Games of Thrones (GoT) is a fantasy television drama series that was produced by Daniel Brett Weiss and David Benioff. The show was filmed and produced in Belfast and depicts various themes such as justice, betrayal, power, morality, class, family, maturation, and vengeance. The series includes a total of 52 major characters each reflecting unconscious elements with dialectic relationships between the society and the individuals. In the film, culture is seen as being a regulating force that influences the characters to repress some parts of an individual nature (Poscheschnik 2018). The characters also portray their inner psychic structures like super-ego which are built through relations with the internalization of external objects. The objective of this essay is to analyze and discuss the dark side of relationships in Games of Thrones concerning society as depicted in contemporary U.S. popular culture.
Games of Thrones as a TV series is an expression of the socio-political fantasies containing both the unconscious and the conscious elements as indicated in the general public. At first glance, it can be described as a medieval series that is full of sex and violence and does not represent the actual situation in a relatively peaceful society in the U.S. However, when given psychoanalytic examination, the series portrays unmistakable essential relations between various elements that show remarkable parallels to the prevailing socio-political fantasies existing in the public domain (Poscheschnik 2018). The situations seen in the fictitious Westeros continent are an indicator of a downward culture whose leaders are completely submerged in the conspiracy of influence and power at the expense of the general good. Those rulers refuse to pay attention to anything that does not strengthen the retention and expand the influence of their power. To achieve it, they are employing several different tactics that depict the dark side of the people in the series in an attempt to attain their egoistic goals. The same tactical maneuvers in power acquisition and retention can be compared to the contemporary leadership that exists in various spheres from the corporate sector to the public or political sector where firms and individuals are mainly driven by the ultimate personal gain from their actions as rulers.
In this TV series, the attitude of the public to the dark side of relationships is characterized by two dimensions. The first one refers to the degree upon which the society deems something seen in the series as intolerable; while on the downside people’s reaction might be the fear of the brutal truth shown in GoT which were designed to highlight the blind spots of the society’s vices, even though sometimes it is hard to accept and realize. Consequently, Games of Thrones are distinguished by a variety of dark elements that include lying, emotional and sexual violence, as well as aggression and anger (Ferreday 2015). The TV series has attracted a lot of controversy due to how it depicts violence, graphic sex, and nudity. A particular scene that casts this dark side, even more, is when a brother rapes his sister. The scene caused outrage on social media and in the fan commentary. This scene can be depicted from the viewpoint of feminist responses and viewed from a wider context of cultural debates on rape culture and media portrayal of the general sexual violence. From the fan base responses on sexual violence, the TV series evokes the examination of how rape culture issues and discourses are often challenged and reproduced in society.
Further, the subject matter of violence and graphic sex in the film emphasizes the realism that exists as well as its applicability to both the social and political issues across the nation. Similarly, there is an open depiction of erotic relationships between both men and females in the film. Even though it is only restricted between the two females who are prostitutes, it is a show of antagonism that often exists in society. The majority of the characters are linked with actions that are designed to improve their wellbeing at the expense of the general welfare of their counterparts. Both Sansa’s and Margaery’s character paths foreclose in these principles when Margaery continues to live as a perennial widow while Sansa is relentlessly pursued by people who would only like to inherit self-gratification of kingship by marrying the princes (Ferreday 2015). In this case, lying is seen as the dark side of the film since it is used for reasons that only benefit one party at the expense of another party’s emotional wellbeing.
GoT in general has depicted a diversity of issues including the gender roles constructions as well as feminist views. In this context, it can be used by audiences from various cultural backgrounds to relate to it to their political experiences and context. It can also act as a source of valuable lessons that can be used to teach upcoming generations who are submerged in their popular culture. This can be achieved by selecting specific scenes in mapping out the main concepts that are emerging in contemporary society. The TTV show is remarkably popular for a clear indication of the dark side of social life which includes child abuse, gender relations, rape, and incest. However, as GoT continues to forecast societal ills, some scholars have accused it to attempt to normalize the dark societal practices such as sexual violence, aggressive masculinity, and rape culture; it has been praised for the positive portraits of female agency and gender diversity (McKay 2018). The film has the potential of framing the global political landscape as it carries the potential of teaching and promoting plural agendas in the political scene such as the issues of discrimination and racism in the US.
In general, the film has widened the understanding and appreciation of cultural phenomena by providing a better understanding of society from a different perspective. This is depicted from a mixed portrayal of issues for instance in GoT the female characters are seen to possess the power over their sexuality, however, this power is also regarded as a weakness as they are constantly threatened with sexual violence and rape. This is an example of the modern society where people capitalize on the weaknesses of others to exploit them for their individual gain Celik (Rappas 2018). Similarly, the issue of child abuse as depicted in the film is reminiscent of interpersonal violence which is a serious problem in the modern US where over a million child abuse cases are confirmed annually by Child Protective Services. As such, Games of Thrones as a TV series is one of the best television shows that interprets the kinds of interpersonal communication that is prevalent in the general US public.
References
Celik Rappas, Ipek A., and Sezen Kayhan. “TV series production and the urban restructuring of Istanbul.” Television & New Media 19, no. 1 (2018): 3-23.
Ferriday, Debra. “Game of Thrones, rape culture, and feminist fandom.” Australian Feminist Studies 30, no. 83 (2015): 21-36.
McKay, Hattie. “The Feminists Are Coming: A Critical Analysis of Melisandre and Feminism in Game of Thrones.” Relics, Remnants, and Religion: An Undergraduate Journal in Religious Studies 3, no. 1 (2018): 7.
Poscheschnik, Gerald. “Game of Thrones—A psychoanalytic interpretation including some remarks on the psychosocial function of modern TV series.” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis 99, no. 4 (2018): 1004-1016.