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Deeper Than Swords: 10 Reasons We're So Hooked On 'Game Of Thrones'

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Once hailed a big-budget nerd-out,” HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones has gone beyond that, piercing the hearts of many more than the boy nerd demographic alone. Not only do non-nerds watch it, but people (yes, even women) who haven’t historically been into fantasy fall for it. And hard.

So what is it about the show that’s so compelling? It has some obvious hooks: The swordfights, the sex, the nakedness, the intrigue – we can certainly indulge in these elements, for a little escape from reality. But the show runs deeper than just fantasy escapism, and hits us on all kinds of other levels. After all, it asks us to get intimately acquainted with the characters, their histories, and their motivations, while simultaneously teaching us that we have no idea what’s going on at all. And who can resist that kind of delightful manipulation?

Here are a few reasons – with the help of people who analyze and psychoanalyze pop culture for a living – that we are so into this show.

1. It’s the best “world-building” there is

One of the most obvious values of Game of Thrones is that it’s aimed at adults and it’s not, you know, about kid stuff. Barna Donvovan, PhD, professor of film and media studies at Saint Peter’s University, says that “Game of Thrones is aimed squarely at adults, and it is not campy, self-referential, or comical. It basically does what serious science fiction and fantasy have always done, functioning as a symbolic commentary on the main social and political issues of the day.” In other words, it’s definitely not for the little ones, and even an adult audience has to stay on their toes to follow all the plotlines and innuendos.

In this vein, Josué Cardona, therapist and founder of GeekTherapy.com, points out that Game of Thrones is much more nuanced than some of its predecessors. “The show is super complex,” he says, “with so many characters and storylines, and it has what I consider some of the best world-building ever done in a TV show. It's more engaging than most shows on TV, because it’s cognitively engaging. While most dramas have multiple threads, none has done it to this extent in the fantasy genre before GoT.”

Game of Thrones creates a world that we vicariously navigate in every sense – from the topographic opening credits to our love-hate relationships with the complicated (and not always comprehendible) characters. And we’re emotionally invested in what happens next.

 

2. It’s ridiculously smart: Your brain has no choice but to stay engaged. 

In a world of flat, personality-less characters on TV (mostly in the sit-com world), dramas, period pieces, and fantasies have emerged as the cerebral antidotes. And Game of Thrones is arguably one of the smartest, most nuanced shows around, in both plot and language. So smart, in fact, that it can be hard to follow, but doing so is rewarding, since our brains crave the cerebral work the show has us do. Some critics, like the author of this article, have pointed out that shows like Game of Thrones cater to the rising “mass intelligent” and have spawned a whole new genre of TV. With its wry humor, lyrical dialogues, and complicated moral questions, Game of Thrones makes its audience do some serious intellectual work – a welcome activity these days.

3. And other organs get a workout, too…

Like Shakespeare’s plays, Game of Thrones doesn’t just explore ethical, existential, and political dilemmas – it has enough lowbrow stuff to keep everyone watching. There’s sex, violence, jack-in-the-box moments, and gushing internal organs, which all act as a nice counter to the talkier parts. Sexposition has been a hallmark of the show, and supposedly forces people to pay attention to essential plot explanation through the nakedness. Whether background sex really helps us follow the intricate monologues any better is not totally clear.

 

4. You can’t bank on what’s to come

The alluring, if somewhat frustrating, element of Game of Thrones is that just when you think you see a thread, the show proves you wrong. Central characters are killed, psychopaths claim power, weddings become bloodbaths, and bad guys develop consciences as time passes. The twists and turns of the plot lock us in, and the developments that are impossible to anticipate give us a dopamine rush that keeps us coming back for more.

5. Character complexity makes the concept of “good” and “bad” moot

The complexity of the characters in the show has been hailed as one of its major accomplishments. It may make them more likeable, in some ways, at least. “I think we become so emotionally invested in the characters in part because they're more human and flawed,” says Forbes contributor Erik Kain, who’s written a lot about the show. “Ostensibly ‘good’ characters often make horrific mistakes. Both Eddard and Catelyn Stark, for all their good intentions, are guilty of being absolutely awful at politics, and of course that ends badly for them and many of their loved ones. Other less sympathetic characters like the Hound still have scraps of goodness shining through, little moments of heroism. But I think the real point is that save for a handful of truly wicked people---Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Bolton---even the best characters are flawed and even the worst have something redeeming.”

But their psychological complexity can also make them a little unknowable. In fact, the characters’ actions can be so unpredictable that it forces us to give up trying to decide who’s a good guy and who’s a bad guy. It’s almost suggests that the old question of “good” and “bad” isn’t an even interesting one anymore, says Phillip Freeman, MD, a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and film consultant. “The book can take time to develop the complexity of the characters,” he says. “The television series, however, burdened with limited screen time and many diverse stories to tell, seeks to add dimensions to the characters by juxtaposing their heinous and benevolent acts in rapid succession. The viewer is subjected to a moral whiplash, that does not, I fear, so much build a sense of character complexity, or even the vicarious pleasure of occasional moments of unrestrained impulse, as it builds an inadvertent case for abandoning moral distinctions per se.”

He adds that the series really isn’t about good and bad at all – it’s about how the two interact and inform one another. “When I enjoy this series,” says Freeman, “and I frequently do, my identification with brutality or sexual excitement is not rationalized, as it might be in Lord of the Rings, by a sense that I am on the side of Right. Rather, I am assured that I am on the side of a progressive tolerance. It is an odd comfort to keep me company during the orgies and massacres.”

But maybe these grey, unknowable characters are more accurate representations of the world today.

6. Archetypes are presented, destroyed, and rebuilt

The conniving queen, a ruthless king, a valiant knight, and ice zombies. Well, the last one maybe not so much, but the show sets up a number of classic archetypes, and plays with them in extremely clever ways. “The interesting thing about Game of Thrones,” says Donovan, “is the way it incorporates many of the archetypal characters and plots of fantasy and classic heroic and mythic storytelling, yet it does so by often altering them and even subverting them,” says Donovan. “This kind of experimentation with the archetypes makes Game of Thrones a truly superior piece of art.”

For example, the virginal blonde Daenerys doesn’t stay sexually or otherwise innocent for long – after shedding her oppressors (namely, her brother and husband), she gets a whirlwind education in sex, love, death, politics, and ethics. In the end – and it’s not even the end yet – she’s emerged as a different kind of archetype all-together: A promising female power who may give the central male characters a run for their money.

“Daenerys seems to be emerging as the revolutionary and the idealist radical who once fought to overthrow unjust systems and free the oppressed, yet one who slowly succumbs to the pressures and compromises of the real world of politics,” says Donovan. “By the end of the fourth season she has not only built a small kingdom of her own but has no qualms in ruthlessly meting out punishment when the order and her rule are challenged.” Her epic journey isn’t complete, but she’s making her way through the stages of archetype-dom swiftly.

There are a number of archetypes that are challenged by the narrative, and they all deserve discussion – but Tyrion is one of the best. “Called ‘The Imp’ or ‘The Half Man,’” says Donovan, “Tyrion is also supremely intelligent and possessing of a quick, biting wit. He is very much an embodiment of the Trickster archetype seen in mythic storytelling throughout history around the world. Just like the Trickster often resembles a fool upon first glance in most stories, so is Tyrion resented and mocked by most of his family, save for Jaime. The root of the resentment, Tyrion knows, however, is his intelligence. Despite his startling physical appearance that’s an embarrassment to the family, he is smarter than his father and siblings. Much like the archetypal Trickster, Tyrion uses jokes and mockery to expose others’ shortcomings, hypocrisies, pretensions, and lies.”

 

7. Women are Madonnas, whores and everything in between 

Game of Thrones’ female characters might be even more diverse than the male characters, which is interesting since in general they have less power. But like any “period piece,” the female characters have the formidable task of navigating the male world, and that’s never easy. “The titular ‘game of thrones’ was not meant to be played by women,” says Donovan. “In a medieval society like that, women are pawns and tools for the advancement or the pleasure of men. Therefore they must all learn to use their wits to maneuver and manipulate the more powerful men around them.”

This is true. Women are introduced as certain “types” – the tomboy, the bitchy princess, the conniving queen, the loving mother, the witch, the warrior, prostitutes, and lots of others – but just as the male characters do, the females morph in various ways over time, as they maneuver through the male space. Some of the women get exactly what they want, in a perverse way: Arya, the anti-princess gets a vivid education about living and fighting as male in a male world – although the journey is probably somewhat different than she would have liked. Sansa gets to marry a king, just as she wanted, though the abuse and humiliation she undergoes was not part of her vision.

Cersei, on the other hand, is more powerful than these two, and yet more victim-like, since she navigates even narrower straits. “What makes Cersei Lannister more interesting and nuanced than the typical evil queens and enchantresses in mythology,” says Donovan, “is the fact we see her also as the female victim of a male-dominated society. Her world gives her no other options than being a political tool in an arranged marriage. To assert herself or gain any measure of power, she has no choice but to be ruthless and amoral in a world where amorality is rewarded by power and principled characters are broken and killed off.”

 

8. The storytelling is politically correct, even if the setting is not

Game of Thrones offers the special indulgence of vicarious, guilt-free barbarism,” says Freeman. Life in every corner of Westeros is completely un-politically correct – good guys are killed, bad guys gain power, women are raped and pawned about, and people with “differences” are ridiculed and marginalized. That said, there’s an undercurrent of sympathy that runs through the narrative. “The story is not politically correct but the storytelling certainly is,” says Freeman. “Issues of gender, race, the differently-abled, and multiculturalism are all handled with a sensitivity that would make the series welcome in any university survey course on fantasy fiction.” It’s obviously an ugly world that we’re peering into, but there’s something deeply compassionate about the way it’s revealed.

 

9. The show uses “medieval” fantasy to point out modern-day reality

There are lots of great metaphors for life today – battling kingdoms, scheming politicos, socioeconomic divides, a fragile economy. Game of Thrones definitely offers some commentary on political dividedness: “The ‘Game of Thrones’ world, very much like ours, is not one where characters can ‘reach across the aisle,’ find a common ground or compromise,” Donovan points out. “The show is a perfect metaphor for the scorched-earth style of politics in a deeply divided red state/blue state America. Westeros can stand in for a world of Fox News fans and MSNBC fans who despise each other and would accept nothing less than the complete annihilation of the other side.”

Arguably, one of the best examples of modern-day metaphor in the show is the Wall. It’s designed to keep out other, both literal and abstract. It’s an “effective metaphor for the United States’ own undocumented immigrant issue,” says Donovan. “Just like Westeros, the U.S. is debating whether its southern borders should be sealed by larger and ever more restrictive walls as more and more foreigners are attempting to breach it.”

It’s also a good analogy for the denial of climate change and of, well, any other outside threat. “As much as they are oblivious to the White Walker threat,” says Donovan, “the kingdoms of Westeros are also living in denial of the fact that a major winter will be covering land…. the kingdoms are too preoccupied with their infighting to do any preparation for this looming climate change. Parallels to America’s own attitudes about the environment and climate change are obvious.” One could say the Wall represents other American fears of "otherness" as well.

There are a number of ways, says Donovan, in which the show subtly asks, “are we slipping into semi-medieval society of our own?”

 

10. The show doesn’t ignore difference, but doesn't celebrate it (yet)

The show treats “difference” both harshly and tenderly, but what it doesn’t do is ignore it. “There are characters of all shapes and sizes on the show and their characteristics matter,” says Cardona. “Tyrion is a dwarf and this is not ignored. (In contrast, Dinklage portrays a US Senator in the latest X-Men film and his size is never addressed.) People treat him a specific way because of his height, and some people consider him a monster, and his identity and personality are heavily influenced by it.” On the other hand, he’s apparently “endowed” with other attributes, both physically and mentally – he’s certainly the quickest-witted, most insightful character on the show. So the narrative seems to offer the basic commentary that people are not always what they seem.

Race may be another example of this, though it’s not given so much overt attention – yet, anyway. There’s clearly some subtle (and not so subtle) race stuff going on: The “savage” Dothrakis are slightly dark-skinned, but it’s not clear how that matters. One critic, however, felt the Dothraki depiction to be “positively cringe-inducing….HBO has nudged Martin’s creation fully into racial caricature by casting a seemingly random variety of colored people, and apparently raiding productions of both ‘Hair’ and ‘Braveheart’ to clothe them.”

The role of race may also become more obvious in the coming seasons as the Game comes to a head: “Race could be an issue when Daenerys will eventually make her move on Westeros and the Iron Throne,” says Donovan, “especially if we find out that the kingdoms of Westeros might have looked down on the dark skinned natives of the East as somehow inferior. Furthermore, even Daenerys’ appearance might foreshadow conflict between her and her subjects. It might prove to be significant that so many dark skinned people have been freed from oppression by such a strikingly white savior, with her pale skin and blonde hair.”

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This is a broad look at some of the reasons Game of Thrones has drawn such a wide fan base. What are some others? Please comment below.

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