I'm clearly behind the zeitgeist on this one having not watched this cultural phenomenon since the first series or indeed read any of the books. So I figure it's time and I catch up and write out my thoughts on a series that creates a lot of talking points as I go. A warning now is I am a bit of fantasy genre sceptic so the show will need to work to really pull me in.
Now in terms of my approach I have seen the first series before and so I am aware of the general course of events although I certainly do not remember a lot of details so I will reference things I've not see yet. Likewise I'm aware of some of the bigger turning points and moments of controversy in series moving forwards so will reference those but I do not know how most things go from second series on.
So time to start;
Episode 1 : Winter Is Coming
"Winter is coming" count : 3
The opening of the first episodes feels very much in terms of tone and aesthetic like a horror film. Lots of dark colours, a bleached filter on the lens and of course lots of dismembered body parts. It's a section that introduces us to The Wall and the fact there are some scary things on the wrong side of it, though we learn little else.
We get enough to flag that there's a dangerous mysterious danger and then it's time for the opening credits..da da dum, da-da-dum, da-da dum...
My first question on the other side of the credits is, "How did that guy survive?" as the poor soul we saw left standing in the prologue is caught for deserting his post on the other side of the wall. Last we saw him he was hopelessly cornered by murderous White Walker types. For him to be alive, surely they let him go? Why have they let him go?
Then it's time for our intro to the Stark family who are pretty much our grounding into this fictional world. The sons are quickly shown in their pecking order as proud mum and dad look over, Sansa is the traditionally feminine daughter and Arya the tom boy.
Introductions done we get a view of Ned Stark's code as he notes to his youngest son after performing the execution of the deserter that "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword". A direct comparison of the honour of characters can be drawn looking at this from the first episode from Ned and Joffrey's double dealing cowardly spite that brings about the end of poor Ned.
Next up we get introduction to Cersei and Jamie Lanister, it's made clear they have secrets but at this stage it's not clear what or indeed how many, what is it they fear the Hand of the King knew?
As we move onto the Lannister's and the King come to the Stark's home as the King seeks help from his old friend and we get a few flashes of events to come; Bran's climbing and Catelyn's worry it'll bring him to arm, Arya hiding in the crowds and Sansa's initial smitten behaviour around Joffery.
Interestingly whilst we get a sense of Ned and King Robert's deep friendship (including intriguing mentions of how they won the throne for Robert from the Targaryen family) it's clear from the start there is a tension and unease between Cersei and the Stark family. At this stage Tyrion is basically a comedy character framed by drinking and whoring.
Then it's across the sea to meet Daenerys Targaryen and scheming brother Viserys. Now from the start here it is uncomfortable relationship and I've not read the books not sure if there is anything in them to make it more explicit but to me it seems fairly strongly implied that Daenerys has been sexually abused by her brother and this is the first indication that as a series Game of Thrones is going to deal with some unpleasant things outside of what you typically see in mainstream fantasy themed fare.
For the general sense of Daenerys exploitation is not helped to a small extent by some of the direction in these scenes. It's fair to say the concept of the male gaze is very much in action as there some lingering shots of her naked body which seem a bit unnecessary, likewise the basically see through dress she is seen in later. It may be intended to frame the idea of Daenerys at this stage being controlled and at the mercy of the men around her but it does feel a little like it tips into the titillation for the sake of it.
This part of the episode did have a couple of moments that drew me out of things a bit too, like Drogo's comedy "power" sitting position with legs spread wide and the fact that the tribe of nomadic warriors all seem to have perfectly white teeth! But we do get the introduction of the dragon eggs, which will of course be very important later. (Plus a clue in the fact Daenerys doesn't flinch as she goes into a bath as the servants exclaim it's far too hot)
Now I know there has been some controversy around a couple of rape scenes later in the series and I've not seen those yet so can not fully comment but there is the rape of Daenerys here in the very first episode and I don't remember there being the same level of controversy around this episode. But I'll have to wait until I've seen the later episodes until I can comment fully.
The last few minutes of the episode are given over to setting up the story to follow with accusations of murder, and Bran's witnessing of Cersei and Jamie's sexual relationship leading to his being pushed out a high window. (Although that boy stood there gawping for a long, long time)
So that's episode one and we've got sketches of the characters for the most part, Ned is noble, Catelyn worries, the Lannister's scheme, the King is an oaf, Arya the tom-boy etc. A few bits of mystery, who murdered the Kings' hand? Who or what are White Walkers? And few markers for what would become the series' darker aspects.
Essentially the ground work for what the series becomes is all here but nothing yet really makes the show stand out from the crowd so to speak, particularly from HBO's strong library of programming. So on we go...
3 comments:
"Why have they let him go?"
Always a contentious question. Personally I think it's because the White Walkers have only just woken up (or whatever it is that's brought them back) and want to trail the guy back to his base.
As to Daenerys being raped by Drogo, there most certainly a lot of complaints about this at the time (though this was tempered by their consensual sex in the book being problematic in the opposite direction). The difference between this and the later instances - I'm trying to be circumspect since I don't know what precisely you do and don't know - is partially because it actually serves a thematic role - the reality of what arranged marriages mean in practice needs to be shown if the story is going to successfully fulfil its role of tearing away at the romanticism for the medieval period much fantasy trades in. The later instances struck many (including me) as simply for shock value.
Of course, you also have the fairly unassailable facts that simply fewer people were watching back then, and a lot of people are going to object more vociferously when a character they've loved for years is subjected to a sexual assault than they are seeing a character they've seen in three previous scenes have to go through the same thing.
Ah, ok. Like I say I only really have an awareness that there was controversy over the later instance that seemed much more pronounceed than anything I remembered from around the time these episodes aired.
I've vague idea of the characters involved in the controversial scene (but I may not be right)so I think I'll be able to indentify which scences it is. I suspect I'll address once I get to it.
I like the theory that the guy was let go so the White Walkers could see where he went.
"I like the theory that the guy was let go so the White Walkers could see where he went."
They're definitely deliberately messing with him; decapitating his mate costs them a zombie (or at least a zombie that can, y'know, see). Plus, it means the kid then accidentally ruins their plan by trying to fuck of home instead of warning his mates. So in actual fact he was kind of executed for denying intelligence to the enemy. Which of course is a pretty Thrones thing to do, really.
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