Picturing It
Jun. 20th, 2013 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eltanin_dracoWhen I read a book, I have a horrible habit of not actually "reading" a character's name. I recognize the letters, almost as a picture, and recognize when their name shows up again. This leads to problems. For example, the first time I read Lord of the Rings, I didn't realize that Sauron and Sarumon were two different people until half way through The Two Towers. This is also a problem because it's hard to talk to people about a book if you don't know the names of the characters. When I started reading Dragonlance, I read Caramon as "Carmon" and because I'd never "said" the word in my mind, it wasn't a problem. It wasn't until I was talking to someone else that I realized A: Carmon is a girl's name, and B: Carmon isn't his name.
So I don't read a book "out loud" in my mind. Similarly, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to physical descriptions. I can go through a whole book and not know the color of a character's hair, unless it is related to the story. This is usually not a problem, and actually makes some things easier. I don't watch a movie version of a book and get upset about casting choices, for example. I care much more about the story.
That being said, there are some things that I picture very vividly.
*** Potential Spoiler Alert for Game Of Thrones (Book/Season 3) ***
Game of Thrones is a wonderful series, and HBO is doing a great job at adapting it to the screen. The books are great, and in general it doesn't matter too much what someone's name is as long as you know if they are a Lannister, Stark, or Tyrell, and even then RR Martin often helps you out with references to Casterly Rock, Highgarden or the North. The epic parts of the book, however, are so epic that I feel like I've seen them. I don't usually play these things out in my mind, but for some moments, I can picture it perfectly. And this is the problem that I've had with the show, and even then, only recently.
From reading the books, I saw them find the wolves, I saw the events at the fist of the first men, I saw the red wedding.
The last is the one that prompted this post, and perhaps I should apologize that it took this long to get here. I've seen the red wedding. I think I can picture that moment the best out of all the books, and even now, years after I read that scene, I still feel like I was there. The weird part is that I don't remember the exact details. I couldn't tell you who did what specifically, I don't even remember who's chapter it was. But I remember the scene, and the feeling, and mostly the music. That's the part that really bothers me. The music. They were playing the Rains of Castamere so loudly from the towers that they drowned out the screaming. I picture the music being so much a part of that scene that when I saw HBO's version I just couldn't believe they had left such a big piece out of that moment. I did appreciate that they played the music a little before everything happened... but the episode before the wedding they explained what the song was about, so it seemed the perfect setup... then nothing. And that music would have made the scene so much more powerful! I cannot understand how they would have left something so dramatic out! I don't picture a lot of things in my books, but that, and the slaughter of the men out in the field, just didn't live up to the craziness that I remember in the books, and it makes me sad.
So I don't read a book "out loud" in my mind. Similarly, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to physical descriptions. I can go through a whole book and not know the color of a character's hair, unless it is related to the story. This is usually not a problem, and actually makes some things easier. I don't watch a movie version of a book and get upset about casting choices, for example. I care much more about the story.
That being said, there are some things that I picture very vividly.
*** Potential Spoiler Alert for Game Of Thrones (Book/Season 3) ***
Game of Thrones is a wonderful series, and HBO is doing a great job at adapting it to the screen. The books are great, and in general it doesn't matter too much what someone's name is as long as you know if they are a Lannister, Stark, or Tyrell, and even then RR Martin often helps you out with references to Casterly Rock, Highgarden or the North. The epic parts of the book, however, are so epic that I feel like I've seen them. I don't usually play these things out in my mind, but for some moments, I can picture it perfectly. And this is the problem that I've had with the show, and even then, only recently.
From reading the books, I saw them find the wolves, I saw the events at the fist of the first men, I saw the red wedding.
The last is the one that prompted this post, and perhaps I should apologize that it took this long to get here. I've seen the red wedding. I think I can picture that moment the best out of all the books, and even now, years after I read that scene, I still feel like I was there. The weird part is that I don't remember the exact details. I couldn't tell you who did what specifically, I don't even remember who's chapter it was. But I remember the scene, and the feeling, and mostly the music. That's the part that really bothers me. The music. They were playing the Rains of Castamere so loudly from the towers that they drowned out the screaming. I picture the music being so much a part of that scene that when I saw HBO's version I just couldn't believe they had left such a big piece out of that moment. I did appreciate that they played the music a little before everything happened... but the episode before the wedding they explained what the song was about, so it seemed the perfect setup... then nothing. And that music would have made the scene so much more powerful! I cannot understand how they would have left something so dramatic out! I don't picture a lot of things in my books, but that, and the slaughter of the men out in the field, just didn't live up to the craziness that I remember in the books, and it makes me sad.