The Male Gaze and Fanservice in mass media

[Wherenextcolumbus]

must.....not.....give....spoilers...... :d

tell me!!!

 

[MysticSang'ha]

tell me!!!

I will say this much:

Growing up timid and in the shadow of her brother who made all decisions for her in his quest for power and glory, Daenerys takes charge of her own life, her destiny, and her people. And in a fiery way, too.

Her husband, Khal Drogo, becomes more complex of a character as the story progresses too.

I wish I could tell more, but that would involve telling storylines that would spoil the fun and surprises and shocks and all that Game of Thrones has been lauded for.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

I will say this much:

Growing up timid and in the shadow of her brother who made all decisions for her in his quest for power and glory, Daenerys takes charge of her own life, her destiny, and her people. And in a fiery way, too.

Her husband, Khal Drogo, becomes more complex of a character as the story progresses too.

I wish I could tell more, but that would involve telling storylines that would spoil the fun and surprises and shocks and all that Game of Thrones has been lauded for.

I just don't want her to fall in love with him that would make me really angry.

 

[Alceste]

I watched the first 2 episodes of game of thrones yesterday...the male gaze is so boring.

The books are amazing for being full of fascinating, complex female characters and atypical storylines. I find the series has too much T and A. Not that the book isn't full of references to sex, but HBO wastes a lot of valuable screen time dwelling on it, always in a way that seems designed to titillate boys.

The story is compelling enough to overlook HBO's ****-up (so to speak), and the complexity of the female characters still come across quite well. They usually use extras and bit parts for their ridiculous male gaze / fanservice scenes, since there's really nothing in the book to use for that.

 

[Alceste]

I just don't want her to fall in love with him that would make me really angry.

It's complicated. Let's just say she's very pragmatic about her situation and determined to make the most of it.

 

[Poeticus]

Alceste,

Thanks for mentioning the books. A Song of Ice and Fire is a million times better than the show. Don't get me wrong, folks. The casting that the show did was wonderful - but, like all adaptions, it fails to provide the necessary dynamic character developments that are an integral part with various characters - sometimes, the change in certain characters occur way too quickly in the show. The female character developments that I enjoyed in the show are those of Brienne, Cersei (who's actually a very interesting character in the books and her perspective isn't offered clearly enough in the show), Ross (who's pretty much nonexistent in the books), and the show's portrayal of Olenna: with this character and how she is projected, the show does a top notch job.

The good thing about season 3 is the awesome one-on-ones with Jaime and Brienne. Jaime's character development is captured with full essence that was necessary to understanding how and why the mighty Jaime becomes almost the opposite of what he used to be.

Season 3 takes a plunge for me, though, since there isn't enough of Arya Bad*** Stark - even though book 3 has a vast multitude of "Arya Situations".

But, I have to give it to the actor who plays Joffrey. Wonderful acting, IMO.

As an aside, in the book: Khal Drogo does not rape Stormborn - unlike how it is portrayed in the first season. By the way, the casting for Daharis was horrid. Who else agrees?

 

[Alceste]

Alceste,

Thanks for mentioning the books. A Song of Ice and Fire is a million times better than the show. Don't get me wrong, folks. The casting that the show did was wonderful - but, like all adaptions, it fails to provide the necessary dynamic character developments that are an integral part with various characters - sometimes, the change in certain characters occur way too quickly in the show. The female character developments that I enjoyed in the show are those of Brienne, Cersei (who's actually a very interesting character in the books and her perspective isn't offered clearly enough in the show), Ross (who's pretty much nonexistent in the books), and the show's portrayal of Olenna: with this character and how she is projected, the show does a top notch job.

The good thing about season 3 is the awesome one-on-ones with Jaime and Brienne. Jaime's character development is captured with full essence that was necessary to understanding how and why the mighty Jaime becomes almost the opposite of what he used to be.

Season 3 takes a plunge for me, though, since there isn't enough of Arya Bad*** Stark - even though book 3 has a vast multitude of "Arya Situations".

But, I have to give it to the actor who plays Joffrey. Wonderful acting, IMO.

As an aside, in the book: Khal Drogo does not rape Stormborn - unlike how it is portrayed in the first season. By the way, the casting for Daharis was horrid. Who else agrees?

I agree. Maybe it's not the world's worst possible choice, but definitely she's definitely the least believable character in the show for me.

 

[Riverwolf]

I just don't want her to fall in love with him that would make me really angry.

In the book,

Spoiler: minor early spoiler

Dany and Drogo's wedding night is entirely consensual. He's nowhere near as pushy, and they spend hours in each other's company before she gives the OK.

I like the show (admittedly I haven't even seen all of Season 1, yet), but I think their depiction of that scene was a major ball-drop IMO.

 

[Riverwolf]

Alceste,

Thanks for mentioning the books. A Song of Ice and Fire is a million times better than the show. Don't get me wrong, folks. The casting that the show did was wonderful - but, like all adaptions, it fails to provide the necessary dynamic character developments that are an integral part with various characters - sometimes, the change in certain characters occur way too quickly in the show. The female character developments that I enjoyed in the show are those of Brienne, Cersei (who's actually a very interesting character in the books and her perspective isn't offered clearly enough in the show), Ross (who's pretty much nonexistent in the books), and the show's portrayal of Olenna: with this character and how she is projected, the show does a top notch job.

The good thing about season 3 is the awesome one-on-ones with Jaime and Brienne. Jaime's character development is captured with full essence that was necessary to understanding how and why the mighty Jaime becomes almost the opposite of what he used to be.

Season 3 takes a plunge for me, though, since there isn't enough of Arya Bad*** Stark - even though book 3 has a vast multitude of "Arya Situations".

But, I have to give it to the actor who plays Joffrey. Wonderful acting, IMO.

As an aside, in the book: Khal Drogo does not rape Stormborn - unlike how it is portrayed in the first season. By the way, the casting for Daharis was horrid. Who else agrees?

OY! Spoiler tags!!

 

[Riverwolf]

Honestly, Game of Thrones approaches sex in a very mature manner, in my opinion. It's not always sexy (in fact it rarely is), and it's only ever brought up when it's vital for the story and/or the characters, never for its own sake.

It's everything The Witcher games are trying to be.

 

[Alceste]

In the book,

Spoiler: minor early spoiler

Dany and Drogo's wedding night is entirely consensual. He's nowhere near as pushy, and they spend hours in each other's company before she gives the OK.

I like the show (admittedly I haven't even seen all of Season 1, yet), but I think their depiction of that scene was a major ball-drop IMO.

Yeah, that scene ticked me off. I don't recall any of that kind of soft porn for guys from the books. Likewise, Littlefinger's whorehouse wasn't even described from what I remember, let alone the location of numerous pointless and gratuitous kinky sex scenes.

Martin wrote sex into the script, but not in gratuitous detail, and not in such a way that his personal sexual fantasies shone through and wrecked the story. I find the HBO series embarrassing for that reason. You're watching a great show, then you are forced to watch some HBO producer's private wanking fantasy, then back to the show. It's almost as bad as commercials.

 

[Riverwolf]

Yeah, that scene ticked me off. I don't recall any of that kind of soft porn for guys from the books. Likewise, Littlefinger's whorehouse wasn't even described from what I remember, let alone the location of numerous pointless and gratuitous kinky sex scenes.

Martin wrote sex into the script, but not in gratuitous detail, and not in such a way that his personal sexual fantasies shone through and wrecked the story. I find the HBO series embarrassing for that reason. You're watching a great show, then you are forced to watch some HBO producer's private wanking fantasy, then back to the show. It's almost as bad as commercials.

On the other hand, the show is very good for helping people like me visualize just what's going on, since oftentimes descriptions of places and people get completely filtered out when I read.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

The books are amazing for being full of fascinating, complex female characters and atypical storylines. I find the series has too much T and A. Not that the book isn't full of references to sex, but HBO wastes a lot of valuable screen time dwelling on it, always in a way that seems designed to titillate boys.

The story is compelling enough to overlook HBO's ****-up (so to speak), and the complexity of the female characters still come across quite well. They usually use extras and bit parts for their ridiculous male gaze / fanservice scenes, since there's really nothing in the book to use for that.

So disappointing, unless the sex scene adds something to the story or depth to a character why dwell on it! The sex scenes are so badly acted anyway in fact all of it is badly acted.
My boyfriend even said why are you trying to like this it's such a man tv series.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

It's complicated. Let's just say she's very pragmatic about her situation and determined to make the most of it.

She should of killed him in his sleep instead

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

In the book,

Spoiler: minor early spoiler

Dany and Drogo's wedding night is entirely consensual. He's nowhere near as pushy, and they spend hours in each other's company before she gives the OK.

I like the show (admittedly I haven't even seen all of Season 1, yet), but I think their depiction of that scene was a major ball-drop IMO.

So basically they just wanted to have a woman being raped in the 2 episode. Why does a woman always have to get raped? So annoying.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

I'm glad you guys joined in the convo I didn't want to be the only one who had a problem with this.

 

[Riverwolf]

So basically they just wanted to have a woman being raped in the 2 episode. Why does a woman always have to get raped? So annoying.

Honestly, I doubt it was anything malicious. Most likely it was for time. Sometimes when producing a weekly show, hasty shortcuts get made that end up extremely tasteless in hindsight.

Read the books. Seriously. The show is overall great, but primarily as a visual/audio supplement.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Honestly, I doubt it was anything malicious. Most likely it was for time. Sometimes when producing a weekly show, hasty shortcuts get made that end up extremely tasteless in hindsight.

Read the books. Seriously. The show is overall great, but primarily as a visual/audio supplement.

I don't know if I can stomach the rest of the show and I don't see how it's a great show. It made me really angry.

 

[Riverwolf]

I don't know if I can stomach the rest of the show and I don't see how it's a great show. It made me really angry.

It made me angry, too. I couldn't stomach it for months after watching the first episode. It definitely doesn't pull punches. But a show is not its first episode, and this isn't a story of smaller stories, but a series of events that contribute to an overall story. The first episode doesn't stand alone, but stands alongside all the others to tell a story that is an epic in every sense of the word. From a television standpoint, that absolutely breaks the rules, but it's how the books are, and so it's how the episodes had to be, as well.

I expressed my absolute hatred for Dany's brother to one of my friends who's a huge fan of the books, that I'm normally a very kind and forgiving guy, but I wanted this monster's head.

She grinned, giggled, and told me to keep reading.

A golden crown, indeed...

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

It made me angry, too. I couldn't stomach it for months after watching the first episode. It definitely doesn't pull punches. But a show is not its first episode, and this isn't a story of smaller stories, but a series of events that contribute to an overall story. The first episode doesn't stand alone, but stands alongside all the others to tell a story that is an epic in every sense of the word. From a television standpoint, that absolutely breaks the rules, but it's how the books are, and so it's how the episodes had to be, as well.

I expressed my absolute hatred for Dany's brother to one of my friends who's a huge fan of the books, that I'm normally a very kind and forgiving guy, but I wanted this monster's head.

She grinned, giggled, and told me to keep reading.

A golden crown, indeed...

If all the episodes have stupid sex scenes and bad acting then overall it's going to suck. Nothing against the books I haven't read them.