Beware the Sway

[ceagle]

Someone played the first few episodes of Game of Thrones for me today. Now, I see that they are trying to work the mood so that the audience gets to feeling like Papa Stark is a protagonist, and get us sympathetic to his character.

But don't let the changing contexts fool ya.
This guy killed that innocent wolf. And that innocent forest traveler.
Not to mention he cheated on his wife!

Makes me wonder what his next valiant deed *cough cough* will be....

And I'm not the first to point out how a screenplay can be built to try to inject sympathy, even after the most heinous deeds have been blatantly shown:

"Take off my mask, I'm repentent now"

"...but you blew up an entire planet!"

"Oh... that...."

*eye roll*

Comments

[procyonid.livejournal.com]

Half of the genius of GoT is that it shows you all the sides of many of the characters - there are very few who are simply "good" or "evil", and it often builds up a beloved character that you soon realize is not so pure as her or she appears; or it sets up a hated figure and then either redeems them or makes his/her motives at least understandable from a human standpoint. And the other half is in its unpredictability and lack of "fairness" in the fates of so many of these same characters, as you'll soon find out if you're planning on watching the rest of the first season.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comments!

heh, yeah.. I just had to write that analysis once I realized how the path was going, and how the way it was manipulating the audience wasn't too typical ;)

Admittedly I'm a little trepidatious to venture into ten full years ahead.. but I have to admit the content is intriguing, and I can see why it got to be popular...

...and I still haven't gotten to the cool dragons yet! :D

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

Everyone protect the bird from the spoilers! XP

The forest traveller = the ranger? :S

Direwolves, not ordinary wolves. ;p

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

hahaha... not to worry... I actually find hints about stuff makes it more enticing to watch! I can't guarantee I'll catch up with 10 years though :D

I think he was the ranger... the traveler saw the NightWalkers in the 1st episode, and the captors wouldn't believe him, so they hacked off his hayd!

So um... how would you compare dire wolves to regular ones? :> The ones they adopted had been good (and protective) pets, especially when that kid was in a coma... by the way, how does a comatose patient eat for a month without a feeding tube...?

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

I like seeing little hints and foreshadowing!

He wasn't allowed to desert the Night's Watch (those who join are there for life) so that's why Ned executed him (the Starks carry out sentences themselves).

That's a good question! :S

[sabotlours.livejournal.com]

What I love(d) about the show is that they were never afraid to kill off major characters. It almost became a joke that you never knew who was going to die. And to me that was a brilliant ploy. You start investing emotional energy into a character and all of a sudden, *poof* dead. So many shows you see the main protagonist in peril but you know that everything will work out because you can't kill off the main character. "Under the Dome" was kinda like that a few years ago, but then it settled into the old rut of having a few main characters who you knew would be back in every episode. And once you get picked up for another season, those ruts get even deeper. If you're going to get killed off, it will be for the season-ending cliff hanger.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

"It almost became a joke that you never knew who was going to die" ... zacly! Obviously there's a big following for the series, but how does one get invested in characters that are good or compelling, if ya teeter on not knowing whether they will last? :D
Doesn't that just lead to disappointment? or... maybe they target audience is very video-game oriented, in that characters are easy-come easy-go and karma doesn't really matter?

heh!.. I guess the last big Avengers movie was evidence that a story can kill off *anyone* no matter what level they are to a story!... kinda random! ooops, lightning struck the king! ooops, the princess opened a door with a hungry anaconda behind it!... LOL!

Definitely an avant garde kinda storytelling... I'm not saying the characters aren't interesting :D... Just after a few times of having your guts sucked out, don't people get a smidge gunshy of caring about characters/plots/etc? :>

[hastka.livejournal.com]

All I can think of re: "Beware the Sway" is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFzu6CNtqec

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Wow yeah... classic mistake of unheeded resonance ... not too unlike the British "Comet" aircraft windows...