Game of Thrones
May. 16th, 2011 06:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bennet_7I'm not sure how I really feel about Game of Thrones. It's hard to judge it just as a TV series now that I've read so much of the books (somewhere in book three at the moment) and know what has been left out and what has been added. I find myself frequently liking scenes not in the books - generally those with Jaime and Cersei as the early books don't give them much depth - but a lot of the perfectly replicated scenes just feel like exposition.
And my problem with the books is that so many chapters and storylines are just exposition. We find out about things not because we see them through the POV of a character but because that character is told about them. Big events happen but we don't get to witness them and sometimes that works well for the books - I don't want to read endless descriptions of battles - but at other times the constant telling and lack of showing becomes is frustrating and hollow.
With the TV series I find myself enjoying individual scenes but having no strong feelings about the episodes as a whole. I don't think "Wow, that was a perfectly crafted hour of television" but rather "I really liked that scene between X and X." For me, the TV series is working as an illustrated companion to the books rather than a cohesive entity in its own right, as the most recent mini-series adaptation of Dickens's Bleak House did.
I'm curious as to how other people feel, whether they've read the books or not (especially not). Is context clouding my enjoyment of the series?
And my problem with the books is that so many chapters and storylines are just exposition. We find out about things not because we see them through the POV of a character but because that character is told about them. Big events happen but we don't get to witness them and sometimes that works well for the books - I don't want to read endless descriptions of battles - but at other times the constant telling and lack of showing becomes is frustrating and hollow.
With the TV series I find myself enjoying individual scenes but having no strong feelings about the episodes as a whole. I don't think "Wow, that was a perfectly crafted hour of television" but rather "I really liked that scene between X and X." For me, the TV series is working as an illustrated companion to the books rather than a cohesive entity in its own right, as the most recent mini-series adaptation of Dickens's Bleak House did.
I'm curious as to how other people feel, whether they've read the books or not (especially not). Is context clouding my enjoyment of the series?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 08:33 pm (UTC)I still think they are doing a great job and I'm still very excited about the show, but some scenes (in the book) depend a lot on the character's view and once you imagine how that scene will turn out in the show, it's almost impossible to be "blown away" by it, even if it's still a great scene.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-18 08:02 am (UTC)some scenes (in the book) depend a lot on the character's view and once you imagine how that scene will turn out in the show, it's almost impossible to be "blown away" by it, even if it's still a great scene.
That's why I'm liking the added material, generally with the Lannisters, because it's completely fresh and I don't have to compare it with the books.