Changes you wouldn't mind.

[Padraig]

My biggest concern with the series is that they're going to tone down the ignorance and bigotry of the people of Westeros for the sake of being politically correct enough to appeal to American audiences. Women, dwarfs, fat people and people of low birth are all treated more or less like trash by the dominant males of the series.

I'm worried that a lot of the Tyrion bashing will be significantly played down at the very least.

HBO doesn't normally shy away from controversial stuff. I can certainly see Tyrion getting abuse, if only to increase our sympathy for him. The fall of Tyrion in aCoK and aSoS is tragic.

[Green Apple Fossoway]

My biggest concern with the series is that they're going to tone down the ignorance and bigotry of the people of Westeros for the sake of being politically correct enough to appeal to American audiences. Women, dwarfs, fat people and people of low birth are all treated more or less like trash by the dominant males of the series.

I'm worried that a lot of the Tyrion bashing will be significantly played down at the very least.

Have you ever seen Deadwood, or The Wire? That's actually one thing I've never been even remotely worried about.

[Cereal Forel]

I haven't seen The Wire, but yeah I guess Deadwood should put my fears to bed haha.

[HT Reddy]

Judging by the comments on this forum, on WIC and other sites, some people DO have a problem with the casting and make-up. Plenty of people have stated that Dinklage should be made uglier, or that certain actors are too good looking, or that the Hounds scars aren't big enough, or that certain actors aren't good looking enough or that Robert isn't tall enough or that unbelievably, Conan Stevens is not tall enough, or that the dogs aren't big enough, or that Sansa is too tall, or all these things that the believe aren't true enough to the text, or sometimes, their own image. I'm not imagining this, so apparently it is a point of contention. Is it everyone? Absolutely not. It is most likely a very vocal minority. That doesn't mean it is any less valid to point out that some people have unrealistic expectations out of the cast, set design, effects and makeup.

Sure, but I don't think it's an appropriate or fair comment in a 'changes you wouldn't mind' thread. Everyone knows that some people have different expectations of the series, that haven't been feasible for the producers to implement, but pointing that out here sounds as if you think you are superior for realising that people have unrealistic expectations. It wasn't relevant to the discussion or the thread.

[mummer]

Sure, but I don't think it's an appropriate or fair comment in a 'changes you wouldn't mind' thread. Everyone knows that some people have different expectations of the series, that haven't been feasible for the producers to implement, but pointing that out here sounds as if you think you are superior for realising that people have unrealistic expectations. It wasn't relevant to the discussion or the thread.

I for one had no problem reading smegma's comment as a simple response to what you said, which was that you hadn't seen anyone who thought Tyrion's or Arya's faces were a problem. Well, she has, and I have. That's all. No one said anything about being "superior", and for you to say so is, IMO, a bit gratuitously hostile.

If nit-picking a bit is inappropriate and unfair, then we'll have to delete most of this board.

[esque]

Any scene with Davos they cut out is good for me. Every time his name came up as the POV character for a chapter, I groaned.

As for actors that don't look exactly the same as they were described, I'd rather have that than casting a bunch of people who can't act just because they happen to look just like the character.

[Padraig]

Any scene with Davos they cut out is good for me. Every time his name came up as the POV character for a chapter, I groaned.

Awww. People normally like Davos well enough. Did you think the character was boring or his activities? I thought the shadow baby chapter was one of the most ominous in aCoK.

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

Awww. People normally like Davos well enough. Did you think the character was boring or his activities? I thought the shadow baby chapter was one of the most ominous in aCoK.

I find Davos a boring PoV to read from too - I'm just bored being in his head! However, I freaking love Stannis Baratheon, and I'm very interested in those goings-on so it's a mixed bag. I wish we'd had a Stannis PoV instead. I love reading PoV's of self-deluded people - it would be like a darker, more bitter Ned. :rolleyes:

[Padraig]

It was always interesting that the only POVs from leaders are Dany and Jon. Even Ned was just the Hand of the King.

I liked Ned, so I like Davos for being another take on Ned.

[esque]

Yes, what was boring was being in Davos's head, not what was happening with Stannis, etc. I'm hoping Davos will be a much more minor character in the show. We don't need him for most of the scenes with Stannis.

Padraig, what about Cersei? She's a leader--I find being in her head extremely fascinating. Martin does an amazing job depicting her paranoia.

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

Yes, what was boring was being in Davos's head, not what was happening with Stannis, etc. I'm hoping Davos will be a much more minor character in the show. We don't need him for most of the scenes with Stannis.

That's a thought... I always felt like Davos was conjured up specifically to have a look inside Stannis' court. The camera can do the looking for us if it's TV!

Still we do need someone to convince Stannis to do the "right" thing (Davos is like the "angel" on Stannis' shoulder in contrast to the "devil" Melisandre). I suppose they could just have him decide, and focus more on the struggle of his own morals vs. Melisandre's influence.

[Padraig]

I suppose they could just have him decide, and focus more on the struggle of his own morals vs. Melisandre's influence.

Possible. I do think Davos is the one POV character that could suffer given the surfeit of characters. They do need Stannis and Mel but Davos doesn't need to be prominent, although Stannis does need somebody else to surround him.

Fair point about Cersei. She was effectively the leader, although only till Tommen comes of age.

[HT Reddy]

I for one had no problem reading smegma's comment as a simple response to what you said, which was that you hadn't seen anyone who thought Tyrion's or Arya's faces were a problem. Well, she has, and I have. That's all. No one said anything about being "superior", and for you to say so is, IMO, a bit gratuitously hostile.

If nit-picking a bit is inappropriate and unfair, then we'll have to delete most of this board.

Okay, I didn't mean to be hostile - sorry :(

[fitheach]

I think it's quite interesting how people are so invested in the appearance of the characters. I think a lot of folks invested a great deal into the "ugliness" of some and the "legendary beauty" of others. When casting a TV show with real people (with talent and in some cases, respectable resumes) there are greater constraints. Personally I think the casting has been absolutely top notch and in the right direction. I think sometimes that Nina Gold has my dream job.

:agree: I want to work with Nina Gold as a casting agent/assistant!!!

Well, okay, and I guess is that this is what they'll do. But then again in the books, Arya looks so much like a boy that she is almost always taken for one, even when dressed in not explicitly male clothing. Maisie doesn't look like a boy, so I think I will struggle to suspend disbelief that other characters think she is one. So it will be interesting to see how they handle the whole thing.

I've seen plenty of boys who look pretty (the kid who plays Bran for example, is beautiful/pretty), so I don't think it'll be a stretch to have Maise pretend to be a boy. Maise's a dancer- so she'll be able to change her body language very easily to "boy".

[Asha—Not Yara!]

I thought of a change I wouldn't mind. Since there's some indications that HBO is going to show us more of the Renly and Loras relationship and not just have it subtly hint at in the books, I wouldn't mind HBO doing away with Renly's rainbow guard set up. With the rainbow flag being such a well known symbol for LGBT groups, I think on screen it'll just come across as over the top and cheesy, and it could very well break a lot of people's suspension of disbelief.

[Bronn Stone]

I thought of a change I wouldn't mind. Since there's some indications that HBO is going to show us more of the Renly and Loras relationship and not just have it subtly hint at in the books, I wouldn't mind HBO doing away with Renly's rainbow guard set up. With the rainbow flag being such a well known symbol for LGBT groups, I think on screen it'll just come across as over the top and cheesy, and it could very well break a lot of people's suspension of disbelief.

Good call. Have them BE rainbow colored, but give them a name directly drawn from the Seven.

[SamanthaofHodorsfield]

Good call. Have them BE rainbow colored, but give them a name directly drawn from the Seven.

Or do it the other way around. Call them the RG but change the cloaks. Brienne herself is called Brienne the Blue in the chapter she becomes part of the RG, so give her a Blue cloak; random RG dude in the corner can be BlahBlah the Yellow and so on and so forth until you have seven RG members, seven colours of the rainbow and we're sorted.

And to be totally honest, even though I have long been aware of the rainbow flag being a symbol for the LGBT groups, seeing the RG didn't scream Renly's sexuality to me. I just took it as Renly liking pageantry and pretty things and wanting to 'one up' the white of the KG. When the whole Renly/Loras relationship did click it was a total D'oh moment, with me wondering how I could possibly have missed it. :lol:

[Ran]

George never expected the rainbow cloak to signal anything, so that's all right. ;) That said, I suppose it's legitimate that the connotation is really strong for a lot of people and they will misconstrue the visual.

I like the approach of just outfitting each of the knights with a different cloak color, or just a different color of armor (after all, most of them did have different armor colors). That ought to work pretty well.

[Cereal Forel]

I personally don't think Davos will be a problem in the series (though I did despise seeing his name at the top of chapters). In the show we won't have to be dealing with how boring he is in his head, we'll just be seeing his speaking parts.

The only Davos chapter I've liked was when he was stranded on his little island with the crabs.

Does anyone know if the series will try to emulate the book with the POV chapters at all? Like, for instance, will we be able to watch an episode and tell which parts are specific POV character's chapters in the books?

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

Does anyone know if the series will try to emulate the book with the POV chapters at all? Like, for instance, will we be able to watch an episode and tell which parts are specific POV character's chapters in the books?

They may try to set up shots so that we only see what the characters can see. I don't mean literally over the shoulder at all times, but, for example, always stay in the room with the PoV character. Otherwise I dunno. I suppose they could do something like zooming in on the PoV character ala LOST but that would be cheesy IMO.