Anyone with a computer or
cable news in this past couple of days will know of the either delight of some
or outrage of others of the proud display of an American President on the “Game of Thrones” DVD set.
I’ve known about this for a
few months, because I purchased a set for a friend, and was told about it and
didn’t pick it up on the series. While I
thought it was in bad taste, our Presidents are often made fun of by the
entertainment industry in non-humor and non-political backdrops. The industry
does this sort of thing, and they will do this in the future. When I see
Fantasy, I want to see Fantasy. An
American President is not Fantasy to me.
When the story broke, cold
water was thrown over “Game of Thrones” and HBO, as I suspected it would, if it
ever got out. So now what is a potential
masterpiece is spinning in the piranhas of all political labels cyberspace has
to offer and not looking kindly to a great series, great creativity, and seen
by several as disrespect for the office of American leaders. The apology resonated and made it worse; the
toothy fishes are in a second frenzy over every word of the press release,
dissecting down almost every punctuation mark bringing more negative attention. As the news cycle moves, so will the story,
so hopefully it will move to memory.
This is what happens when
Fantasy is taken out of Fantasy.
Meaning, (I can only speak for myself) I want my Fantasy to stay with the
story only. No Presidents, not even
George Washington. I do know about the
Lincoln-Vampire story, but that’s written in the story, not just put there. Why American Presidents? If the industry wanted to be bold, what about
other world leaders? Other countries in
current events? Never mind.
Fantasy stands strongest when
the story is told. Why risk ruining it
by throwing in something that may be clever but likely offensive to a lot of
fans that is not part of the story. Writers want to tell a story. The film industry translates the story into
visual entertainment and makes written characters come to life. When that
happens, it’s wonderful. Real world
current events and politics is only a click away. Filmmakers, we viewers can find world leaders
and humor about them on our own.
First it gets exposure to the show which is good.
ReplyDeleteBut more importantly, 95% of the world population is smiling with the news and not getting angry.
You said yourself that you didn't pick on it while watching so it didn't get you out of the fantasy, you're just arguing for the sake of it.
If you saw the commentaries on the dvd then you also got a lot a explanation about sfx, the tricks they used to film some scenes, information that are far worst when you know them to be able to watch the show again after while staying totally "in-story".
Either you're the only one to blame because you listened to the commentaries while knowing that after you wouldn't enjoy the show as much or you're just surfing the hype and talking about an uninteresting subject at the exact same time that every other moron is (instead of when YOU discovered it).
The publicity going political doesn't advance the fantasy story. If you're correct and 95% of the population is smiling, it's interesting that HBO felt the need to apologize. The focus of this blog is fantasy stories, not politics. While I have no problem with disagreements, personal insults of anyone do not add to the discussion and are not welcome here.
ReplyDeleteI didn't insult you unless you think that saying you are to blame for voluntary watching something you shouldn't (if you really want to keep the fantasy) was an insult.
DeleteI was just saying that making so big a story of that while 4 month ago when the dvd got out the creators already stated that it was only luck that got this head on the scene was stupid and HBO shouldn't even have bothered to apologize and censor just because some journalist put an article about it. So yeah those who made this story so big are morons, (or if as you think it's publicity from hbo then they are morons because they just pulled thousands of bluray/dvd from sales to replace them with a badly edited scene, and that's gotta cost something)
I agree I'm not sure why HBO/creators of GoT apologized since they were so proud of it on the DVD's. The entertainment industry rarely apologizes for similar acts, so I didn't expect any of this, and certainly not editing of the show and new DVD's.
DeleteAs a fan of the books and the series, I hope the narrative returns to the parents of Jon Snow and not a US President. Thank you for returning.
Sorry for my harsh first reaction, i was just tired of reading the same article about a non-story for the ninetieth time.
DeleteI am a very big fan of the books too and all the popularity/coverage the show gave to the story/fandom kind of forced me to read every article coming about GoT everyday.
I'll let you wonder how many times i had to read this story to be able to find the 2 or 3 interesting GoT articles written in the last 4 days.
I hadn't heard about this, but that's so frustrating. I don't mind shows being controversial, but come on, it's a fantasy show. It has nothing to do with the U.S.
ReplyDeleteMore to do with Great Britain, I think.
DeleteThanks for commenting, EB! You got my point, much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI get your point, too. And I agree. There is no sense in putting an American president (or any world leader) on any fantasy story or series. I don't care if this has been in the news for days, weeks, months, or not at all, I like to read your take on these subjects. Keep up the good work, C.C.!
ReplyDelete