heh. i've seen the "realism is not people dying, defend happiness" sentiment on tumblr*, but i felt like that was only part of what was bugging me about GoT, and i was attempting (probably poorly) to put into words what it is I find so qualitatively different about GoT that doesn't bother me about most "realistic"/dark/gritty movies. like, i'm not even really opposed to grimdark. i like grimdark. i liked nolan's batman movies, for a random example of "relentlessly grimdark take on things." (okay, to qualify that: i thought the third movie was too muddled and Big Budget Action Film, and the second film is surprisingly not-as-good-as-I-remembered upon rewatching, but they're still good and entertaining and interesting in a lot of ways. it helps that the second one gets some of the most brilliant action sequences i can think of in comic book movies; that fucking car/truck/motorcycle chase scene when they're transporting dent, oh man.) but somehow they felt just… more unified than GoT, or less nihilistic, or, yeah, generally the "spark" you're talking about.
(it's also just possible my annoyance with some of the more gratuitous aspects of the show are clouding my judgment—probably should've just sucked it up and added that bit to my big rant, haha. random example off the shelf, in season 3 we get to watch this one character get tortured, like, every damn episode, in increasingly horrible and sadistic ways. it does nothing to advance the plot, it's just… there, and i can't figure out what the hell the show's writers are wanting us to get out of that. like, if we're supposed to be cheering during this, it's not working, because the show is graphic and brutal enough with its violence that it's not enjoyable in a "oh the fucker gets what he deserves" way (even leaving aside the fact that i find stuff in that vein kind of reprehensible anyway), and neither is it really engendering a ton of character growth or sympathy or anything like that. and there are a lot of small things in this vein that are perhaps just making it very difficult for me to see the merits of other aspects of the show.)
(also: re: punpun: i had gotten to the "things are going good for punpun" part, but i was so used to everything that happened previously that i was deeply suspicious of it, haha. "when is the other shoe going to drop. i know it's there. i know it." i really should pick it up again sooooon)
* in particular i've seen the one long rant where someone used this as an explanation for why Pacific Rim is so great, and Pacific Rim didn't do much for me (I didn't dislike it, just wasn't super-excited about it—admittedly I'm not a big giant robots person), so i felt myself getting all contrary in response, "like okay realism shouldn't always be grittydark but that's often effective" etc, basically i'm a huge bitchy obnoxious contrarian and it's terrible can i turn this off
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(it's also just possible my annoyance with some of the more gratuitous aspects of the show are clouding my judgment—probably should've just sucked it up and added that bit to my big rant, haha. random example off the shelf, in season 3 we get to watch this one character get tortured, like, every damn episode, in increasingly horrible and sadistic ways. it does nothing to advance the plot, it's just… there, and i can't figure out what the hell the show's writers are wanting us to get out of that. like, if we're supposed to be cheering during this, it's not working, because the show is graphic and brutal enough with its violence that it's not enjoyable in a "oh the fucker gets what he deserves" way (even leaving aside the fact that i find stuff in that vein kind of reprehensible anyway), and neither is it really engendering a ton of character growth or sympathy or anything like that. and there are a lot of small things in this vein that are perhaps just making it very difficult for me to see the merits of other aspects of the show.)
(also: re: punpun: i had gotten to the "things are going good for punpun" part, but i was so used to everything that happened previously that i was deeply suspicious of it, haha. "when is the other shoe going to drop. i know it's there. i know it." i really should pick it up again sooooon)
* in particular i've seen the one long rant where someone used this as an explanation for why Pacific Rim is so great, and Pacific Rim didn't do much for me (I didn't dislike it, just wasn't super-excited about it—admittedly I'm not a big giant robots person), so i felt myself getting all contrary in response, "like okay realism shouldn't always be grittydark but that's often effective" etc, basically i'm a huge bitchy obnoxious contrarian and it's terrible can i turn this off