What do you like about Game of Thrones?

I'm a writer. I want to be famous. GOT is famous, so I watched the 1st 6 episodes.
Totally confused by the show. And quite frankly... frustrated since I would really like to know what makes it good... so I can understand and enhance myself.
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For example. There was a scene in which a man chopped a horse's head. Yeaaaahhhh who is that guy and why did he do that? Man! Do I need subtitles or something??

I mean, what makes that series very popular? Is it the story? or the cinematography? or something else, like just "because it's going viral on facebook"? :rolleyes:
 
For me, there is no one thing. It's everything about the show, really. It's ambitious in scale, and has gone to the trouble of giving a real impression of a whole living, breathing world that often mirrors our own. The sets and costumes are top notch, and it is clear it is a labour of love for all involved.

The characters are all painted in shades of grey. There are no 'goodies', just people who occasionally act more noble than others. Good people do bad things, and bad people do good things.

The show has a lot of shock value - almost nothing is taboo, it seems. The freedom offered by HBO means there are very few restrictions in the directions the story can take.

There is a constant atmosphere of dread that something terrible is about to happen, which is hard enough to create in a 90 minute film, let alone 10 hours per season.

Some of the dialogue (most of it, in some episodes) is top notch, and the plot is slow-moving but compelling.

And of course there are good looking men and attractive women, frequently in states of undress. Can't go wrong with that...
 
Theatrical releases are often tailored to access the PG-13 market. GOT takes this genre firmly into an R. As a result, I get my fantasy/adventure fix without having to endure Jar Jar or his medieval counterpart.
 
Hah! What Maz and Rok said. Doubleplusgood.

I'm not surprised you didn't get into GOT. If you're watching it for purely clinical reasons, then it's a good bet you're not its target audience.

I mean, what makes that series very popular? Is it the story? or the cinematography? or something else, like just "because it's going viral on facebook"? :rolleyes:

Like "they" often say, there's just no telling which show will find an audience and take off, and which will not.

In this case, I don't think it's just because it's going viral on facebook. It's for all the reasons Maz and Rok have given. It's because they started with quality --and spent some serious cash on it. This time, at least, that approach paid off. They built a high quality show, and the audience came.
 
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I love fantasy. I love long-form story telling. I read a lot of fantasy novels, so I've been a fan of the books for years (and the pain that is waiting for the next book to come out....) I like the world, the cultures and the political intrigue. I like the return of magic to a low-magic setting. As a fan of the books, I like that they're doing some different things to keep it interesting, but still staying faithful to the original work (unlike some Walking Dead I could name, but that's another rant). I love seeing things visualized differently than I had imagined, and I love waiting for friends' reactions for things that I know are coming... I like the mysteries of the world that still haven't been explained or revealed (the long seasons..."winter is coming" is not just a metaphor).

Oh, and I'm a sucker for dragons. I'll watch anything with a dragon in it. Anything. The opening titles are still awesome to me...if you've never read fantasy novels, quite often the maps are very important. I like that they maintained that for the show, while still making it a visually exciting thing. I like maps in general, really.

Above all, echoing sentiments above, I love that we can support a big budget mainstream adult fantasy series. By that I don't mean sex and violence, but serious mature storytelling. Not that I don't like humor, but TV fantasy tends towards camp. Can be fun, but I like more types of fantasy than that.

Speaking of fantasy novels, every once in a while people talk about doing something with Wheel of Time, which is one of my favorite series. However, I doubt that could work. 14 books taking place over a relatively short period of time (5 or 6 years I think). I can't imagine they'd be able to keep actors that long, and shoot quick enough that they don't age too distractingly. Even still, you couldn't do it without cutting a LOT, so I think I'd rather they just didn't do it.

Anyway, fantasy stuff. I love it.
 
Anyway, fantasy stuff. I love it.

By contrast, I'm not a huge fantasy fan, and the thing that got me hooked on GoT is that until very late on in the first season (the best season so far, incidentally), it was barely fantasy at all... I saw it more as a medieval version of The Wire set in an alternate universe.
 
I'm a writer. I want to be famous. GOT is famous, so I watched the 1st 6 episodes.
Totally confused by the show. And quite frankly... frustrated since I would really like to know what makes it good... so I can understand and enhance myself.
buy.gif


For example. There was a scene in which a man chopped a horse's head. Yeaaaahhhh who is that guy and why did he do that? Man! Do I need subtitles or something??

I mean, what makes that series very popular? Is it the story? or the cinematography? or something else, like just "because it's going viral on facebook"? :rolleyes:

I remember having a similar impression with the first six... continue watching, much time is spent up front establishing story lines. It is a good show

Breaking Bad - great show
 
This is a great show! The story is believeable and it throws you for a loop at every turn. Wish we saw more of "Mother of Dragons" though.

It definitely has a cult following, that's for sure. And, if you don't like it. . well, hang in for another few years because they've already signed up for another 4 seasons.

A show that I was impressed with the first season, but think that the writing has gone downhill (Although, I do still watch it) is VIKINGS.
 
I am generally not a fan of fantasy, sci-fi, horror. I can't get into them, because I keep finding them too 'fantastic,' and since I lack imagination, I usually find myself not enjoying things like Harry Potter.

When I started watching Game of Thrones, I thought "What is this hocus pocus business?" "Hmmm, but I like these Dire Wolves" and the dialog seemed very "human." So I kept watching and at the end of the first episode, Bran gets knocked out of the f'ing window. I was like "wooooow man. this is amazing. I've never seen this on television. He just threw a cute kid out of the window, like it was nothing" That was it. I was hooked.

And as I continue to watch, while the fantasy is important to some, it is incidental to the story, as far as I'm concerned. It's basically a story of extreme human behavior, of love, hate, tenderness and cruelty. I love this type of portrayal of human beings, as savages, which we all are I think, an inch away from becoming. So I love it. I'm beginning to like the fantasy aspect too now. The setting makes the portrayal of this type of extreme human behavior possible I think.

I can't believe you've watched six episodes and are still wondering why people like it :D. That's hilarious. Keep watching.
 
My participation was not by design. In my case, 99% of the 'breaks' I've had came (seemingly) out of nowhere.
Originally, I was booked on a different feature. But the powers-that-be saw the fit and made adjustments. I've spent 20 years preparing for various opportunities to come knocking, and I NEVER feel cheated if the other guy gets the gig.

Thomas

** Personally, it was a creative high point and I count it among my favorite gigs.
 
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i don't like the pacing

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAHA


Hey Thomas, I'm sure the position is well deserved. Very few of us with ordinary red blood get lucky without having earned the luck first. I'm glad you're enjoying the position.

One day, when you make all the money in the world, do a freebie special effect for a struggling filmmaker.

Cheers :)
watching episode 4 right now.
 
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