I just had a really upsetting bout of my Character Separation Disorder.
I've dove headfirst into George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice and Fire series over the past week, and last night and today finally finished out the first season of HBO's adaptation of the books, Game of Thrones.
After shutting off Thrones, I started flipping and found The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring on Starz.
I was horrified as I watched Ned Stark (Sean Bean) try to steal The Ring from Frodo. HORRIFIED! Of course, here Bean was not playing Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, but Boromir of Gondor. And while Ned is you know, the man, and holds honor above everything, (except maybe the life of his teenage daughter...*sigh* Poor Sansa) Boromir is kind of a dick. But still ends up dead before the end of the first book. (Seriously, try playing a character who makes it.)
While the one thing that I've been assured is absolutely true in Martin's fantasy world is that no one is safe, I still find myself continually shocked when characters I love die.
Anyway, other ghosts of fantasy epics past who keep showing up in Westeros?
Osha, a Wildling (indigenous people) who befriends Bran Stark (the cutest little kid on the planet) is played by the same actress who played Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter. I do not want to see Osha die a horrible grisly Ice and Fire death, but at least I'll be prepped, having seen her do it before. (That sigh from before, for Poor Sansa, also applies to Poor Teddy Lupin).
It's also confusing to see Sarah Connor (or her TV version at least) running around ordering the death of direwolves and boinking her brother as she plays Queen Cersei. But, hey, at least she has a different hair color, such simple distractions make all the difference when you're suffering from CSD.
Game of Thrones in general is like begging me for a big ol' CSD attack, but I think I managed it pretty well.
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Fanboys vs. Fangirls
I'm kind of into gender studies. In case that needed to be said. I'm a XCORE cultural and social feminist, (I espouse the belief that on a political and legal level men and women are equal in this country. There is no more institutionalized sexism, which is cool and all, except for that there are still sexists. Cultural feminism focuses on changing attitudes through cultural shifts to remove sexism.) But one of the big things to look at when it comes to gender studies is the difference between men and women, Mars and Venus and all of that.
While I was trying to write a coherent review of Thor that didn't just go: "And then we saw Chris Hemsworth's abs and it was glorious!" I started thinking about the difference between fangirls, and fanboys.
To the uninitiated, a "fanboy" or "fangirl" is an excessive fan of genre material, usually sci fi or fantasy. Usually, fanboys and fangirls are not exclusive to one franchise, but obsess about many different series. The Stars, Wars and Trek, tend to be exempted, since they're both so extensive, one can be a Star fanboy or girl, because there is so much information to take it.
But there are huge differences between fanboys and fangirls.
Fanboys tend to get obsessive about the minutiae of things. They're details guys. You know, they're the ones who noticed Greedo shooting first, and have written pages and pages and pages about Hayden Christiansen being edited into the end of Return of The Jedi. These are the guys who own The Animatrix on DVD, who tried to piece together every piece of the Lost puzzle. They go to conventions and post on Whedonesque. They collect things.
Fangirls obsess about the big picture stuff. They want to know plot details and are concerned with...you know what, forget it.
OK, here's the deal with fangirls, they want to know who ends up with who. They form "Teams," which are highly cultish groups of fangirls who support one outcome or the other. The most famous of these obviously come from Twilight, and the Team Edward and Team Jacob. But it's not the only one. I know as Lost was wrapping up, several fangirls started splitting into teams, and the same as Harry Potter approached it's finale. (For the record, here are my teams, Jacob, Sawyer/Juliet and Ron/Hermione Harry/Ginny I was also however briefly Neville/Luna.) Fangirls also bring this into things that are non genre, I know that Team Brooke and Team Peyton was a thing for One Tree Hill for a while, and I continually declare myself in the Nerena camp for Gossip Girl (So blonde, so dumb, so perfect!) But for the most part we stick with the genre. We're the girls who couldn't believe that Rachel was going to marry Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, and were even more shocked when she died. (WHO WILL BRUCE MAKE OUT WITH NOW?) We have tee shirts and chat rooms and everything else.
Also, we really like seeing guys with their shirts off. I'm pretty sure fanboys also enjoy genre boobs, so that's something we have in common. That being said, I know girls who are more fanboy, and boys who are fangirl. I like to think that I'm somewhere in between, but I definitely lean more towards fangirl.
While I was trying to write a coherent review of Thor that didn't just go: "And then we saw Chris Hemsworth's abs and it was glorious!" I started thinking about the difference between fangirls, and fanboys.
To the uninitiated, a "fanboy" or "fangirl" is an excessive fan of genre material, usually sci fi or fantasy. Usually, fanboys and fangirls are not exclusive to one franchise, but obsess about many different series. The Stars, Wars and Trek, tend to be exempted, since they're both so extensive, one can be a Star fanboy or girl, because there is so much information to take it.
But there are huge differences between fanboys and fangirls.
Fanboys tend to get obsessive about the minutiae of things. They're details guys. You know, they're the ones who noticed Greedo shooting first, and have written pages and pages and pages about Hayden Christiansen being edited into the end of Return of The Jedi. These are the guys who own The Animatrix on DVD, who tried to piece together every piece of the Lost puzzle. They go to conventions and post on Whedonesque. They collect things.
Fangirls obsess about the big picture stuff. They want to know plot details and are concerned with...you know what, forget it.
OK, here's the deal with fangirls, they want to know who ends up with who. They form "Teams," which are highly cultish groups of fangirls who support one outcome or the other. The most famous of these obviously come from Twilight, and the Team Edward and Team Jacob. But it's not the only one. I know as Lost was wrapping up, several fangirls started splitting into teams, and the same as Harry Potter approached it's finale. (For the record, here are my teams, Jacob, Sawyer/Juliet and Ron/Hermione Harry/Ginny I was also however briefly Neville/Luna.) Fangirls also bring this into things that are non genre, I know that Team Brooke and Team Peyton was a thing for One Tree Hill for a while, and I continually declare myself in the Nerena camp for Gossip Girl (So blonde, so dumb, so perfect!) But for the most part we stick with the genre. We're the girls who couldn't believe that Rachel was going to marry Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, and were even more shocked when she died. (WHO WILL BRUCE MAKE OUT WITH NOW?) We have tee shirts and chat rooms and everything else.
Also, we really like seeing guys with their shirts off. I'm pretty sure fanboys also enjoy genre boobs, so that's something we have in common. That being said, I know girls who are more fanboy, and boys who are fangirl. I like to think that I'm somewhere in between, but I definitely lean more towards fangirl.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
In Praise of Tamora Pierce
In case you were wondering why even the "Summer Reading" posts dried up over the past few weeks, allow me to explain...
I've been rereading the work of author Tamora Pierce. Pierce writes fantasy novels geared towards teenage girls (SOOO right up my alley folks, you've got no clue) and I was a big fan of her work in middle school.
Her books are written in "quartets" or "cycles," and she has created two mystical realms. TWO!
One is the world of "The Circle of Magic," "The Circle Opens," and then two other sequels "The Will of The Empress" and "Melting Stones." I'm almost through "The Circle Opens," on the fourth book in that quartet. I'm enjoying them. I'd read "The Circle of Magic" before but I didn't remember much of it. I'd forgotten how finely detailed everything in the series was. Or maybe I didn't notice last time at any rate...
The other is her original world, the fantasy kingdom of Tortall, where her Lioness, Immortals and Protector of The Small Quartets all take place, as well as Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. This summer I've read The Lioness again, and I'm doing The Immortals next. I LOVED the series when I was younger. Loved, loved loved! I love them more now. At twelve I didn't really appreciate the detail put into the stories, the characterization. Also, I totally didn't pick up on the fact that Alanna, the heroine of The Lioness was kind of a slut. Not really, just kinda.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more of the ones I didn't read in middle school now, since once I finish The Immortals I won't have read any of them. But seriously, I suggest you pick up her stuff, if you're into fantasy that is, otherwise I doubt you'd like it.
I've been rereading the work of author Tamora Pierce. Pierce writes fantasy novels geared towards teenage girls (SOOO right up my alley folks, you've got no clue) and I was a big fan of her work in middle school.
Her books are written in "quartets" or "cycles," and she has created two mystical realms. TWO!
One is the world of "The Circle of Magic," "The Circle Opens," and then two other sequels "The Will of The Empress" and "Melting Stones." I'm almost through "The Circle Opens," on the fourth book in that quartet. I'm enjoying them. I'd read "The Circle of Magic" before but I didn't remember much of it. I'd forgotten how finely detailed everything in the series was. Or maybe I didn't notice last time at any rate...
The other is her original world, the fantasy kingdom of Tortall, where her Lioness, Immortals and Protector of The Small Quartets all take place, as well as Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. This summer I've read The Lioness again, and I'm doing The Immortals next. I LOVED the series when I was younger. Loved, loved loved! I love them more now. At twelve I didn't really appreciate the detail put into the stories, the characterization. Also, I totally didn't pick up on the fact that Alanna, the heroine of The Lioness was kind of a slut. Not really, just kinda.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more of the ones I didn't read in middle school now, since once I finish The Immortals I won't have read any of them. But seriously, I suggest you pick up her stuff, if you're into fantasy that is, otherwise I doubt you'd like it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
