I've now finished the first series of Game of Thrones. Now I just have to pray that my wife doesn't push me into having to watch the second
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I've heard that George R R Martin is an LoTR fan, and I'd also heard some people comparing Game of Thrones to it. My feeling is that there are similarities only on the most superficial of levels. Both are fantasies drawing on names and tropes from the myth of our own world. Martin doesn't do the names as well as Tolkien, but then, who does? Neither is very good at portraying functioning societies; my opinion is that Tolkien conceals this better than Martin by diverting attention away from the societies rather than focusing on them.
Before comparing the stories at a deeper level, I'll just say I enjoyed Peter Jackson's trilogy. Of course, it didn't match the LoTR in my mind: it would have been foolish to expect it to. I had slight problems with some of the changes to the story, but oddly, when I watched it for the first time, it was the giganticism that put me off. The CGI troll, for example, was too big. It didn't need to be that big. They only made it that big because, well, with CGI you can make it as big as you like. Similarly with the enormous CGI Sauron, like some Japanese anime villain. And others.
GoT has the same problem with that absurd wall.
But it has other, deeper problems. At its heart, LoTR is a story about possibilities. People have flaws, but they are not fully defined by them. Small people can make a difference. Power corrupts, and the highest calling of humanity is to resist that corruption.
GoT is fundamentally misanthropic. Power corrupts, and to resist that is nothing more than stupidity. The highest calling of humanity is to play the 'game,' as cleverly and ruthlessly as possible. If we're lucky, someone who has arbitrarily been flagged as 'good' by the author will achieve success. More likely, they'll die as a result of their own virtues, and a total shit will stomp over everyone.
Oh and then the Big Bad (aka the White Walkers) will come and kill everyone. Hooray!
Before comparing the stories at a deeper level, I'll just say I enjoyed Peter Jackson's trilogy. Of course, it didn't match the LoTR in my mind: it would have been foolish to expect it to. I had slight problems with some of the changes to the story, but oddly, when I watched it for the first time, it was the giganticism that put me off. The CGI troll, for example, was too big. It didn't need to be that big. They only made it that big because, well, with CGI you can make it as big as you like. Similarly with the enormous CGI Sauron, like some Japanese anime villain. And others.
GoT has the same problem with that absurd wall.
But it has other, deeper problems. At its heart, LoTR is a story about possibilities. People have flaws, but they are not fully defined by them. Small people can make a difference. Power corrupts, and the highest calling of humanity is to resist that corruption.
GoT is fundamentally misanthropic. Power corrupts, and to resist that is nothing more than stupidity. The highest calling of humanity is to play the 'game,' as cleverly and ruthlessly as possible. If we're lucky, someone who has arbitrarily been flagged as 'good' by the author will achieve success. More likely, they'll die as a result of their own virtues, and a total shit will stomp over everyone.
Oh and then the Big Bad (aka the White Walkers) will come and kill everyone. Hooray!
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