Jim Murray

4 years ago · 3 min. reading time · 0 ·

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Game Of Thrones...Meh.

Game Of Thrones...Meh.


‘GAME [THRONES

_—
ao »First of all, have no fear.

There are no spoilers here.

I have not seen the final season.



Game of Thrones is the series that is responsible for the most HBO signups in the history of that network. And in a lot of ways I guess it could be seen as well deserved.

I was blown away to see that HBO had estimated that more that 1.3 billion people watched that week’s episode. They were simulcasting it in theatres all over the place and the actors who played a lot of the main characters were all over the daytime gabfests and the late night talk shows, all explaining why they could not tell you anything about how the series ends.

It’s safe to say that GOT is pretty much the most exciting thing to happen to television since the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan back in the 1960s.

I have seen every episode up to the end of the last season, so I have a pretty fair idea of what’s coming this season. But the biggest problem that I have with all of this is that, try as I may, I really and truly don’t give a rat’s ass.

An Unpopular Opinion To Be Sure

84f21e3c.pngNow I know that a lot of people will take offense at my last comment, and my only defense is that it’s just my opinion, and as the old saying goes, ‘opinions are like assholes…everybody’s got one’. And I know this opinion runs contrary to that of well, more than a billion people, so I will explain.

Game of Thrones is all about a power struggle in a mythical kingdom that is a marvelous fantasy creation. It’s menacingly medieval. The characters are all extremely well drawn and the main story line is highly focused, pretty much on everything you are going to see this season. The action is incredibly brutal and production values of the entire series right from the get-go are off the charts.

The Darkness Is Highly Visible

I have only one problem, and for me it’s a deal breaker kind of issue.

Everybody, with the possible exception of the Jon Snow character, is either genuinely evil, a minion or disciple of an evil person, a good person obsessed with revenge or a victim of the general sense of evil that permeates the entire series.

b50946a6.jpgThis really does make your decision on who to actually root for very difficult. Because no matter who you choose, you are accepting the lesser of two or more evils.

So this creates a pretty serious social issue for me. Because I am one of those people who believe that the things we see in all the various forms of culture and art we have really do have an impact on us.

And I would hate to think that a show like this where all the influences are dark, menacing and or evil do not somehow darken the souls of the viewers.

Now I know that there will be a lot of people out there who think I am taking this all a bit too seriously. But I have been in the persuasion business all of my adult life, and quite frankly, what I see here with GOT is some highly persuasive stuff.

Now I don’t think that anybody’s gonna go off and start lopping off heads. But I I do believe that it’s impossible to come away from watching this series with a darker impression of our own world, since most fantasy gets its thematic inspiration from the real world.

So I will watch it, probably when it’s available on DVD, because I am not an HBO subscriber, and I will probably enjoy it in the way that I enjoy witnessing awesome things.

But somewhere in the back of my mind there will be this little voice telling me that this is all about darkness and evil and power and greed…all the things that seem to be driving our world these days.

And the voice inside me will keep reminding me that while the dark side is an interesting place to visit, I wouldn’t really want to live there.

a717e172.pngJim Murray is a writer, a reader, a sports fan and a TV watcher who has been writing about the sports & entertainment worlds since1998, which is when he created the Couch Potato Chronicles.

Jim is also an ex-ad agency writer and art director and has run his own creative consultancy, Onwords & Upwords, since 1989. He lives with his wife in the Niagara area of Ontario, and works with companies that are trying to make a positive difference in the world.

You can follow Jim

On beBee: https://www.bebee.com/bee/jim-murray

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-murray-b8a3a4/

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jimbobmur

On Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/y97gxro4




Comments

Jerry Fletcher

4 years ago #1

Jim, Never watched it. Always thought of George R. R. Martin as a little overblown and wordy with a generally dismal view of mankind. You have vouchsafed that view. And so it goes.

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