Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Game of Thrones


I read George R.R. Martin's fantasy masterpiece Game of Thrones last year, and I was nervous about how it would translate to the small screen, but everyone is perfectly cast-- from Tyrion the dwarf to Daenerys to Ned Stark-- the characters met all my expectations and usually exceeded them (aside from Khal Drogo's impeccably waxed back) but here is the sad thing: after watching a few episodes, I no longer remember how I originally imagined the characters-- once I saw them rendered on my giant HDTV, all the previous images that I created, the unique vision of the novel that I held in my mind's eye-- this was instantly erased from my anemic brain; and we are used to this . . . it happens all the time: Billy Beane is Brad Pitt, John Adams is Paul Giamatti, and-- horror of horrors-- Hester Prynne is Demi Moore . . .we are no match for HD technology, and I suppose it's fine, in most cases, but there is some kid out there, who when you say "Johnny Cash," he imagines Joaquin Phoenix, and that is a travesty.

5 comments:

  1. You spelled "Joaquin" right but misspelled "Phoenix"?? What were the odds of that?

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  2. coin toss. i'll talk to my editor.

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  3. I love Dave's revisionist history tactics. He would have excelled in the Third Reich.

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  4. . . . except for the swarthiness thing.

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  5. Same thing happened to me with The Shipping News.

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