I'm really intrigued by the next couple of movies that she's involved in. Opening in wide release this week is Under the Skin, in which she plays an alien who preys on men. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and her performance in particular has been highly praised. It's also one of the few sci-fi/fantasy movies coming out that isn't a sequel or a reboot, which is exciting in its own right.
She'll also be starring in Lucy, which opens in August. Everything about this hits my happy buttons - Luc Besson wrote and directed, it's about a woman who takes revenge on the mob after she's used as an unwitting drug mule, the drugs they sewed up into her abdomen gave her super powers, and it's Scarlett Johansson dealing out the ultraviolence. Midnight showing, anyone? Click here for the trailer.
And now, for a discussion that will likely infuriate some of you...
Why should I worry about spoiling Game of Thrones for people?
The first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, came out in 1996. A Clash of Kings followed two years later, and the book that the series is currently covering, A Storm of Swords, came out in 2000. Just to make my point really explicit, that is nearly fifteen years ago. If this book was a person, it would be getting a learner's permit and making bad decisions at parties. I started reading the books at about that point, so I've known for close to a decade and a half who lives and who dies. I was one of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who literally jumped up and down for joy when I found out GoT was being made into a series, and by HBO, no less. I don't claim to speak for all the nerds out there who have known and loved these books for as long or longer than I have, but I think a certain segment would agree with me when I say that if you can't be bothered to read the books, why should I bother to keep my mouth shut when I know there's something exciting in the next episode?
I got into a little bit of an argument with my boyfriend over this last week. Episode one ended, and the previews foreshadowed a death that people have been panting for since the moment they met the character that's being knocked off. In my excitement, I said, "yes, finally! I hate him so much." The other people in the room who knew what I was talking about gave me a very stern lecture about how if I couldn't keep my mouth shut, I shouldn't bother coming, although I'm not sure if the non-readers actually noticed or not.
Not everyone who's really into the show is going to have read the books beforehand, but once they realize how awesome it is, why wouldn't they just read them? The books are fantastic in their own right, and as an added bonus there wouldn't be thousands of people with advance knowledge that they don't have, just lurking around waiting to spoil things for them. Why am I responsible for guarding their willful ignorance?
My boyfriend pointed out how arrogant that is, and I honestly can't disagree. I'm clearly privileging my desire to talk about something that excites me over their desire to be surprised. Even though I'm very happy that GoT has become such a hot property, I feel a little smugness that I've known about it for years now, and a little irritation that something that I've loved passionately for so long is a trend for other people. Those are ugly feelings to admit to, but they're there.
So, long story short, I'm going to try to avoid spoiling things for my friends because I'm not a total asshole, but I'm not a good enough person to be totally ok with it. Agree? Disagree? Want set me on fire? There's no wrong answer there.
I've definitely entered into similar arguments, namely with an old friend of mine who has also read all of the George Martin books and had purposely posted a spoiler on Facebook to be a jerk. He was a bit arrogant about having read the books and had the attitude that "people should just read them instead of watching the TV show". Personally, I think the George Martin books are not nearly important enough literature for a large part of society to have read them, and 15 years is really not very long in a literary sense...it would be silly for a person to be upset with a LOTR spoiler, or a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea spoiler, or a Dracula spoiler. Like, in that situation, it's like--read a goddamn book, dude, this shit's been around for most of a century/over a century, tons of people know the story because it's a classic that has been referenced throughout pop culture, get over it. But the Martin novels, I mean...they are not "classics" yet. They're not important literature in the same way the others are, and, I just cannot be bothered with them right now. I'm a gigantic fantasy nerd myself and I'm certain that I'd enjoy them, but I'd also rather spent that reading time reading other things. I don't know. Personally--I think spoiling the TV show for people who don't want it spoiled for them is rude (not that I'm calling you rude, but you get my meaning). I couldn't care less about spoilers because it's just TV and it's not that important and I'll still be entertained (someone spoiled the Red Wedding for me but I really didn't care and was pleased upon watching the episode anyway). But obviously, other people care a lot, and maybe respecting that doesn't take a lot of effort on your part but ensures that you don't make enemies. :)
ReplyDeleteI would have to disagree that they're not classics. They may not be there quite yet (I think we'll have to wait for the end of the series to really make that judgement), but he basically revolutionized the genre when the first book came out - it's high fantasy, but it's also dark and gritty and political. I'm sure that there were other authors that were doing something similar, but he was the first one to make that really popular, and now I'm seeing a lot more series like that. I think that's a hallmark of a classic.
DeleteYou do have a point though, and I'm going to try to resist the urge to be an asshole just for the sake of being an asshole ;). It's just hard to contain my excitement sometimes when I know something amazing is going to happen.