Jump to content

Propriety Feelings


Ealasaid

Recommended Posts

This may have been a thread before, or may not be the proper place for it. So moved or flame it if I am out of line.

I stumbled onto the Hobbit and LOTR in 9th grade. I was 12. I read then until they fell apart and purchased new ones. The along came Peter Jackson. I love the series. Most of the scenery was perfect and I like the characters...except for the ents.

But suddenly everyody was all about the LOTR. People who neer opened a book were suddenly experts.

Now I series I discovered all on my own (ignoring the Robert Jordon salvo on the back), is adverised in the most recent Time magazine. All sorts of food trucks are out dlievering tasty dishes.

And I am a little put out. Those of us who waited for books, slogged through boards long gone, and told everyone who would listen about this great series are lost in the storm. People who never opened the books I sent them, are all fired up about the HBO series.

Petuant. You bet your sweet bippy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read all the books right before Feast was realised but never found this board until a couple weeks ago. Woulda been awesome to have other people too discuss these books with(all my friends are jocks and dont read..ever).

However, in 96' I was six or seven. And probably still using Hooked On Phonics. So dont be too angry at us younger people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just excited that it's going to be easier to get people to read these books after the exposure they are getting. Also, it will be fun to discuss this story presented in a different medium and seeing the reactions of people who haven't read the books, but are watching the show. Of course I will have the personal satisfaction of knowing I have excellent taste and am ahead of the curve, but mostly I'm just damn happy more people will get to enjoy this brilliant story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are always people who feel put out when the thing they have loved from the begining get wide popularity. In some cases they are right to be put out.

If you have played World of Warcraft from the start you have had to watch your game made easier for the millions of new players playing so each expansion is a dilution of that original briliance.

If you discover a briliant band you can go and see them in a small intimate venue but as they get more and more popular so does the venue eventualy your lookig at them through binoculars at a stadium

Books aren't like that, I only read GoT in January & I very quicky read all the other books and I'm eagerly awaiting The Dance. I feel your pain with the wait (I read the Scott Lynch & Partick Rothfuss' books when they came out) but us new fans will not diminish your enjoyment of the book. :grouphug:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, from personal experience, I can say that all of the books sans Feast for Crows came out while I was still in elementary school; they would never have let any of its students read it. And then I didn't have time for books in high school, so of course I didn't hear anything of that, either.

I wish I could say I sympathize, but I only just started the series last September. Granted, I didn't know anything about there being an HBO series until at least December, and I've at least had the courtesy to finish all four before the air date, but still...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let the new viewers enjoy the series to the greatest extent that they are capable of, That is, without digging through page after page of plot speculation on forums and diligent re-reading of the four novels.

Some of the senior boardies must have the equivalent of a PhD in Westeros Studies by this time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree with some of the comments above. Also, comparing it to LotR, we can say that ASoIaF got filmed a lot faster, even as the series is still being written. We're lucky to have it now and not, say, 20 years from now. Frankly, I am one of those people who usually get a boost to read a big series like that due to movies/TV. IMO, it's a good thing really.

Um, Ealasaid, you were 12 in 9th grade? So you started school at 3 or you're one of those geniuses that graduate from Harvard at 17? ;) Just wondering...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there's much more to the world than us and uk.

i for one have read AGoT in 2003 (or maybe 2004) because that's when it was published in serbia.

as to "where i was in '96?", i was 13 and reading tolkien.

EDIT:

and the fact someone read AGoT in '96 only means they had a much longer wait than those of us who got hooked later.

and while i sympathize with them, that doesn't make them bigger fans, it just makes them fans longer (which doesn't mean a thing)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was 21 in 1996, I'm not sure when the books came out in Italy, probably it was 1999 or 2000, but I've read them only after an HBO trailer 4 months ago. Why? Fantasy it's not my genre at all: I've tried the Shannara series when I was like 13 and it really bored me so I gave up on fantasy(I've only read LOTR -a masterpiece-).

So here I am, guilty!! but I'm making amends by re-reading the series from the start waiting for ADWD(which I'll read in english, even if it's gonna be a little drag, 'cause I can't wait the italian translation...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The OP sounds a lot like the teeny manga fans who in the early to mid '00s complained about manga being translated into Finnish! And sold in kiosks! The horror, now we're not speshul anymore! (My main beef with that was that they picked horrible crap to translate at first. Dragon Ball? Eyugh.)

That being said, I do understand the feeling. Given how Jackson butchered a lot of characters and teens squeeing over Bloom!Legolas* and the entire carnival of movie!LoTR fans who thought the "novelization" was sooo boring was quite annoying. But chances are a lot of the people who'll watch the series will also read the books. It doesn't matter what way you're introduced into a thing if it gets you to the roots.

* I still maintain he's dark haired. Fuck Orlando Bloom's wig.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was aware of the series, in an "I'll probably read that someday" kind of way, and then my friend told me they were developing a TV show based on it with Sean Bean. Which peaked my interest a bit.

Still, I didn't rush out and buy them and start reading right away. I got Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings in a second-hand bookshop one day.Then I got Storm of Swords and a Feast for Crows. I read the Hedge Knight in Legends, loved it, got me excited for the series proper.

And then, February last year, I started A Game of Thrones. Finished A Feast for Crows about April.

The Tv show spurred me into reading the books, but that doesn't make me a bandwagon jumper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd be a pretty new fan. A friend loaned me his copy of Game of Thrones two years ago when I mentioned that I enjoyed Fantasy Films but didn't know where to start with Fantasy books since I'd tried reading Tolkien who's by far the most lauded Fantasy writer when I was about 15 and thought it was shite (controvesial opinion I know, the story's pretty good but I consider him to be an extremely poor writer).

Since my first read through of my friend's copies, I've bought and re-read the books published to date and am eagerly anticipating the TV series (which I got to tell the friend who'd loaned me the books about - nice moment :) ).

In a way, I'm glad I didn't find the books earlier. The wait for ADwD has already been too long for me and I've only been waiting a year and a half for it!

If you get some sort nerd-kick out of being a fan longer than the rest of us fair enough... I can understand waiting all those years between each book might make you feel like "more" of a fan for putting up with it than us "Johnny Come Lately's"...

If, on the other hand, your meaning is akin to the snotty little brats who whinge about bands becoming famous in an "I preferred their early stuff, you know, like, before they went beyond 3/4 chords so I'm clearly cooler than you" then stop embaressing yourself. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked up the books in 2005. I read through all of them in about a week. I re-read them right after. Since then, I've read them about 10 more times. I don't feel any sense of entitlement, really, even though I've waited for ADwD with the best of them.

I'm only happy that my favorite fantasy series has attracted, and will continue to attract, many readers. I think that's the right attitude. The only problem I will have is with those who will only watch the TV series without having read the books - because they will be missing out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you guys are missing the point of the OP.

I too was a pre Peter Jackson reader of LOTR. I Finished the series right about the time AGOT came out (1996). I didn't even see Fellowship in the theaters. Why? After watching the D&D movie I couldn't bear watching my beloved series get ruined like my favorite pastime.

After watching FOTR on DVD though, I realized Jackson did a pretty decent job, and managed to enjoy the next two movies with my girlfriend. She also ended up reading LOTR because of the movies. Which is something we will share together thanks to Peter Jackson. Though I'll never forgve him for cutting the scouring of the shire.

Fast forward to HBO's Game of Thrones. I understand how you feel. You try to get people interested in a really really great series. No one takes your word for it. So you keep it for yourself as your own treasure. Suddenly that something you have appreciated for a decade and a half that no one would listen to YOU about gets famous and everyone now gets into it... Thanks to HBO. Your word isn't good enough but HBO's is.

For me, though I was excited. Why? Because fantasy isn't normally my girlfriend's genre, and books aren't her preferred format of entertainment. So it takes movies or shows like AGOT to pique her interest. Now (hopefully) we will be able to share ASOIAF together as well, thanks to the HBO series. So I welcome the popularity the HBO series will bring to ASOIAF.

But you have a right to feel proud. You are a OGoT (Original Gamer of the Throne). You also have good taste. Perhaps next time those people will listen when you suggest something to them... But probably not. And remember, if it wasn't for OGoTs like us, there wouldn't be an HBO series. Martin authored the series. WE made it popular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are always people who feel put out when the thing they have loved from the begining get wide popularity. In some cases they are right to be put out.

If you have played World of Warcraft from the start you have had to watch your game made easier for the millions of new players playing so each expansion is a dilution of that original briliance.

If you discover a briliant band you can go and see them in a small intimate venue but as they get more and more popular so does the venue eventualy your lookig at them through binoculars at a stadium

Books aren't like that, I only read GoT in January & I very quicky read all the other books and I'm eagerly awaiting The Dance. I feel your pain with the wait (I read the Scott Lynch & Partick Rothfuss' books when they came out) but us new fans will not diminish your enjoyment of the book. :grouphug:

This!

In 1996 I was 11 and reading Isaac Asimov's Foundation's series... I was more sci-fi oriented when I was younger.

I've started reading ASOIAF this December without knowing anything of the Tv series (I discovered about the tv show only after the purchase of AGOT).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been reading fantasy since the mid-80's, starting with Tolkien sometime when I was about 12 but I didn't read Game of Thrones until 2006 or 2007. :dunno:

The gain in popularity of LOTR doesn't bother me in the least. Not everyone is going to start reading a series when in begins, nor is there any "bad reason" for them getting interested in one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...