This reflection is not an endorsement of the HBO series, The Game of Thrones. There is much within the series the viewer will find objectionable. There is a lot of explicit violence, salacious nudity, cursing, and behavior that will shock the viewer. I am not to be numbered among the ardent fans who have followed this series over a period of 8 years, for precisely the reasons stated in the third sentence of this paragraph. However, as difficult as it may be to view this series, there is much to be gained by viewing it if you watch it as an allegory of human society, not only in the fantasy world of Westeros, but presently in our own nation and in our own world.The following is my reflection on what stood our for me as I watched the series.
I have spent much of my early life reading the literary legends of human history, e.g. The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, The Tales of Beowulf, Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey, The Peloponessian War, the Divine Comedy of Dante (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso), Paradise Lost. Many of these are brutal in detail about the inhumanity and folly of the human race. I have been a great fan of the fantasy worlds of Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis, Ursula LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey’s dragon world of Pern, the Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and many more. Having studied human history and the religious history of the Dark Ages through the Renaissance, read Machiavelli’s “The Prince” (in high school much less), and the horror that the Borgia family, Caesar and Lucretia, and the popes of that family perpetrated upon their world, in addition to the political and religious violence of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, entering into George RR Martin’s fictional world of Westeros was not much of a stretch.
Ruthie and I finished watching Games of Throne last night. Unlike others, I was not disappointed with the ending. What will be more interesting is how George R R Martin will conclude his series of books upon which the television series is based.
As one who has studied world history, the violent brutality of the series is hardly farfetched. The true reality of intrigue and politics of the royal courts of real human history make the brutal exihibition of violence in the series seem like child’s play.
The portrayal of rival religions inflicting untold horror upon non-believers is nothing to the real history of world religions torturing, burning at the stake, slow dismemberment of humans (e.g. The Spanish Inquisition) all in the name of God. The Faithful Militant is nothing compared to the English Oliver Cromwell who butchered and killed many innocents in the name of Jesus Christ. The red witch’s burning people alive to purify them for the god of light, is nothing compared the the Christian Churches penchant for burning people at the stake, including St Joan of Arc, to purify the world for God. We are still butchering people in the name of God, whether it be in a mosque in New Zealand, a aynagogue in San Diego, or Christian Orthodox churches in Syria.
Much has been made of the salacious treatment of women as sex objects in the series (could there be any more brothel scenes?). However, we have only to be attentive of the disparaging and patronizing treatment of women in our present culture, from the evidence of the Me Too movement to the recent slate of legislation against women passed by male dominated legislatures, and the role of women in world religions, to see that women are still only meant to be seen, preyed upon, used sexually and discarded, rather than be heard and have an influence impacting our culture, our religions, and our world. The series treatment of women as commodities reveals in cold, brutal truth the reality in which women are held in our world today.
What I enjoyed the most in the series was the portrayal of strong women characters (I am likely to get their names misspelled here). Brutal and failed as a person Cirsei was, she was up against many threats from the many powerful males and one particular female around her and persevered. There was a little bit of the real Queen Elizabeth I in the way she schemed her way in life. Daenerys, as shamefully treated as she was, overcame great odds and rose to be a powerful ruler. It’s just too bad she descended into madness, though, that was projected as likely to happen early on in the series. Sansa went from a frightened wall flower raped by men in body, mind and soul to a woman of great strength and wisdom. Arya, a little child, who through adversity became a most formidable face changing assassin. Brienne, a woman of integrity and skill besting the best of men on their own terms. Melisandre, the red witch, flawed as she was, ultimately gave of herself for the common good. Yara Greyjoy, fierce in loyalty and battle, and the list goes on and on.
The only two male characters I found as fascinating as the women were Tyrion, the dwarf, and Varys, the eunuch. Like the female characters mentioned above, these two men, had the odds stacked against them, and used their gifts of intelligence to rise to prominence. Though they made many mistakes, somehow, they were able to admit the mistakes and maintain their personal integrity.
Ultimately for me, the series ended up being a lens through which to reflect on the world in which I live. We may have sanitized our killing, chemical weapons to lethal injections, out bloodletting not as visceral as slitting throats, and chopping off heads. However, the brutality of human nature has not changed much from that of our ancestors in the distant past and in our present time.
The golden rule present in all world religions continues to be ignored and dismissed by many who belong to those religions. As a Christian, we have yet to live Jesus’ command to “love one another as I have loved you.” As brutal and difficult to watch, the Game of Thrones is an allegory of our present day human society and reveals, that for all our boasts of how human society has improved, human society has not evolved much at all. Amidst the dim flickering of goodness in the human psyche, the darkness of the human heart still prevails.
