Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Game Of Thrones Author George RR Martin Speaks Out Over Show's Controversial Rape Scene!

HBO's Game of Thrones had a pretty intense and revolting rape scene that has angered a lot of fans of the show and the book!

Now George RR Martin, the author of the book series, has also somewhat come out against it, offering the explanation that the scene from the book is much, much different than it was depicted on the show.

WARNING: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD! If you're ready to talk GoT shop, then continue on…AFTER THE JUMP!!!

Okay so Jamie raped Cersei in a scene that left fans understandably upset, but according to a post written by George in his blog, the sexual attraction between the two in the books at that point is consensual:
"I think the 'butterfly effect' that I have spoken of so often was at work here. In the novels, Jaime is not present at Joffrey's death, and indeed, Cersei has been fearful that he is dead himself, that she has lost both the son and the father/ lover/ brother. And then suddenly Jaime is there before her. Maimed and changed, but Jaime nonetheless. Though the time and place is wildly inappropriate and Cersei is fearful of discovery, she is as hungry for him as he is for her. 

The whole dynamic is different in the show, where Jaime has been back for weeks at the least, maybe longer, and he and Cersei have been in each other's company on numerous occasions, often quarreling. The setting is the same, but neither character is in the same place as in the books, which may be why Dan & David played the sept out differently. 
But that's just my surmise; we never discussed this scene, to the best of my recollection.
Also, I was writing the scene from Jaime's POV, so the reader is inside his head, hearing his thoughts. On the TV show, the camera is necessarily external. You don't know what anyone is thinking or feeling, just what they are saying and doing.  
If the show had retained some of Cersei's dialogue from the books, it might have left a somewhat different impression — but that dialogue was very much shaped by the circumstances of the books, delivered by a woman who is seeing her lover again for the first time after a long while apart during which she feared he was dead. I am not sure it would have worked with the new timeline. 
That's really all I can say on this issue. The scene was always intended to be disturbing… but I do regret if it has disturbed people for the wrong reasons."
Well, sounds like the circumstances were pretty different from the book to screen!
While the show didn't necessarily glorify the rape scene (it does make Jamie look appropriately hideous), we wonder why the creators decided to diverge so much from the book.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment