Game of Thrones

Post by **Tatsuya Ishida** » Thu May 23, 2019 2:56 pm

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/ob ... f-thrones/

Sociological storytelling versus psychological/individualized storytelling. Really important observation in our hyper-individualistic society.

AnonFan · Post by **AnonFan** » Fri May 24, 2019 11:19 am

I've never actually watched GoT [1], but this article definitely transcends the show itself. It was a very interesting read, and I completely agree, modern society is strongly focused around the concept of the dominant figure who rights all of the wrongs and who the story cannot live without. Zeynep's comments into the possible implications for modern machine intelligence is also very insightful.

[1] Nothing against those who do watch and like the show! I'm just not a big TV person, and I couldn't bring myself to watch a show which is reported to have so much sexual coercion as it makes me uncomfortable (personal preference).

Z6IIAB · Post by **Z6IIAB** » Fri May 24, 2019 12:15 pm

GothHick · Post by **GothHick** » Tue May 28, 2019 2:06 pm

I'm going to have to re-read that article with an eye to what Tatsuya mentioned. I'd come across it some time ago, read about a third and felt my frustrations were more succinctly ( and no less accurately ) addressed by pointing out books are more carefully planned and tv scripts are more "make it up as you go along." See also : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhKOV3nImQ ( spoiler warning if that matters )

Z6IIAB wrote:While I liked Tufekci's article, I couldn't bring myself to watch GoT.

Yeah, I can't say I know you beyond what I've read here but I suspect that's a good call. Snipes about the author-as-psychotic aside, even if you go back to the source material I think you'd find him an unforgivably lazy writer who overuses tropes as storytelling shorthand. Personally, I kind of dig reading almost any fiction just to see how authors put stories together, so references to existing forms, however cliched or distasteful, tend not to be dealbreakers for me.

I'd say your dismissal is a pity because you'd likely enjoy some of the sociological drama ( nothing mindblowing but it's nice to see anything in a swords and sorcery genre exercise ), but I dunno. I wouldn't appreciate someone recommending I visit a farm if I say I like animals but can't stand the smell of excrement.

Any fantasy / science fiction you'd reccommend or find intriguing? I'm always looking for suggestions.

janelane · Post by **janelane** » Tue May 28, 2019 5:43 pm

Hey GothHick, if you're a big fan of science fiction, might I recommend watching Love, Death + Robots on Netflix if you haven't already? It's a fantastic series of unrelated short animated films that deal with science fiction themes. I've enjoyed them immensely!

GothHick · Post by **GothHick** » Wed May 29, 2019 6:25 am

Thanks for the recommendation! I have seen it and it brought me joy just to see an anthology of animation shorts. That the story quality was solidly Twilught Zone level was icing on the cake. Kinda reminded me of the stuff I've seen on YouTube out of Oats Studio.

Look, though - I appreciate the response but belatedly realized my solicitation for recommendations is crazy far afield from what Mr. Ishida was originally posting about. I think its best to move this chatter to another topic ( see 'Game of Thrones is done, now what' ).

Z6IIAB · Post by **Z6IIAB** » Wed May 29, 2019 9:39 am

janelane wrote:Hey GothHick, if you're a big fan of science fiction, might I recommend watching Love, Death + Robots on Netflix if you haven't already? It's a fantastic series of unrelated short animated films that deal with science fiction themes. I've enjoyed them immensely!

I've watched those! They're pretty cool. I liked the one with the 3 bots and the cats. Dope ^^

Thanks for the input GotHick. I like fiction, but I don't like medieval/war fiction. I find it boring, at best. Maybe if women aren't raped I'd give it a go lol