Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark and the book vs TV show experience

I read all five books in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and yes, I am guilty of offering deals to the devil in exchange for Book 6. I am a fan. I haven’t been one for as long as other people, but I am a fan. A dedicated one. I’ve discussed theories much more complicated than R+L=J and have spent countless hours trying to figure out what the future holds for my favorite characters.

Surprisingly enough, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the TV show.

I say surprising, because if there is one thing I can admit about myself, it’s that I AM a snob. I have had a problem with almost every literary adaptation of a book I have loved, and the few exceptions to the rule (Lord of the Rings comes to mind) are usually reserved for the books I didn’t love so much. If I love the book, I must certainly won’t love the movie/show. Especially if they change things.

Enter Game of Thrones.

I’ve got no explanation for you. I really don’t. The TV show has done some things that have made me throw the appropriate book at the screen. (The Jamie/Cersei “rape” ….UGH), but, in general, they’ve done right by the characters I like, and have actually made me enjoy characters I despised or were bored by.

DANERYS, I’M LOOKING AT YOU.

That is, until the whole Sansa thing.

I couldn’t even watch. It wasn’t a shocking development. We all figured it was coming. But I swear, in a TV show where violence and nudity are a common thing, this time, I couldn’t even watch. I was horrified. Disgusted.

AND I DON’T EVEN LIKE SANSA.

Violence for the sake of violence is not my cup of tea. Violence against females for the sake of making them stronger is abhorrent.

And yet…I can’t stop watching. I won’t stop watching.

You have every right to do so, if you want. I won’t begrudge you your right. (I repeat, it WAS awful). But…as much as we may pretend to understand the reasons …we have only read the books. The TV show is clearly a different beast. And  no, they don’t always make the right choices. But, this is another one of my flaws, one I recognize, and have discussed a length.

I’m a writer, you see. I like to give other writers the benefit of the doubt. I like to think that there’s a reason for whatever is going on. I usually finish every book I read, even if I want to rip the pages out, because…well, because I never feel like I can properly criticize if I don’t have the full story.

So, yes, I will watch. Maybe they’ll convince me this wasn’t just raping a woman for the shock value. Maybe it wasn’t more violence in an already violent show just because violence sells. Maybe there’s a reason that serves the story.

I hope so. And it’s okay if you’re not a masochist as I am. What happened to Sansa wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fun. IT WASN’T EVEN IN THE BOOK.

But, hey, it could still make for a damn good story. 

TSTL Syndrome or what the hell is wrong with heroines?

This has probably been going on for a while, and I’ve been oblivious to the fact because I’ve been busy writing and/or reading books that were written half a century ago. I was craving a little variety, so I deviated from the fancy list of “Books I should read” to look for something light, and, somewhat fun. I’ve found real gems before while looking for a change, so I was quite confident I could find something I liked.

 

Maybe I should just go back to the same books, because right now, I feel like not even brain bleach could wipe out the apparently growing trend of the rather shallow/useless/anything but strong heroine. Sure, there have been good heroines and bad heroines for a long, long time, and I won’t even claim that I only read good books, because I’ve been known to read a book just for the LULZ, but I’m guessing we can blame Bella Swan (or Stephenie Meyer) for the current trend of TSTL heroines.

TSTL = too stupid to live.

Once upon a time I read the Hunger Games, and though I really, really liked the books, I found Katniss a bit hard to swallow at times. She was especially brave, and she never needed a guy to save her, but she didn’t know her own heart, and the whole romantic back and forth made me want to strangle her.

Today, I’m starting to appreciate Katniss more and more. At least she didn’t lie there, waiting for a guy (any guy), to save her. I’m not even asking for the heroine to WIN, she can fail miserably, but I, at the very least, expect her to …you know, TRY. Show a little original thinking. Don’t just sit there while the “hero” (and I use this term loosely. Heroines are becoming stupid and heroes are becoming possessive, violent, and, in some cases, almost abusive) comes to save the day. 

Oh, the times where YA heroines were modeled after Hermione Granger. How I miss those times. Hermione, who never needed anyone to save her. Hermione, who, often, had all the answers. And so many before here, in all those books I thought I needed a break from. 

Maybe I shouldn’t take breaks. Or, perhaps, I should resign myself to the age of TSTL heroines, and hope like hell it ends soon. But every time I pick up one of these books, I can’t help but think of those girls who are reading these books and didn’t get to see an example of real heroines, didn’t get to root for a real hero. And I keep thinking …maybe they think life is supposed to be this way. Maybe they will walk away liking it. And, maybe, maybe …they will go on to keep writing it, and this will never, ever pass.

God, I hope not. Just the thought makes me want to puke. 

What am I to do? Not much. Keep on reading. Rejoice every time I find a good heroine. Recommend the book to everyone. Pay really close attention to what I write. And, above all, keep complaining about the TSTL trend, even if people want to make a feminist out of me just because of it. 

I don’t think that word is an insult. I never have.

Top 10 female characters in literature I would like to trade places with

1. Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind): It’s all about the dresses. And the food. Well, and the dresses. And Clark Gable as Rhett Butler doesn’t hurt. It probably wasn’t an easy time to be a woman, but the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that, given the opportunity, I would have acted exactly like her.
2. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games): Sure, she can be a little (or a LOT) clueless, and her endless back and forth had me wanting to strangle her at times, but she does survive two Hunger Games. And a war. And, in the end, she gets the guy .So, yeah. Not bad.
3. Hermione Granger. (Harry Potter) She’s smart. She’s a good friend. She’s the only one in the whole series who actually read Hogwarts, A History. She fights alongside Harry till the bitter end. In a lot of ways, she’s the glue that holds it all together. Oh, and she ‘gets’ it, long before Harry and Ron do.
4. Josephine March. (Little Women) A bit clichéd, I know, but she IS a writer. And she’s the only one who has the courage to follow her dreams. Plus she gets Plumfield and turns it into this enchanting school. And I always had a thing for Professor Baher.  
5. Anne Shirley. (Anne of Green Gables) When I was little I wanted to see the world as she did, with magic and beauty everywhere. I still kind of do. I still kind of want the red hair, too. And, yes, I still want Gilbert Blythe.
6. Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice): She gets Mr. Darcy. I repeat, she gets Mr. Darcy. Oh, and she also defies conventions, manages to confront the things about herself that make her happy ending much less likely, and, in the end, chooses her own path.
7. Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones): It’s all about the dragons. And the skimpy outfits. And, did I mention she has three dragons? We still don’t know how her story will end, but, all things considered, her chances of “winning” look better than most of the guys in this series.
8. Beatrice (Much Ado about Nothing): She has the best lines! And although she’s just as easily manipulated as the rest of the characters on this play, in the end, it seems the manipulation only managed to open her eyes to what she really wants. And she’s willing to fight for it.
9. Éowyn (Lord of the Rings): She’s the only truly strong female character in Tolkien’s books. And, though, at first, her attachment to Aragorn kinda bugged me (he is CLEARLY not the guy for her), she ends up proving that she’s much more than whom she’s chosen to care for.
10.  Lyra Silvertongue (His Dark Materials): She’s only twelve when the first book begins, but Lyra can read the alethiometer, ends up  traveling into other worlds, befriends Iorek Byrnison (the most amazing talking animal in literature), and earns the nickname “Silvertongue” after proving that words are the most powerful weapons of all.

*There are many more wonderful female characters in literature I would NOT trade places with for anything in the world. Maybe I can write a later post about that. This is just about those I’d trade places with.