What an intensely written and felt piece of discourse. I think you have a clear point of view and I enjoyed seeing it from your perspective. I think you have a kind heart and want to see beauty in the world unfold even in our storytelling to reflect progress. I do too. But Art needs to express what the writer or artist needs to say. From what I’ve seen JRR Martins works are dispelling the romanticism of death and heroism. I think they bring a complexity to being an antagonist or a protagonist without making anyone a clear cut hero (that’s when the seasons were actually good). I have to disagree that GOT romanticizes pointlessness. It brings it to the forefront because so often people erase reality in favor of an imagined raison d’etre that simply isn’t there. It’s not a universa Truth that you need to suffer for a reason. We suffer unglamorously all our lives. Our short lives are dotted by beautiful moments, but also by embarrassing and raw moments. I think suffering has been glamorized in media since stories have been told. In Martin’s works death is not glamorous, unheroic, and the end! It is easier to accept the end, the truth, as part of what life is rather than to continue to suffer trying to figure out why it happened.
One more thing I want to address, because I’ve thought about it for a long time: idolizing people. “There is this glorification of showing the meaninglessness of life, of uncovering “the truth” that this life is full of ugliness and pain, of unmasking our delusions, of showing that there is always “someone behind the curtain”, our idols become monsters, our heroes become villains, it was all a lie, it was all a sick cosmic joke — and this is what empowers us and makes us wise. Oh, look how discerning and insightful we are as we reflect back to you the despair of a twisted humanity!”
It’s not a sick joke. It’s reality. It’s the reason why I, in real life done idolize any celebrities or well-known people. Artist, actor, writer… they’re all people who have their own flaws, their own private lives that they don’t share to the public. The “hero” is an illusion of everyday life. Even though I WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree with what became of Denaerys, it made sense in the context of the quote selected above- but let’s also remember that the later seasons of GOT were further and further from the original intent- from what I hear. And the death scene with Jamie and Cerce is just toooooooooooooo sappy. Digression! I suppose this doesn’t really change the fact that the writers have romanticized their incest and have actually given some meaning to both their deaths in my opinion. They died for each other- that’s not for nothing and so I think they missed the nihilism mark.
Regarding your critique of writers feeling vs believing the world is pointless, we can’t invalidate people’s beliefs based on our own. We have to trust they know what they believe as well as feel. And trust also that, often, feelings, beliefs, and outlooks change. I think believing that existence is pointless is a very valid belief, it’s an immense burden to carry for an uncertain and usually unremarkable ending. Not all of us look towards death waiting to be met by an afterlife. But without these expectations, at least for me, life becomes more bearable because I can define it the way I want to and even need to. Acknowledging that life is pointless isn’t automatically an end to conversation, it’s a beginning in the right circumstances. It’s like in all hero tales, drudging through the underworld to come out the other end with knowledge and wisdom that took trials to achieve. Living is overwhelming but in the end, we don’t really know why we exists. It helps to explore the absurdity of existence. -maybe I’ve gone off on a tangent. ^____^
Anyway I think that taking a protagonist character and turning them into the villain for no reason is absolutely lazy writing though, LOL. Have you seen Arrival?
What an intensely written and felt piece of discourse. I think you have a clear point of view and I enjoyed seeing it from your perspective. I think you have a kind heart and want to see beauty in the world unfold even in our storytelling to reflect progress. I do too. But Art needs to express what the writer or artist needs to say. From what I’ve seen JRR Martins works are dispelling the romanticism of death and heroism. I think they bring a complexity to being an antagonist or a protagonist without making anyone a clear cut hero (that’s when the seasons were actually good). I have to disagree that GOT romanticizes pointlessness. It brings it to the forefront because so often people erase reality in favor of an imagined raison d’etre that simply isn’t there. It’s not a universa Truth that you need to suffer for a reason. We suffer unglamorously all our lives. Our short lives are dotted by beautiful moments, but also by embarrassing and raw moments. I think suffering has been glamorized in media since stories have been told. In Martin’s works death is not glamorous, unheroic, and the end! It is easier to accept the end, the truth, as part of what life is rather than to continue to suffer trying to figure out why it happened.
One more thing I want to address, because I’ve thought about it for a long time: idolizing people. “There is this glorification of showing the meaninglessness of life, of uncovering “the truth” that this life is full of ugliness and pain, of unmasking our delusions, of showing that there is always “someone behind the curtain”, our idols become monsters, our heroes become villains, it was all a lie, it was all a sick cosmic joke — and this is what empowers us and makes us wise. Oh, look how discerning and insightful we are as we reflect back to you the despair of a twisted humanity!”
It’s not a sick joke. It’s reality. It’s the reason why I, in real life done idolize any celebrities or well-known people. Artist, actor, writer… they’re all people who have their own flaws, their own private lives that they don’t share to the public. The “hero” is an illusion of everyday life. Even though I WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree with what became of Denaerys, it made sense in the context of the quote selected above- but let’s also remember that the later seasons of GOT were further and further from the original intent- from what I hear. And the death scene with Jamie and Cerce is just toooooooooooooo sappy. Digression! I suppose this doesn’t really change the fact that the writers have romanticized their incest and have actually given some meaning to both their deaths in my opinion. They died for each other- that’s not for nothing and so I think they missed the nihilism mark.
Regarding your critique of writers feeling vs believing the world is pointless, we can’t invalidate people’s beliefs based on our own. We have to trust they know what they believe as well as feel. And trust also that, often, feelings, beliefs, and outlooks change. I think believing that existence is pointless is a very valid belief, it’s an immense burden to carry for an uncertain and usually unremarkable ending. Not all of us look towards death waiting to be met by an afterlife. But without these expectations, at least for me, life becomes more bearable because I can define it the way I want to and even need to. Acknowledging that life is pointless isn’t automatically an end to conversation, it’s a beginning in the right circumstances. It’s like in all hero tales, drudging through the underworld to come out the other end with knowledge and wisdom that took trials to achieve. Living is overwhelming but in the end, we don’t really know why we exists. It helps to explore the absurdity of existence. -maybe I’ve gone off on a tangent. ^____^
Anyway I think that taking a protagonist character and turning them into the villain for no reason is absolutely lazy writing though, LOL. Have you seen Arrival?