Analysis

3 Reasons Game of Thrones is so amazing

Season 4 was absolutely explosive, and season 5 promises to be just as good, if not better! Although there’s a long way to go for that. In the meantime, I’ve decided to consider and discuss 3 ideas on why I think Game of Thrones is so attractive to the average viewer.

The show has a huge international fan base. It’s the most watched show on HBO, since the Sopranos. It’s also the most pirated HBO show, and one of the most pirated shows of all time. Everyone wants a piece of GOT, no matter how they have to go about getting their hands on it.

By why? Well…

Realism

We may be used to expecting the good guys to win (blame Hollywood), but we aren’t necessarily pleased by it. No, we’re not sadists, we’re just realists who know that in real life things don’t always work out extremely well for every good person on earth.

Game of Thrones reminds us, quite blatantly and remorselessly, that you can still lose (your head) even if you’re honourable, did everything you were supposed to do, and you’re loved by all in the realm (and by audiences beyond the realm).

Woopsie!
Woopsie!

For more on this narrative style, click here to read a previous post.

Game of Thrones is a high fantasy show that’s more realistic than 99% of dramas we find on TV nowadays. Ironic, isn’t it? The show connects with audiences on a deeper level. Which brings us to…

Emotion

While the show adequately stirs a vast range of emotions across the spectrum of human emotion, I think it does something more than that.

Game of Thrones taps one of the most powerful, often under-utlised human emotions: grief.

Grief is a complex emotion that can’t be classified as negative in isolation. It has a tendency to be a low point in a curve of emotional progression. Kind of like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

via Doghouse Diaries
via Doghouse Diaries

We relate to Game of thrones because we’re all moths to the flame in our modern lives, relationships and endeavours. We’re all a bunch of masochists with low self-esteem.

Yeah that was a bit detailed, but speaking about that, there’s another thing that’s really appealing…

 Complexity

The depth of every character in the ensemble, each storyline, each story told within a story, each sigil and symbol — it all has so much interconnected meaning. Nothing exists in this universe the way it does for no reason at all, and there are so many details, they appear infinite.

GRRM is known for sketching his scenes out in extreme detail — single descriptions often going on for pages. Being a producer and writer for the show, a lot of Martin’s original world is fed into the creation of characters and storylines on a level that’s more than skin-deep.

This has allowed a lot of great work for actors who have really rich characters to fulfill, and allows for the production team to have an absolute field day in bringing the show to life. And when there’s room for so much to be done, you’re bound to get a great product the likes of Game of Thrones.

What do you love most about Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments below.

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Cineman

Editor-in-Chief at BTG Lifestyle. For cinema.

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