You're hitting on a lot of my personal problems with GoT. I've not watched the episodes, but I read the first four books. When DWD was coming out, I tried to re-read the first four and I quit halfway through book one. I have come to the conclusion that my basic problem with GoT is that the narrative exists to punish people, much more aggressively so if they attempt to do the right thing. The real world is like that often enough. I don't want it when I'm reading. (My genres of choice are fantasy and romance. Romance in particular has what I've seen called the "genre contract" where I understand that shit might get awful in the middle but we'll all be OK at the end. My preferred fantasy is light grey, but still has a satisfying narrative conclusion that doesn't exist to murder anybody I might have liked.)
I, too, climb walls when people start yelling about "realistic" fantasy. I read a book called Firethorn that kept really chafing me and I couldn't figure out why right away. Eventually I realized that it does the same things I dislike in literary fiction, where no one is likeable and everyone is being stepped upon aggressively. Escapism isn't everybody's bag and that's fine, but I wish people would stop treating people who do want escapism as less-than.
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Date: 2014-06-09 10:27 pm (UTC)I, too, climb walls when people start yelling about "realistic" fantasy. I read a book called Firethorn that kept really chafing me and I couldn't figure out why right away. Eventually I realized that it does the same things I dislike in literary fiction, where no one is likeable and everyone is being stepped upon aggressively. Escapism isn't everybody's bag and that's fine, but I wish people would stop treating people who do want escapism as less-than.