Now it can be told: I’m covering Game of Thrones Season Two for Rolling Stone! My first piece just went up:
Get Medieval: The Seven Most Awful Things People Did on ‘Game of Thrones’ Season One
Starting off with a bang! The tone for this piece is black comedy, yeah (except for item #3 — there’s really nothing funny about it, as I was reminded while watching that scene traumatize my poor wife during her ill-fated attempt to watch the pilot the other week). But in all seriousness, these instances of truly abominable behavior set the tone for the show (and the books) in three ways:
1. It’s challenging to make memorable, moving art out of atrocities without it seeming exploitative or shallow. When you pull it off, you throw the talent of the cast and crew in even sharper relief.
2. In several cases, these incidents overturn our understanding of how this genre, or how heroic narratives, work. Much of Martin/Benioff/Weiss’s revisionist project rests in these moments.
3. And they have a thematic impact too, not just a narrative or generic one. They communicate the material’s view on war, the aristocratic system, and the unique plights of the poor and the young and the female in this system. It’s not shock for shock’s sake at all — it’s central.
So enjoy, if that’s the word for it, and watch this space for more exciting STC/GoT news!
Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, fantasy, Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, reviews, Rolling Stone, TV, TV reviews
Amazing! Congratulations dude, this rules.
Yeah, congrats!
Congratulations!
Very cool! I finally watched the first season over the course of a few weekends last month. I figured if I was going to be up at 4 am for feedings, I might as well burn through some of the stuff sitting on the TiVo. 🙂 Looking forward to season two and reading your reports.