With the final chapter of Game of Thrones airing this Sunday, I’ve
thought a lot about what makes a show like GoT
so successful and unique. Certainly there are the groundbreaking elements of
the show coupled with a diverse cast of three-dimensional characters. Consider the
massive visual scale and scope of the series that transports viewers to the
fantastical world of Westeros (each episode costs around $15 million to make). There
is also the surprise element of going against viewer expectation by killing off
many of the main characters in sudden and terrifying ways. Yet despite its
detractors (many of whom cite the immense violence, sexual content and adult
themes as a reason for staying away) GoT
is still one of the most watched television shows of all time. In 2017, the
website Pornhub released data stating that during the season seven premiere of GoT, traffic to their website was down
an astonishing 4.5% (about 13 million viewers), proving that GoT is apparently more popular than
America’s other favorite pastime.
Our class discussion of the past few days
about the mythology and origins of storytelling suggest one of the reasons Game of Thrones is so successful. Author
and producer George R.R. Martin has taken timeless themes of family loyalty,
love, and betrayal and combined them with huge portions of British history and inspiration
from writers like Tolkien and Shakespeare. Martin states, “I’m interested in
all of history. It’s all endlessly fascinating. I’m interested in the people of
history. There are so many wonderful stories among wars and battles and
seductions and betrayals and the choices that people make. So many things that
you would be hard-pressed to make-up. And of course I don’t make it up, but I
take it and I file off the serial numbers, and turn it up to eleven, and change
the color from red to purple, and I have a great incident for the books.” It is
these remixed echoes of historical events that help give some credibility to a
fantasy show filled with zombies, witches, and dragons.
As to that history, Game of Thrones bears more than a passing resemblance to England’s famed
War of the Roses. The Starks and the Lannisters are reflections of the Yorks
and the Lancasters; rival families who constantly outmaneuvered each other for
a seat on the “iron” throne. The character of Cersei Lannister seems to be a
mash-up of Margaret of Anjou, Anne Boleyn, and Lady Macbeth. There is Cersei’s
brother, Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf with similarities to the deformed yet
brilliant Richard III. The character Peter Baelish, a deviously clever man, is evocative
of the villain Iago from Othello. And
it’s not just the characters. The storylines of the show are pulled from pieces
of history and theater, like the episode “Winds of Winter” in season six which
bears a striking resemblance to Titus
Andronicus. Here we see a man named Walder Frey who is unknowingly fed a piece
of pie that has been cooked with the body parts of his sons. One of the most
famously bloody and heart wrenching episodes of GoT takes place near the end of season three during what has now
been dubbed “The Red Wedding.” The “Red Wedding” has its roots in Scottish
history (and Macbeth), when members
of the Stark family break bread with the Frey’s, in a show of hospitality and good
faith, and are brutally betrayed and murdered.
Love it or hate it, GoT has forever changed the landscape of television and popular
culture as we know it. I believe much of the success of Game of Thrones can be attributed to its elements of the
fantastical grounded in pieces of history and traditional storytelling. GoT is a mythology we are familiar with
but reworked in a way that feels new and fresh; with a few surprising twists
and turns (and dragons!) along the way.
