To watch or not to watch: Game of Thrones

So you know when I said that everything on here wan't always going to be beauty related, well now I was right! Here's a little post to try channel some of my excitement, fangirlings and frustration at the phenomena that is Game of Thrones. I also have a lot of friends which are not sure whether to invest their time and emotions in the series due to stories of the shows content. I hope to shed a bit of light on this and offer some advice on how to best enjoy this fantastic franchise for yourself. Don't worry I'm going to be spoiler free!




Where do I start? Where do I start!?

Okay calm.

Firstly, the TV show. I am a fan, I think it is great.  I watched the show long before I started reading the books and I have always enjoyed it! Especially when I have it on box set and don't have to wait a week to see if my favourite character would be okay.

See that's the thing about this show: there are so many characters. And yes it can be confusing but it is also what makes it such great TV. There are multiple plotlines and relationships which are thoroughly engaging and not to mention well acted and filmed! This does mean that, especially compared to other shows, your favourite characters get rather short screen time. But if anything that only makes you more devoted to them and I find myself yearning to know what happens next in their story. This is heightened by the fact that there's no clear boundaries between the heroes and villains of this show, you decide your opinions on them from their plot line and character development rather than preconceived archetypes. A refreshing change.

This relationship between viewer and character is probably my favourite thing about this show. And it's all the more pronounced in visual form as opposed to the books. But such a relationship can be unfortunate as George RR Martin has a penchant for killing your favourite characters at the peak of your affections.

And can I take a moment to congratulate George RR Martin on his female characters. *high five* well done sir, well done. And the actors that play them are utterly fantastic and constantly on point. This show goes above and beyond satisfying tv and literature critics for "strong female characters" as he writes realistic women. Something so obvious yet rarely executed in the film, TV and literature industries! He writes real women with depth and range. These women all have both strengths and weaknesses, as much as all the male characters, and I love that diversity and realism! So I'm going to say it...and you may not like it but I don't care; my favourite character is Cersei. If you don't watch the show there's a little teaser for you to find out why this could be so controversial.

Anyway, if you think you'll enjoy a fantasy epic set in a medieval land with black magic, knights, conspiracy, family turmoil, political instability, ice-zombies, a hell of a lot of peril and sword fights and dragons (come on who doesn't like dragons) then you could enjoy this show and is why many already do.

But.

If you can tolerate nudity, sex scenes, violence, gore, strong language and constant threats of/ implied actions of/ actual scenes of rape and death. I'm not going to lie to you the show can be very gloomy. Especially if you decide to chain watch episodes; it can all seem a bit much.

It's quite a heavy list which I can say looking at now I am surprised I even started watching this show.  But that's what makes it an 18. These scenes are never all at once and they are never very long. I found that it took some getting used to but I am now acclimatised (which is perhaps not a good thing). And increasingly I find that these scenes are overshadowed by much tamer scenes of dialogue or action. I believe the show is balanced, the good bits far out weigh these aspects.

Yet this is where my comments on the books come in. If you think you'll enjoy the show but are not sure about all of it's content I would strongly advise reading the books first. Such scenes are present in the books but at least as a reader, the content of the scene is left entirely to the bounds of your own imagination. And at least you would get a sense of where these stronger scenes are in the TV show. If I'm honest, I don't think the books are any great work of literature, there's far too many characters and plot lines for deep metaphors and imagery, but they are thoroughly captivating. However I would recommend printing off family trees and character lists because I've been into the series a while but the books still manage to confuse me with characters.

So overall, the hype and excitement around Game of Thrones is justified. It is one of the greatest TV shows of (I'm going to say it) all time. But if you have doubts over the TV Show's content I would thoroughly recommend testing it out by experiencing the scenes in the book. Once you get into them they are real page turners!

Or just dive in like I did and hope for the best. I don't regret it.

So that's all I've got to say for now, if you have any Game of Thrones related questions please do comment them below. I'm happy to help if I can. Any Game of Thrones fans that have read this and want a chat I would be more than happy to squeal with glee and sob in mourning with you over on my twitter - I'm going to try and keep this a spoiler free zone! I'm sure there will be more Game of Thrones related goodness in the future!

So that's all for know folks, thanks for reading this far and putting up with my ramblings, muchos love xxx

ps: I'm only on series 4 of the show and on Book 3 part 2 so no spoilers please and thank you!!!