has with rape, creepy exploitative male gaze, and even disempowering women who are more powerful in the books.

Okay, and also for the issues where the show makes very odd choices about what to devote screentime to. But that'd not be a dealbreaker at all, if it weren't for the other problems.

I did watch the beginning of S5, but I stopped now becauser I can't stomach what's coming up. Maybe I will read about the rest of the season once it's done, and then decide whether to just skip an ep, but I am like you: Watching the show is actively unpleasant at this point, because it either actively annoys and/or sickens and/or enrages me, or has me waiting for it.