(no subject)

[selenak]

I am neither in love with nor against G.R.R. Martin's series of books; they entertained me while I read them, but I never had the urge to re-read one of them. Several of my friends are passionate fans, so I thought I might as well watch the pilot of the tv version, and, well, same thing, only also suffering from Borgia comparisons. Even visually, which is when I decided I'm currently in a shallow phase and gorgeous, colourful Renaissance Italy beats the relentlessly grim North of the Seven Kingdoms. Where we know it's a pseudo-Medieval world because everyone looks grim. And is dressed brown in brown. Unless they're a whore, in which case they aren't dressed at all, never mind the cold, to provide HBO with female nudity. See, in Renaissance Italy, you get male nudity in baths instead, while the women wear gorgeous dresses and have, like, relationships and conversations with each other. Also Neil Jordan has found a way to insert Latin jokes (and the fact wordplay and languages, too, provided sensuality in the Renaissance) in the scripts without putting people off who don't know their lingua latina from their Klingon. Plus he teaches us elegant Italian. Word of the day: sprezzatura! See great illustration of same here.

On the other hand, the three or so scenes Lena Headey had as Cersei give me hope that tv Cersei might end up as a more dimensional character than book Cersei (Martin has created some interesting women, in those books, but Cersei, alas, is doomed to one dimensionality), and I miss Lena Headey on my tv screen, so I might continue watching anyway. We'll see.

In other news, I see Fringe continues to be the most pro-drug show since Six Feet Under made it clear pot and LSD help to no end with family bonding and self realisation. I am still awaiting confirmation that in at least one of the Fringe verses, there was no Magic Alex and Walter took his place. Even if it was Walternate. Where do you think he got his money from anyway?

Comments

[gehayi]

Wait till next week when they get to King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. The King's Landing scenes were filmed in Malta, and the city is supposed to be much lusher and more colorful than the North.

I always found Cersei to be intriguing--not one of my favorites, but intriguing nevertheless. In the books, she's the oldest of the Lannister children, but she can't inherit her father's lordship or their estate of Casterly Rock because she isn't a boy. She resents this deeply, and spends most of the books trying to show that she is just as politically conniving as her father and that yes, a woman can keep and hold power. Aerys the Mad refused to consider Cerseit as a bride for his son Rhaegar (brother of Viserys and Daenerys)--"you are my servant, Lord Tywin, but a man does not wed his servant's children," Aerys said, and years later, this still rankles Cersei. She feels that she would have respected Rhaegar as she never did Robert Baratheon. She uses her beauty as a snare, her sexuality as a weapon and a tool for blackmail, and is fixated on her twin brother Jaime to the point where incest helps spark the wars for the throne that fuel most of the series. Due to a prophecy a fortuneteller told her when she was a child, she hates and fears her younger brother Tyrion, for she believes he will eventually kill her three children and then herself. (It hasn't occurred to her that the "valonqar"--the little brother of the prophecy--could be anyone's little brother, not just hers.) She's ruthless to the point of murder, fiercely protective of her vicious son (to the point of refusing to admit that the kid is, as Tyrion puts it, a new version of Aerys the Mad). distrustful, a user of people, contemptuous of weakness, poverty and disability alike, and possessed of a temper like wildfire...the series' version of napalm.

Not a likeable character...but, in my view, a compelling one.

See, in Renaissance Italy, you get male nudity in baths instead, while the women wear gorgeous dresses and have, like, relationships and conversations with each other. Also Neil Jordan has found a way to insert Latin jokes (and the fact wordplay and languages, too, provided sensuality in the Renaissance) in the scripts without putting people off who don't know their lingua latina from their Klingon. Plus he teaches us elegant Italian.

What channel is it on? I wouldn't mind watching it, but I don't know if it's on a channel available on my cable package.

[monanotlisa]

I see Fringe continues to be the most pro-drug show since Six Feet Under made it clear pot and LSD help to no end with family bonding and self realisation

*snicker*

It is VERY positive. In US tv, that is one startling thing.

[blueswan]

The only GRR Martin book I've read is Fevre Dream so I didn't think I'd bother with the show even though I like Jason Momoa and Sean Bean. For Lena Headey though, I'm willing to try pretty much anything. Thanks for the heads up on her role here.