Is Game of Thrones Really Overrated? An Honest Review of the First Season

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In summary, the speaker believes that Game of Thrones is overrated due to its excessive sex and nudity, lack of original and interesting characters, and excessive violence. They also compare it to classic literature and express confusion over its popularity. However, they acknowledge that it may not be for everyone and do not wish to offend anyone's taste.
  • #1
Jow
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I have recently finished watching the first season of "Game of Thrones" and I must say it must be one of the most overrated shows I have ever watched. I know this will probably annoy many people but I just cannot understand the allure of it. I invite you to tell me whether you agree or disagree with me and why. Keep in mind that I have not read the books and therefore I am only commenting on the show. At any rate these are my reasons for thinking as I do:

1) The amount of sex and nudity in the show is at best unnecessary and at worst revolting. While generally I am uncomfortable with nudity in shows I am perfectly fine with it as long as it advances the story line or has some sort of purpose. For example I understand the scene with the blonde girl and the savage (forgive me I have forgotten their names). That scene helps develop the girl's character, but every other sex scene is just unnecessary. Although, I suppose all of that nudity is part of the allure; it draws in a bunch of lonely teenagers. Furthermore, the show is very nearly sexist. All of the men in this show seem to use prostitutes on a daily basis. Aside from a few of the noble women the rest are whores. Admittedly if you were to compare the era in Game of Thrones to the Middle Ages it would make sense that women on the show are not treated equally but they shouldn't all work in brothels.

2) Dickens would often take a morally good character who wasn't extremely interesting on his/her own and surround them with extremely dynamic characters. It seems to me that this show takes a basically good and honourable character (Ned) who isn't very interesting on his own and surrounds him with even duller characters. In fact many of them (ie: Geoffrey, Robert, the blonde Queen, Ned's daughter who plays with swords and the sword master) are so archetypal that they border on cliche. How many times in other works of fiction have we met the eccentric master, the girl who doesn't want to follow the traditional path for girls, the bratty prince who has too much power, the scheming Queen and the fat and lazy King. They none of them are original. As well, even the characters who may not be as cliched as the others are rather boring and two dimensional. With the exception of the blonde Khaleesi none of them go through any sort of character development throughout the entire season.

3) This next reason is something that doesn't really matter as it is simply a hangup of mine, but I feel it is worth mentioning. Although the amount of blood and gore isn't too, too much, the fact that when bloody scenes happen it is generally extremely gruesomendid put me off a little. This is mainly because I generally enjoy a snack with movies or shows of movie like intensity and the gore did stop me from eating.

I don't mean to say that "Game of Thrones" is a bad show, but it seems to me that due to all of it's faults it does not deserve the high praise it has been getting. If you disagree feel free to express your opinion. Although I am unlikely to watch the second season please do not spoil any thing from it in your comments. I may still watch it if you convince me that the show is better than I give it credit it for.
 
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  • #2
Game of Thrones is overrated
No, it is not.

:smile:
 
  • #3
rootX said:
No, it is not.

here, It's really not over rated, it is the only show I've watched as it came out since the late 90's.

I am not bothered by nudity or violence even if it is gratuitous. Quite a few people wants to see attractive people doing "morally questionable" things together and they want to see some ones head get chopped off. It's more interesting than my average day and miss Stormborn has dragons.

I like classic literature too, but I wouldn't compare a comic book to it just as much as I wouldn't compare it to a TV show (even if it is based off of a book), they are completely different mediums for telling a story. Maybe one could better compare the GoT books to classic work but it is still a very different group of people living now.

I could see the show not being for everyone, for some of the exact reasons Jow cited, but I also see the show doing very well, and it wouldn't be if it wasn't what a lot of people wanted to see.
 
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  • #4
1350243.jpg


Does that about sum it up?

1) Sex and nudity doesn't bother most viewers.

2) The show wasn't written by Dickens.

3) Gore doesn't bother most viewers either.
 
  • #5
When I compared Game of Thrones to Dickens I did not mean that all fiction must be of the same greatness as his books were. Rather I meant to comment on how much entertainment has changed. Dickens was immensely popular in his day. He wrote in periodicals (which would be the closest thing to television in Victorian England). It seems to me that what our society considers as entertainment has completely shifted. Instead of good story telling with characters one could become emotionally attached to we have excessive sex and violence. I don't mean to offend anybody's taste but I simply cannot understand why people like it SO much. To me all it is, is socially acceptable pornography and a lot of blood.
So to answer Jack21222's question I am not simply an old man yelling at a cloud. I am a fifteen year old trying to understand why Game of Thrones is so praised by almost everyone when it has no real substance. (Although, I understand that some of the things I said, especially my aversion to sex, could give the impression of me being an old man).
 
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  • #6
I agree, GOT is overrated. There simply isn't enough sex and gore in that movie for my taste. I mean we have to wait for three seasons to even get some damn zombies. Really boring stuff.
 
  • #7
David Perdue said:
This theme is further explored in Nicholas Nickleby. Unprimed modern readers may fail to pick up the clues. To understand what is going on in the scene where Uncle Ralph offers to find Kate employment with Mrs. Mantalini, that milliners’ shops were renowned places where men could pick up tarts:

Dressmakers in London, as I need not remind you, ma'am, who are so well acquainted with all matters in the ordinary routine of life, make large fortunes, keep equipages, and become persons of great wealth and fortune...

Mrs. Nickleby is too unworldly to realize that "milliner" was more or less a euphemism for prostitute. Many seamstresses took to prostitution as a means of supporting themselves. Dressmakers' shops were notorious as pick-up places for prostitutes and their clients. Readers of Nicholas Nickleby in the late 1830's would comprehend the hints from the descriptions of Madame Mantalini's premises, and the behaviour of Sir Mulberry Hawk.
Dickens and Sex
He was a pioneer, Game of Thrones is a follower.
 
  • #8
Admittedly, although the book series is quite good, there are many better books in the world.

But compared to much of the ...manure... that's on tv, its really a very good show.

Perhaps the OP can suggest to us something better to watch.
 
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  • #9
Jow said:
So to answer Jack21222's question I am not simply an old man yelling at a cloud. I am a fifteen year old trying to understand why Game of Thrones is so praised by almost everyone when it has no real substance.
Sorry but isn't Game of Thrones R18?

Every one has different tastes. I don't really care what someone else thinks but I loved first two seasons and I know third season is going to be even more awesome as I have read the 3rd novel.
 
  • #10
There's a Game of Thrones class this semester at my university. I think that may be too much. I've seen every episode and plan to follow it through to the end, but I agree it is a little overrated.
 
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  • #11
ZombieFeynman said:
Perhaps the OP can suggest to us something better to watch.

I don't watch TV, nothing is very good on television. I suppose that is one of the reasons Game of Thrones is so highly praised. Because it is not tragically flawed it is considered great compared to other things. The only show I actually follow is Doctor Who.
 
  • #12
I find the books to be very fun to read. The story and characters are wonderful. I honestly haven't enjoyed a fantasy story quite so much since The Once & Future King (not making a comparison of literary merit).

I've not seen the television show, but others who have experienced both the books and the show tell me that the show -- while good and enjoyable -- does not quite do the books justice (as is often the case).
 
  • #13
EricVT, I was considering reading the books, even though I do not care for the show. I know the books are almost always better than their TV/movie counterparts. I generally enjoy fantasy so the books may be enjoyable. Although I have been hard on the show, I would like to give the novels a try before I decide to dislike the franchise.
 
  • #14
EricVT said:
I've not seen the television show, but others who have experienced both the books and the show tell me that the show -- while good and enjoyable -- does not quite do the books justice (as is often the case).

I can't remember ever seeing something (tv or movie) that does as much justice to the respective books as GoT, to me.

To the OP, if one dislikes all things on tv, one may that they dislike a particular program. I also do not watch much tv. I've never seen Dr Who, but I've heard many good things. Breaking Bad is a similarly well written show as GoT, in my opinion. I think to say nothing is good on the television thing is wrong; such a statement is the height of hubris. Plenty of people find plenty of programming very good. Its a subjective statement. As is what is, and is not, overrated.

Also, to me you have criticized peripheral elements of the show.

1. You think the sex doesn't advance the show. I would argue that a large number of the sex scenes do advance the show and character development. I am sure if you named when a scene happened, i could explain how that scene enhanced the show beyond "sex sells".

2. Dickens didnt write game of thrones. Name your favorite work of fiction. I bet i can reduce its characters down to two or three word phrases. I think the characters are well written and quite thoroughly gray in their morality.

3. Youre upset by violence in a show about essentially warfare and political subterfuge in a violent, cruel, morally ambiguous hellhole? Thats interesting.

But I am a zombie, so i can't even think, let alone analyze works of fiction.
 
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  • #15
I have no problem with nudity or gore, but GOT was lame, didn't make it past the fest episode.

The thing that annoying is that the nudity/gore seems to be a fill in for actual material.

I like American Horror Story, for instance. The acting and writing are (uually) good.
 
  • #16
Things to watch instead:

American Horror Story
Boss (with Kelsey Grammer)
Justified
 
  • #17
ZombieFeynman: I do not dislike all things on TV. I should not have said that "nothing is very good on television" (I agree that to make such a statement is very arrogant). Rather, I should have said I have not seen many good things on television. This is of course mainly due to the fact that I rarely watch it, so I apologize for making such a sweeping statement; mea culpa.
1) I must disagree with your opinion that a large number of the sex scenes advance the show and character development. While it is true that during some of the sex scenes certain characters develop (I am reluctant to use the word "develop" as most characters stay two-dimensional through out the season), it is also true that these characters did not need to be naked during this time of development. The sex itself did not further the story. (Just for fun explain to me how the scene where the male Targaryan was in the bath with a prostitute helped develop his character).
2) As I stated before I realize that no one will ever be able to write like Dickens again, I was just making a comparison to the popular entertainment of our day to that of Victorian England. My favourite work of fiction would be The Lord of the Rings. Although I don't see how that is relevant because the characters in any work can be "reduced" down to two or three word phrases. The fact of the matter is, when you take the characters of a Game of Thrones and sum them up in two or three word phrases you are not "reducing" because they are already two-dimensional. As well, you can have two/three word phrase characters and still have very dynamic ones. In Game of Thrones however most of the characters are, as I said, simply cliches.
3) If you had read my original post carefully you would have seen that I prefaced my point against violence with "the next reason is something that doesn't really matter". I am not upset by it, I just think it is a little off putting. I realize that the matter of violence is a completely subjective one, I just felt that for the purpose of covering all the reasons I was not impressed by the show I ought to have mentioned it.
 
  • #18
Thank you Pythagorean. I was starting to believe that I was the only person that doesn't like Game of Thrones. I have had this same debate with friends and family; it is nice to find someone who actually agrees.
 
  • #19
Jow, Game of Thrones is indeed, as others said, targeted at people who like sex/drama/violence bundle. I am a great fan of the books, and I suggest you to read them, since they are so much more detailed and deep than the series that I just have to stop typing now and focus on TV adaptation. I can't say whether the show is underrated or not, since it's not that famous in my current country of residence, but as far as my own interest towards the series goes, the big selling points to me are:
(1) Historical realism. You could complain about women treated unequally in GoT, but I suspect that's the way it was in medieval Europe. The costumes are unique, and the last time I saw such an attention and creativity shown on screen was back it times when LotR came out. Of course, the "realistic" elements in the show go too far sometimes, but I think it's a good reminder to those who think of medieval Europe as of a place filled with noble knights and ladies like a jar of pickles. Sadly, the battle scenes are mostly missing due to budget limits, but they compensate it in the second season.
(2) Character depth. Ha, bet you didn't see this one coming! Come on, you've just watched a TV adaptation of a book in which http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-2000/most-character-voices-for-an-audio-book-individual/ characters are given the right to speak. This is a TV season based on a book which is meant as a mere introduction to a (3) with (1). Please understand that you are comparing TV series to a book. Worse than that, you are comparing not-yet-finished TV series to a classic book and expect the same depth of character's inner world. You wouldn't get a lot of character development in the first part of The Great Expectations, right? Besides, G.R.R.Martin (the guy who writes the books) gets boring ones killed (as he did with Ned) or changes them radically later on in the books. Now as for your comparison to Dickens, if you start comparing the books, your point doesn't hold any more. I would call Tyrion Lannister as complex a character as any featured in Dickens novels. More to say, I suspect that the upcoming Great Expectations film would fail to intrigue me as much as GoT did.
(3) Sandbox world. I am quite a fan of fantasy setting, but A Game of Thrones (again, I start to refer to the book) took me by surprise with it's dynamic world. It is changing, and it seems to do so not by the will of the writer, but rather by evolving under unpredictable actions of both major and minor characters. After Game of Thrones, most of other fantasy novels seem predictable and dull.
I think I have to stop myself from typing now. Once again, I'm not saying that TV adaptation is not overrated, I just want to show that if sex and violence are not much to your taste, you still could find other stuff interesting.
 
  • #20
I like the book, with the lots of in-depth characters. :)
I skip the TV show... i don't want to throw up...
 
  • #21
stargazer3: I suspected that the books would be able to go far more in depth in terms of characters. However, I must disagree with you in your statement tha I wouldn't find a lot of character development in the first part of Great Expectations (although it is still a tad unjust comparing Game of Thrones to Dickens). I do find Tyrion Lanister complex, but he is an archetype: unloved by father, commitment issues. I think, though, I shall give the second season a try to see if it gets any better, but I still maintain the position that the show is overrated and for now the first season was not very good.
 
  • #22
Jow, some of the shallowness of the characters you perceive may be in part to die to the acting.

Doesn't anyone else find the acting to be banal? Even if you like the cannon? I always love hearing about cannons, but the stories within them are sometimes tedious if not told right (not dating anything about the books, btw).
 
  • #23
Pythagorean said:
Jow, some of the shallowness of the characters you perceive may be in part to die to the acting.

Doesn't anyone else find the acting to be banal? Even if you like the cannon? I always love hearing about cannons, but the stories within them are sometimes tedious if not told right (not dating anything about the books, btw).

Acting is always an easy thing to pick on. In a show with many actors, it's sometimes difficult to get them all right. I admit some portrayals in GoT are a bit...off. I suppose I just suspend disbelief.

Also, although cannons are fun, I'm not sure how relevant they are here. There is no gun powder in Game of Thrones... :biggrin:
 
  • #24
The thing that confuses me is why are you even giving the show so many chances if you don't like it? If you don't like it, I'd recommend you stop watching it.
 
  • #25
Jack21222 said:
The thing that confuses me is why are you even giving the show so many chances if you don't like it? If you don't like it, I'd recommend you stop watching it.

I always feel that before I really can say I don't like something I have to give it a proper chance. Really, at the moment, all I can say is I didn't like the first season. I have no opinion on the second season or the books. In fact, I read the entire Twilight series just so I could argue with my friend who loved it (I enjoy a good argument).
 
  • #26
I wouldn't call GoT "overrated"--I found it riveting and full of interesting story, with or without archetypical characters--but I agree with Jow that most of the sexual content amounts to "socially acceptable pornography". In my opinion, this is a negative thing. But to discuss this would be beyond the scope of these forums, neh? ;)
 
  • #27
I didn't read any of this thread, but I agree, the original poster should be banned for his blasphemy!
 
  • #28
Pengwuino said:
I didn't read any of this thread, but I agree, the original poster should be banned for his blasphemy!

If truth is what you call blasphemy :)
 
  • #29
Being blissfully unaware of Game of Thrones, it was without preconceptions that I watched all 20 HBO episodes last month over a four day period. This month, I bought the books and I'm currently into the fourth in the series.

The great virtue of the books is that they are "page turners", quite skillfully written and very entertaining. This has been carried over into the lavish TV productions, and they are incredibly entertaining, as well.

Being familiar with the Wars of the Roses, upon which the series is loosely based, I was initially put off by the zombies, shapeshifters, dragons and other aspects of magic and paranormality portrayed in the TV series. And I was also surprised about the full frontal nudity until I remembered this was a paid subscription cable production I was watching.

As to whether the productions are overrated, it must first be remarked that the books are bestsellers and the TV series seem wildly popular. Secondly, the values reflected in Game of Thrones are precisely those of our own culture and society. So the graphic sexuality, violence, lies, deception, betrayal, corruption, nepotism, eternal urge to power, control and self-aggrandizement, insane religions and super-naturalism are only an artful reflection of our own times and its agonies. So it would seem that if the series is overrated, then so is our own culture.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve
 
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  • #30
I am much more a fan of Tolkien, LotR.

I didn't read the GoT, but I did watch a few episodes. The world didn't wrap me within it like the Lord of the Rings books and movies. So, I stopped watching it.

As to whether the productions are overrated, it must first be remarked that the books are bestsellers and the TV series seem wildly popular. Secondly, the values reflected in Game of Thrones are precisely those of our own culture and society. So the graphic sexuality, violence, lies, deception, betrayal, corruption, nepotism, eternal urge to power, control and self-aggrandizement, insane religions and super-naturalism are only an artful reflection of our own times and its agonies. So it would seem that if the series is overrated, then so is our own culture.

Much could be said with any other novel or movie out there, e.g. LoTR and Star Wars.

I believe the OP means that its story slacks off and is overrated as something that is good when it is not.

Sex is fine in my opinion, however, in this series, just too much. It feels more gratuitous for its own sake and doesn't evoke feeling when being presented to the viewer. It is empty, banal, and annoying, when sex should be used as a device that expands upon engulfing the viewer into the universe. If I want to watch a bunch of empty sex scenes, I have porn for that. When I want to see an actual story and world, I expect to see/read it and be able to immerse myself into it.



Other things I didn't like about it aside from too much sex is the lack of plot-building and rarely any character building. I felt the father [spoiler ]was killed off way too early just so the story can prove to the viewer it is "original". This killing of the father provokes the Northern kingdom to rebel but I don't even feel it as I never had much feeling for father in the first place due to the lack of character building. To me, he seemed more like fodder than anything else. Why would his death spark such outrage as to make a means for the kingdom to rebel? Of course we hear the reason, but hearing something is the cause isn't what a story should do, instead it should make you feel it as is supposed to be the intent of a story.

Making the "false" king so evil to his core is also unoriginal and annoyingly fake. Usually there is much more dimensions to such people in life and in stories; even though some child kings are brutal and immature, they usually have some salience of reason backed by their brutality. He is so 1-dimensional that he just brutalizes for no reason just so the writer can put some sense of moral obligation onto the viewer to hate the character. Instead of understanding his reasons, he is empty just like the sex scenes and is used to actually make up for a lack-luster story.

Seeing false king along with mother = bad people, we hate! Even Darth Vader made us have some feeling of remorse for his actions. I still believe Darth Vader is misunderstood to a certain extent and his life just proves how certain wrongs and actions taken in life can warp the outlook of a person. It can even make them delusional to a certain extent. This child King has no such outlook, he is more akin to a brat than anything else and such people used as emotional pronging devices just proves that the story is weak.
 
  • #31
Its got Dragons, Swords and a world of fantasy! Good entertainment! :)

Btw.

BRING BACK FIREFLY!
 
  • #32
Mentalist said:
Other things I didn't like about it aside from too much sex is the lack of plot-building and rarely any character building.

It's clear that you only watched a few episodes. There is plot building and character building in every episode. Some of the best fleshed-out characters are Daenerys, Tyrion, Jon, and Ayra. Sure, there are some cardboard characters, but this is a series with something like 30 major characters. If they took as much time with every character as they took with those four, there'd have to be thirty episodes per season rather than ten.
 
  • #33
For me, the dwarf character (Tyrion) is the highlight of the show. I don't think I would enjoy it half as much if not for him.
 
  • #34
jbunniii said:
For me, the dwarf character (Tyrion) is the highlight of the show. I don't think I would enjoy it half as much if not for him.

I like him too. The actor playing Tyrion would be Peter Dinklage, winner of the Emmy and Golden Globe Award for supporting actor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Dinklage

His character indeed does show development throughout the series, albeit of a certain moral ambivalence! (I'm between the 4th and 5th novel)

Respectfully,
Steve
 
  • #35
I agree with the way they use sex and nudity, but I find the show to be fairly entertaining. However after the draught of reality shows interrupted by sitcom it is not a big stretch to go a step up.

But even so the show is not put toegether cheaply and it tells.

But just out of curiosity, what show would you prefer to this one?
 
<h2>1. Why do people think Game of Thrones is overrated?</h2><p>Many people believe that Game of Thrones received excessive hype and praise, leading to an overinflated perception of its quality. Some also argue that the show's ending was disappointing and did not live up to the high expectations set by previous seasons.</p><h2>2. What are some criticisms of Game of Thrones being overrated?</h2><p>One of the main criticisms is that the show's writing and plot became weaker in later seasons, relying too heavily on shock value and sacrificing character development. Others argue that the show's popularity overshadowed other deserving shows and unfairly dominated award ceremonies.</p><h2>3. Is Game of Thrones truly overrated?</h2><p>This is a subjective question and opinions will vary. While some may believe the show is overrated, others may argue that it deserves all the praise it received for its stunning visuals, complex storytelling, and talented cast.</p><h2>4. How did the overhype of Game of Thrones affect the show?</h2><p>The immense hype surrounding the show may have put pressure on the creators and writers to deliver an ending that satisfied everyone, which can be difficult to achieve. Additionally, the high expectations may have led to heightened criticism and disappointment when the show did not meet those expectations.</p><h2>5. Are there any positive aspects of Game of Thrones being overrated?</h2><p>Some may argue that the show's popularity helped bring more attention to the fantasy genre and opened the door for other shows to explore similar themes and storytelling techniques. It also sparked passionate discussions and debates among viewers, creating a strong community and fanbase.</p>

1. Why do people think Game of Thrones is overrated?

Many people believe that Game of Thrones received excessive hype and praise, leading to an overinflated perception of its quality. Some also argue that the show's ending was disappointing and did not live up to the high expectations set by previous seasons.

2. What are some criticisms of Game of Thrones being overrated?

One of the main criticisms is that the show's writing and plot became weaker in later seasons, relying too heavily on shock value and sacrificing character development. Others argue that the show's popularity overshadowed other deserving shows and unfairly dominated award ceremonies.

3. Is Game of Thrones truly overrated?

This is a subjective question and opinions will vary. While some may believe the show is overrated, others may argue that it deserves all the praise it received for its stunning visuals, complex storytelling, and talented cast.

4. How did the overhype of Game of Thrones affect the show?

The immense hype surrounding the show may have put pressure on the creators and writers to deliver an ending that satisfied everyone, which can be difficult to achieve. Additionally, the high expectations may have led to heightened criticism and disappointment when the show did not meet those expectations.

5. Are there any positive aspects of Game of Thrones being overrated?

Some may argue that the show's popularity helped bring more attention to the fantasy genre and opened the door for other shows to explore similar themes and storytelling techniques. It also sparked passionate discussions and debates among viewers, creating a strong community and fanbase.

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