Why Do All People Play The ”Game of Thrones”

The TV-serial is the most popular and most expected TV one according to different sources many sportsbooks are taking bets on who will win the Game og Thrones. Every episode of the TV serial has 30 million spectators in 170 countries, regardless of the views of illegal websites. It is also ‘’the most stolen’’ in the history of television. In such diversity of television serials, “The Game of thrones” has gained a huge publicity that has a number of reasons.

• Game of Thrones is based on George R. R. Martini’s novel ” A Song of Ice and Fire,” but only the name of the first book is taken, which was published in 1996. The books were well sold even before the TV serial was released, but George R. R. Martin’s income has grown significantly since 2011. The author has not finished the saga of the books, but participates in the preparation of the TV serial’s scenario. Thus, the “Game of Thrones” is based on books, but reading of the books can not give any  advantage, as the events of TV-serials are more advanced than the last published book. We can say that the absence of the last book makes more interesting the process of watching the TV serials, because no one knows the end.
• Game of Thrones is a mix of genres and includes historical, fantastic, horror, romance, and detective genres, by which is conditioned the uniqueness of the TV-serials. TV-serials and films can mostly be classified according to genres, as one of them is always dominant, but in the case of “Game of Thrones” genres are intertwined on the main line of the plot-polotics. Unlike the books that have separate names, the TV-serial has the name of the first book, which indicates that the actions are carried out under the slogan ”eihter you die or or win in the game of thrones”. That’s why there are so many intrigues, betrayals, broken promises, and unjustified hopes in the serial.
• Most television series and films use the “formula of success”, according to which the film begins with the introduction, continues with any complicated situation, climax, is summarized by solution and conclusion[i]. They also have characters based on the archetypes of “main hero” and “main evil-doer”. At the end of the history, after many difficulties, the hero wins the villain (in the case of epic films). The inheritance of the heroes and is scarce. Whether the heroes belong to “evil” or “good” is clear from the beginning and rarely changes. In the case of Game of Thrones, the first difficulty is to determine the main hero. In the first season, the actions began around Ned Stark, but this hypothesis was denied at the end of the first season because of his death․ Later, the actions develop around Rob Stark, who also dies during the Red Wedding. Daenerys Targaryen and John Snow are the most likely main heroes[ii]. The latest discoveries of the 7th season (the real origin of John Snow) allow us to think that the song of “Ice and Fire” is actually a well-hidden “hero’s journey”. The latter is the structure formed by Joseph Campbell, which allows to analyze literary creations as monomyth-a person’s journey for one purpose. But in the case of other works (for example, Harry Potter’s saga), this structure was immediately evident, in the case of “Game of Thrones” it was not clear until the 7th season. The TV-serial shows heroes’ dynamics and longitudes, which means it is not obligatory that characters who are “evil” from the beginning remain so until the end. Beside the absolute negative Joffrey Baratheon or Ramsay Bolton there is Jammy Lannister who was the worst character of the first episode, but demonstrates diametrically different behavior at the end of the 7th season. The main evil-doer’s image is not definitely, too, because even it changes from season to season[iii]. The dynamics of the characters make them more human and realistic, and the unpredictable volatility of the serial makes people to wait for the next episode.
• Part of the attractiveness of Game of thrones is in its complexity: the viewer does not get bored because of the volatility of the plot, diversity and the unpredictability of the images. In “Game of thrones” great attention is paied both on plot and design details. Any slogan of the ruling house of “Game of thrones” (“Listen to my roar”, “Winter is coming”, “Fire and blood”, etc.), the symbol animal and even the outward appearance are thought in detail[iv]. Characteristics of representatives of ruling houses are curiously adopted to the characteristics of their images. A great attention has also been paid to the geographical origin of the characters: it is always mentioned about the simplicity and coldness of the inhabitants of the north, while the inhabitants of the southern kingdoms are remembered to be more cunning. The religions (the old gods of the north, the Seven Gods, the multifaced god, the Lord of Fire and the Sank God) are also closely represented in the serial and is intertwined with the political struggle. The serial is shot with superattention, keeping all the details, the reality of violence and sex scenes are also the part of the serials’ attractiveness.

Thus, “The Game of Thrones” is one most watched TV serials of the 21st century that keeps the audience in tension from episode to epizod. While other serials are circulating around one genre, plot, and hero, the Game of Thrones involves all the interestings.

Valar Morghulis!

Author: Tatev Derzyan․ © All rights are reserved.

Translator: Nelli Karapetyan.