Game of Thrones: A better show we couldn’t have asked for

The beauty of a show about power, dragons and the coming of winter is that it allowed people to forget about the world around us once a week. Which is arguably why so many people loved it, writes Karen Brooks.

The final episode of the multi-award-winning television phenomenon, Game of Thrones airs today and — just like the entire series — promises to be both spectacular and controversial.

Millions of people around the globe will be glued to their screens (me included) while others, who’ve not had access to the show, deliberately ignored the hype, or insisted on dismissing the program as infantile, will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief it’s over.

Based on George R.R. Martin’s incomplete speculative fiction series, Song of Fire and Ice, and named after the first book, Game of Thrones (published 23 years ago), the eight-season epic drama has introduced the world to the imaginary Seven Kingdoms and their political and social struggles, diverse cultures, religions, families and a host of remarkable characters. It’s also given a number of actors careers (and rekindled others).

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But what this expensive, extraordinary, program has also done is tell a moving and rich tale that has held people of all nationalities and cultures spellbound in a way not seen since, possibly, Harry Potter.

Game of Thrones captured imaginations in a way we haven’t seen since Harry Potter. Picture: Helen Sloan/HBO

From the moment the show first started, it attracted praise and condemnation in equal measure. Criticised for being little more than a “tits and bits” showcase that exploited women’s bodies and turned them into objects for men’s visual and sexual pleasure, it was also considered incredibly violent. The fact the show, like the books, is loosely based on actual history (the War of the Roses, a civil war that raged throughout England in the latter part of the 1400s and saw the Houses of York and Lancaster at deadly odds, with bloody battles, sanctioned murders, dire cruelty and switched loyalties regular occurrences) is often lost.

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Like much fantasy, Game of Thrones is overtly medieval in design, costuming, and social and gender representation. Women of the era were subordinate in every way — even those in power often only wielded it at the behest of men. But complaints that Game of Thrones is sexist or betrays feminism fails to take into account the source material or the fact powerful women have carried the agenda in Westeros — for better and worse — for some time now. From Daenerys Targaryen, the “Breaker of Chains” to “Not Today” Ayra Stark.

Like much fantasy, Game of Thrones is overtly medieval in design, costuming, and social and gender representation. Picture: HBO

In its themes and characters, the show also deals with many contemporary issues — chauvinism, power, family/politics, class and loyalty. The greatest predictor of the future is the past, even when shaped through a fantastical lens. Hence the heated interest in various leadership-styles and who’s deserving of victory or defeat. In a way, what the people of Westeros and their leaders are fighting for mirrors our own world and its geopolitical battles.

In the lead up to the final episodes, online and water-cooler discussion has often revolved around who’s going to die. Watching the show has been akin to Russian roulette — you never know when the loaded “gun” (pike, spear, arrow, dragon, bolt, crossbow etc) will fire or at whom.

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After last week’s episode, The Bells, there were many complaints — not so much about who died, as the manner of their deaths and perceived character inconsistencies. Frankly, not every lead deserves a magnificent death. Like rulers of old who expired with spears up their backsides or drowned in vats of wine, some major characters suffered ignominious demises — the unedifying end justifying their meanness; their dreams of empire turned to rubble.

Complaints that Game of Thrones is sexist or betrays feminism fails to take into account the fact powerful women have carried the agenda for some time now. Picture: HBO

But as showrunners David Benioff and D.B Weiss (who are moving from Winterfell to a galaxy far, far away to direct the next Star Wars) have learned, no matter what direction you take, you can’t please everyone.

Some fans are so appalled by the final season, they’ve started an online petition (40,000 signatures and rising) for the entire six episodes to be reshot.

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Yeah, and dragons might dance. Still, the number of memes, tweets, blogs, articles and conversations the series — especially the final one — has generated demonstrates the passionate engagement of viewers and readers alike. It also reveals their wonderful humour. Even those upset with the result so far have been brought together in a kind of story-struck-international-community, bound by their fascination for this fictional universe.

The beauty of Game of Thrones is that it reminds us how powerful good stories are; the positive effect they can have. Sweeping us into a fictional reality, they allow us to forget politics and personal troubles, transcend borders, put aside differences, and, albeit briefly but most importantly, unite us.

Dr Karen Brooks is an honorary senior researcher at IASH at the University of Queensland.