All things come to an end...

[selenak]

Having stopped reading Martin's novels after A Feast of Crows and stopped watching Game of Thrones after season 5, both without much rancor, simply because I moved on to stories which held my attention more, I have no skin in this game, so to speak, but like many a non-GOT person am watching the collective meltdown with some voyeuristic fascination. Independently from how good or bad the last season and the endings for the various characters were, though, I have to say, one bit in this interview with Emilia Clarke made me feel somewhere between bemused and aghast, i.e., David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told her that Danaerys basically was Lawrence of Arabia. (Movie version.) Guys, to paraphrase a politician from a long campaign ago, I've read Robert Bolt, I've watched Robert Bolt. (Who wrote the script to David Lean's movie.) You, no offense, are no Robert Bolts. Spoiler: Aquaba happens mid-movie, just before the break if you watch it in the cinema, meaning the entire second half is devoted to the "fall" part of "rise and fall", there's a rich variety of factors which contribute, all of which the audience gets to see, and then there's the not unimportant fact that the Arab characters, Ali, Feisal and Auda, all get to fulfill their own respective agendas. From what I hear, most people's problem with Dany's decline and ending seems to be the speed in which it did more than the fact it happened at all, and the lack of agenda and story for Grey Worm and the Dothraki.)

Speaking of Robert Bolt reminds me of the non-Lawrence script he's known best for, A Man for all Seasons, and this in turn reminds me: today I also saw that the third volume of Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy finally has a publication date: March 2020. Talk about a downer ending. Of course, Hilary Mantel has the advantage of history, i.e. readers can't be angry at her for Cromwell's bloody downfall. The things I'm most curious about:

1.) Will Cromwell's abject letter to Henry - "most gracious sovereign, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy" - be presented as sincere, ironic, or simply dictated out of concern for his son (i.e. he thinks if he doesn't grovel, Gregory is done for) but with full awareness that there's no mercy to be had from Henry T.?

2.) Elizabeth Seymour, sister of Jane, Edward and Thomas, married to Gregory Cromwell: as opposed to all three of her doomed siblings clearly a survivor type and a main reason why Gregory wasn't harmed too much by his father's downfall: can't wait to read Mantel's take on her, since Mantel's version of Jane Seymour is by far the most interesting and original I've seen in any Tudor era novel, and hardly anyone bothered with Elizabeth before.

3.) Vol.1 had Thomas More and Vol.2 Anne Boleyn as Cromwell's primary opponent, but the problem with that last era is that his main enemies - Norfolk and Gardiner - aren't just both historically and in Mantel's version loathsome but also not even the clever type of evil, so: will Mantel build up Henry as the ultimate opponent or continue to keep him mostly off stage, with Cromwell being brought down by unworthy enemies being part of his tragedy?

Comments

[kore]

You, no offense, are no Robert Bolts. Spoiler: Aquaba happens mid-movie, just before the break if you watch it in the cinema, meaning the entire second half is devoted to the "fall" part of "rise and fall", there's a rich variety of factors which contribute, all of which the audience gets to see

YUP

I mean, the writers can protest all they want it's not a "bitches be crazy" moment and people are rightly pointing out the seeds were sown here and there throughout the whole show, but....one episode is not enough to bring all that to fruition. And that's leaving out the whole "I loved her so much I had to kill her" horrible vibe. The story of a hero who turns out to be a villain or who at least is maybe doing as much bad as good is fascinating, but it's really not the one they told with Dany.

(And the Sansa Stark actress will be portraying Jean Grey, another powerful woman who is destroyed by the power within her. I love the Dark Phoenix story, and yet, SIGH)

[selenak]

It's perhaps an unfair comparison, since Walter White was the main character whereas Dany was just one of various leads, but Breaking Bad to me is the very model of how you tell the story of a character who thinks of himself as the hero of the story, with a noble motive, and is initially introduced in a way that gets him much sympathy is subsequently both build up (in terms of what he can accomplish) and laid bare (in terms of what his character and motives really turn out to be).

[sovay]

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told her that Danaerys basically was Lawrence of Arabia. (Movie version.)

Oh, dear.

[selenak]

Quite.

[baranduin]

Lawrence of Arabia? What? Oh, Emilia.

Yay to the book release! I have been waiting for that one.

[selenak]

So have I!

[toujours_nigel]

The sad thing is, if they were better writers/showrunners, she could have been?

[selenak]

Not having watched for several seasons, I couldn't say from my own observation, so going just by osmosis - yes, the bones of such a story are there, but apparantly not the capacity for its execution.

[jesuswasbatman]

The one which annoyed me was a piece which appeared to be arguing (not wrt Danaerys) that if a female character who has shown her courage and abilities for several seasons has one scene in which she's upset after her boyfriend dumped her for his own sister, it means that she's nothing but a pathetic sexist stereotype.

[selenak]

Haven't come across this, but knowing fandom and the way a female character expressing distress in a romantic relationship seems to be immediately side-eyed, I'm not surprised.

[shadowkat]

though, I have to say, one bit in this interview with Emilia Clarke made me feel somewhere between bemused and aghast, i.e., David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told her that Danaerys basically was Lawrence of Arabia. (Movie version.) Guys, to paraphrase a politician from a long campaign ago, I've read Robert Bolt, I've watched Robert Bolt. (Who wrote the script to David Lean's movie.) You, no offense, are no Robert Bolts. Spoiler: Aquaba happens mid-movie, just before the break if you watch it in the cinema, meaning the entire second half is devoted to the "fall" part of "rise and fall", there's a rich variety of factors which contribute, all of which the audience gets to see, and then there's the not unimportant fact that the Arab characters, Ali, Feisal and Auda, all get to fulfill their own respective agendas. From what I hear, most people's problem with Dany's decline and ending seems to be the speed in which it did more than the fact it happened at all, and the lack of agenda and story for Grey Worm and the Dothraki.)

My thoughts exactly. I read it and I thought, okay, guys, you aren't remembering Lawrence of Arabia the same way that I do. (I've seen it five times, including in the movie theater -- which is actually the best place to see it.) And a lot of people forget the second half of it. Or how all the characters had agency, and did various things.

Lawrence of Arabia was a textured, ambiguous, and fully fledged character narrative. Game of Thrones stopped being that a while back, unfortunately.

[daybreak]

I've learned when some show runners wanna be out, they out. Feel me?

;-)