Recap: Episode One

[cainx10a]

And all the men should cover up too, to hide that broad chest and manly pecks. Also, what's wrong with nudity?

Well that's just it, isn't it? There wasn't and usually isn't any male nudity in tv or movies. In the first episode of Game of Thrones, we get Daenerys naked, Tyrion (clothed) romping with no less than 4 naked women and a handful of breast-baring Dothraki women, compared to what? Shirtless Dothraki men? Double standard much?

Well, it's not like genitalia is shown right? You either see the man or woman's buttocks, breasts, and that's usually it.


However, Spartacus had a lot of naked men, women, and they didn't hesitate to show genitalia, for men ONLY. They didn't even hesitate to show a homosexual couple consummating their love and these were two manly men type gladiators humping each other ... I will admit, I laughed at each sex scene in Spartacus like a little kid ... because some of them were just ... well ... let's have a threesome with my wife and her best friend! ... then some were meant to be just perverse to show how those slaves didn't have any control over their lives as one man slave is 'forced' to be the toy of many nobles who roll the other way when they feel like it.

I don't have a problem with nudity, but I do have a problem with the double standard that female breast, buttocks and even pubic hair is okay to portray on television and film, but one penis immediately gets an R or NC17 rating and is generally considered obscene. I agree to this point. But I guess it has everything to do with a culture that sees nothing wrong with violence and gore (I have nothing against gore when it's over the top, but realistic gore just ... well ... ruins it for me).

It's an unfortunate fact that most pop culture perpetuates this double standard, and works like Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones perpetuate it, despite the fact that they do include strong female characters. The problem is that those strong females are still objectified and sexualized, whereas male characters are just as stereotypically portrayed as sexual carnivores, collecting women as trophies where ever they go, as those same women prostrate themselves at the males manly feet, face down, ass up.


Meh, not too sure about this point. If you look at the prostitutes that were so quick to shower Tyrion with kisses and ... well ... other gifts ... they were only doing it for the coins. The noble women and even peasants could care less about Tyrion ... poor soul is just a dwarf.

Catelyn is just loyal to her husband and is a traditional woman as well, and definitely strong for what she will do soon enough. And for the sake of spoilers, I will stop here.

Sansa is just your typical noble kid growing into a noble lady thing, and still believes in all the 'good' side of life, the fantasies of a becoming a little princess getting married to a beautiful little prince and what's not and Arya definitely seems to have the right mold to turn into Ser Aria (do dire-wolves get knighthood too?).

Dany is definitely not in control of her life, and she definitely wasn't shoving her ass up to please Drogo, she just didn't have a choice in the matter it seems.

The Queen ... well ... she is just into her brother I guess ... or was that the other way around :s

As usual,the nudity in Game of Thrones was one sided and gratuitous in nature, rather than tasteful. The scene with Tyrion and the prostitute was the only one that didn't feel forced, that is, until Jaime brought in three extra, giggling, happy whores to service him. Hell, with a name like Peter Dinklage, I kind of expected to see his junk.

You sure you want to see a little man with an elephant junk? That could totally hurt a man's pride!

 

[Zom-B]

However, Spartacus had a lot of naked men, women, and they didn't hesitate to show genitalia, for men ONLY. They didn't even hesitate to show a homosexual couple consummating their love and these were two manly men type gladiators humping each other ... I will admit, I laughed at each sex scene in Spartacus like a little kid ... because some of them were just ... well ... let's have a threesome with my wife and her best friend! ... then some were meant to be just perverse to show how those slaves didn't have any control over their lives as one man slave is 'forced' to be the toy of many nobles who roll the other way when they feel like it.

I didn't watch Spartacus myself, but it's the exception, rather than the rule. As to the rest of your comments, I was generalizing, and didn't mean to say the women in GoT in particular were crammed into the mold I so glibly described.

Anyway, my original point, in agreeing with a previous commenter was that the nudity in this episode of GoT was clearly aimed at pleasing straight young men. I'm not saying that any nudity or sexuality should cater to everyone equally at all times, but this was a clearly a case of pandering to the largest portion of the novel's fan base, that being young men. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, except for further perpetuating gender stereotypes. I understand the source material, and have read it, but GRRM hasn't used women as chattels and the objectification of them as social commentary, merely as part of life in his fantasy world, and in that regards, it doesn't serve any purpose other than to titillate a certain segment of the population and to alienate or offend others.

I'm not really trying to make this into a gender rights or sociological argument, I just think that the nudity and sexuality could have been handled more effectively in GoT (the tv show. the book is an entirely different thing and in that context i don't remember having any problems with it, though i do admit it's been a few years since i've read teh books.)

 

[Susan Arendt]

However, Spartacus had a lot of naked men, women, and they didn't hesitate to show genitalia, for men ONLY. They didn't even hesitate to show a homosexual couple consummating their love and these were two manly men type gladiators humping each other ... I will admit, I laughed at each sex scene in Spartacus like a little kid ... because some of them were just ... well ... let's have a threesome with my wife and her best friend! ... then some were meant to be just perverse to show how those slaves didn't have any control over their lives as one man slave is 'forced' to be the toy of many nobles who roll the other way when they feel like it.

I didn't watch Spartacus myself, but it's the exception, rather than the rule. As to the rest of your comments, I was generalizing, and didn't mean to say the women in GoT in particular were crammed into the mold I so glibly described.

Anyway, my original point, in agreeing with a previous commenter was that the nudity in this episode of GoT was clearly aimed at pleasing straight young men. I'm not saying that any nudity or sexuality should cater to everyone equally at all times, but this was a clearly a case of pandering to the largest portion of the novel's fan base, that being young men. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, except for further perpetuating gender stereotypes. I understand the source material, and have read it, but GRRM hasn't used women as chattels and the objectification of them as social commentary, merely as part of life in his fantasy world, and in that regards, it doesn't serve any purpose other than to titillate a certain segment of the population and to alienate or offend others.

I'm not really trying to make this into a gender rights or sociological argument, I just think that the nudity and sexuality could have been handled more effectively in GoT (the tv show. the book is an entirely different thing and in that context i don't remember having any problems with it, though i do admit it's been a few years since i've read teh books.)

American culture is very uncomfortable seeing naked men. Not sure why, exactly, but it's true. You can have naked girls all day long, but have a couple of wangs in the picture and OMGTHINKOFTHECHILDRENNNNNNN!

I do agree that some of the nudity was a bit gratuitous. Dany taking so long to get into the pool, the closeup on her breast as her brother is appraising her...those seemed a bit unnecessary to me. The Dothraki, on the other hand, I thought was perfectly appropriate, given the context. It's a big ol' party to celebrate the Khal's wedding - naturally there's going to be sex.

Of course, you could also point out the gratuitous nature of the violence. Did we really need to see intestines lolling out of the Dothraki warrior's torso? Or the man of the Night Watch's head rolling towards his friend? Not really. But I think the creators of GoT wanted viewers to know right from the get-go what kind of series this was going to be. This is very much NOT Lord of the Rings, with long, loving glances and sword swipes that don't draw blood. This is a place where people shag and death is ugly.

 

[maturin]

It's not the worst thing I've watched, I'll see how it goes.

Kinda disappointed though that they use the word 'fuck'... It's not Earth and they'll have had a different language evolution than Anglo-Saxon.

It was in the books. And they're speaking English, if you didn't notice. Primarily English words that have been around for a long time, such as 'fuck.'

 

[Zom-B]

American culture is very uncomfortable seeing naked men. Not sure why, exactly, but it's true. You can have naked girls all day long, but have a couple of wangs in the picture and OMGTHINKOFTHECHILDRENNNNNNN!

I do agree that some of the nudity was a bit gratuitous. Dany taking so long to get into the pool, the closeup on her breast as her brother is appraising her...those seemed a bit unnecessary to me. The Dothraki, on the other hand, I thought was perfectly appropriate, given the context. It's a big ol' party to celebrate the Khal's wedding - naturally there's going to be sex.

Of course, you could also point out the gratuitous nature of the violence. Did we really need to see intestines lolling out of the Dothraki warrior's torso? Or the man of the Night Watch's head rolling towards his friend? Not really. But I think the creators of GoT wanted viewers to know right from the get-go what kind of series this was going to be. This is very much NOT Lord of the Rings, with long, loving glances and sword swipes that don't draw blood. This is a place where people shag and death is ugly.

It's fitting you bring up the violence in the episode, as I actually decided to ignore that facet of culture for the sake of keeping things succinct.

I prefer not to generalize overly much, but the American culture, and to a lesser extent my own Canadian culture (though I like to think we're a little more liberal when it comes to sex), has this weird dichotomy where it's okay for children to view thousands of deaths over the span of a childhood via television and movies, yet those same children mustn't ever see nudity or sex or expressions of sexuality, lest they be forever corrupted and end up burning in hell.

It's one of those eternally puzzling mysteries to me, how the American population can be so hypocritical in these two areas. Personally, I think seeing positive expressions of sexuality, including full frontal nudity and simulated sex acts is far less harmful, and in fact I'd even go so far as to say not harmful in most cases (there's always exceptions- i don't approve of, say, a 10 yr old viewing hardcore pornography, but I think it's totally okay for that same child to see both male and female nudity), than watching hundreds of hours of simulated deaths and rapes that are commonly portrayed on TV and film.

I don't have the numbers or the info, and if anyone else has access to them or can point out where they are, I bet that the US has more gun and sex crime with it's "right to bear arms" gun culture and focus on violence as well as puritanical values, than all the countries of the EU combined, where in most places guns are not a cultural obsession and sexuality is viewed in a more positive light. I could be wrong, but my gut tells me I'm not far from the truth.

Anyway, I actually found the violence in this first episode to be fairly tame. The entrails were a bit gratuitous, but the shot didn't linger on it. I'm sure in future episode we'll be treated to some truly graphic violence, but all told, this first episode wasn't too gory.

 

[Triaed]

Great summary, Susan. Comprehensive and lighthearted. It explains well the plot (without revealing spoilers) to folks who have not read the books.

-Snip-

Please keep in mind that some people reading this board may not know what's going to happen next, so let's try not to ruin the surprises.

While Susan is writing about this as a stand alone series, Greg Tito's write up [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/misc/8804-Talking-About-Game-of-Thrones] gets into some of the finer points of the adaptation. It's the best way we could come up with to satisfy both audiences.

I did not think I was spoiling the story with my comments but providing background info.

Spoiler

incest seems rampant in Westeros

I see how the comment about the Targaryens and Lannisters can be taken as spoilers and I apologise for it. I want new readers and viewers to fully experience the sense of discovery!

I trust the Maester Luwin and "Ser" clarifications are not taken as such.

Greg's article and subsequent thread are great! (careful reading, there are some spoilers in it)

Given that you have no idea how Maester Luwin is unless

Great summary, Susan. Comprehensive and lighthearted. It explains well the plot (without revealing spoilers) to folks who have not read the books.

In the spirit of explaining what is happening in the story, please let me clarify 3 points that I found in the summary:

- Viserys is a bastard, yes, but the whole getting Danny naked is not so outrageous if we explain that the Targaryens use to marry each other (brother and sister). This is also an excuse that Cersei uses for bumping and grinding Jamie, even though they are Lannisters and not Targaryens

- The "servant" who brings in the note from Lady Arryn is Maester freaking Luwin! He is a bit more prominent than a servant, he's earned his chain links. Donald Sumpter does a great job in portraying him

- Although we may feel more used to the term "Sir" to refer to a knight, the actual term in the story is "Ser" (same thing in my opinion); thus Ser Jorah Mormont. This makes no difference really, only to emphasize that the story is set in a different world and not medieval UK.

I am looking forward to watching the rest of the season and hoping it will go for the full 7 seasons (GRRM has 5 years in which to write the last two!).

Tyrion is, by far, my favourite character. Pete is fantastic as the Imp... we can already infer a deep intellect emanating form him.

Yes, I know it's Maester Luwin, and you know it's Maester Luwin, but you haven't read the books, you have no idea who that is and/or why it might matter. Given that a whole lot of new names and faces were just thrown at a brand new audience, "a servant" will do for now, because it really doesn't matter within the context of the episode who handed Ned a piece of paper, merely what's on the paper.

I agree 100% with you from that point of view, Susan. It does not matter who brought the letter as long as a letter with ominous news was delivered to Ned/Cat. I was looking at it form the perspective that Maester Luwin had already been introduced as such earlier in the episode and that a "servant" was giving advice to Lord Stark, Warden of the North, on whether to take a job equivalent to a Prime Minister. I just thought to clarify that he was more than a servant.

It is true that there is no need to inundate this great recap with lots of names (we already saw Theon and Sandor! and who knows who else in the first ep), but their roles can be discussed as they come to the forefront.

Great recap! Keep them coming as fresh as this first one

 

[northman]

I'm afraid to say I've never read the books, but watching the first episode of Game of Thrones was really enjoyable as I've always been a fantasy fan (Dragonlance, LotR, Sword of Truth).

Can't wait to see what happens next but I sincerely hope that the kid isn't killed by the fall.

 

[anian]

Not that much of a fantasy fan and I didn't read the books, but I think the screenplay did a good job of putting it all together. While not "action packed" (nor could it practically really be), it was interesting and didn't dissapoint. I will be watching.

The recap, while funny, wasn't really needed (same thing with Inception dream graphs, it wasn't that complicated to get), but, as someone mentioned, the only thing it took me a second or two to get was to recognize that that was the queen/twin sister at the end part of the episode.
Oh, and I didn't really get why there was not even a sign of the "Imp" when the entourage came into the city (not that he wasn't introduced, the "bastard" dialog covered that, but that I didn't even see him among the people.

There's a "Making of" on youtube, they explain a lot in there (no spoilers, as much I gather), so there's additional explanations there.

p.s. to Greg Tito - if you're gonna explain stuff and say there are spoilers, then either you don't have to explain every little thing or don't put spoilers in...just sayin'