Wednesday, September 30, 2015

GAME OF THRONES : ripping off the PEPLUM genre

Everyone is raving about GAME OF THRONES, everyone except for me. I find the whole thing derivative. I just can't get into for many reasons, with the main one being the vivid sense of deja vu I get whenever I've tried to watch it. It's like a grand buffet of every PEPLUM made, from the Golden Era to the Sword & Sorcery films of the 1980s.

The most glaring example of a near direct copy is the scene from THE LAST OF THE VIKINGS with Edmund Purdom torturing George Ardisson, who's nailed on a St-Andrew's Cross. The scene was almost entirely copied in an episode of GOT : the bad guy looks like Edmund Purdom (same crazy style of acting) and the hero is nailed to a St-Andrew's Cross. It's incredible.

The GOT character in the top comparison is known as the Red Woman, like the Sybil from HERCULES, played by Lidia Alfonsi.

There are more examples than these three but they're enough to show the extent of the plagiarism going on.

It's sad that people can't enjoy old movies anymore. If they'd actually watch them, rip-offs like these scenes would provoke an uproar.





5 comments:

Scott Ochiltree said...

Thanks, very good analysis of copied scenes.

The one advantage of GOT is female nudity - which was not possible in Peplum flicks made during the early 1960s.

However, the British actress who plays the female lead (Emilia Clarke as Daenerys) has reportedly drawn the line on future nude scenes now that she better established in the acting world.

Brrrodie the Westie said...

Much of GOT seems to have been inspired by KAMPF UM ROM, a.k.a. THE LAST ROMAN (1968). The narrative of scheming pagan empires of an ancient land, savage siblings, executions and palace intrigue all presage Game of Thrones. Even the high-placed dwarf, it's all there.

Richard Svensson said...

I watched the first season of GOT, but lost interest. Having jumped into the series on and off it seems to me that there's plenty of plot and intrigue, but no resolutions. When George R R Martin can't take a character any further, he or she is killed off, or simply killed off for gleeful shock value. It gets numbing eventually, and I end up rooting for nobody, `cause what's the point?

PEPLUM TV said...

Richard, I agree. Indeed, what's the point?

I got that too, Brodie. The difference though : THE LAST ROMAN is based on historical fact while GOT is really fantasy (dragons and all)

Scott, there's plenty of female nudity in Sword and Sorcery films of the 1980s. Plenty! So it's still a Deja Vu there.

Лев Аллен said...

I do not think that George Martin really focused on the film "THE LAST ROMAN", he himself spoke more about knightly novels and other authors of fantasy fiction. But about the creators of the series ... it seems all modern movies - just remakes of the old movies.

However, I liked this note - you are against it if I copy it for my blog (with reference to the original of course).

And by the way - I would not interfere with your help. The fact is that I'm "new" in terms of peplum. So far I've only watched Cleopatra ( with Elizabeth Taylor), Spartacus and the Vikings (both with Kirk Douglas) and the Romanian series of films about Dacians. Of course, I'm not at all oriented in Italian peplum. Question - where do you recommend starting? What films are worth seeing?