POST 8: GAME OF THRONES (Your Choice of a Film or Series dealing with the notion of 'Power')

     I have chosen this series because it deals with several forms of power. This series is all about power, where it comes from and what different people do with it. The notion of power is seen mainly through political power and royal power, but can also be seen with supernatural power (dragons,etc...). What I really love about this series is that no one is safe, everyone's power is changeable in the blink of an eye, and characters are continually being killed off, no matter how important they are. This means that you never know what to expect, you are always surprised and can never predict what's going to happen next. 

       Game of Thrones was first and foremost a series of books written by George R. R. Martin. These books were then transformed into an extremely popular TV series by HBO. There are three seasons already made, and a fourth shall be coming out in May 2014. 

   The story is based in an imaginary world, in which there are seven kingdoms. It can easily be compared to the atmosphere in Lord of The Rings, being full of mystical creatures and big battle scenes. It relates to the form of power through several ficticious realms and monarchs. Practically each character is fighting for their right to be king or queen. Even when you think that a character has absolute power, there's always someone planning to take it from him. There are mainly four separate families: House of Stark, House of Lannister, House of Baratheon and House of Targaryen. Through the stories of all these families and many many many characters, we can ask ourselves several questions about power. For example, what connection does it have to morality? How does it affect people's behaviour? What is the real definition of power? Is it political, military even supernatural? Where does this power come from?

                                      

   Each character represents a certain form of power, it can be bravery, loyalty, love, intelligence, honesty, physical strength, moral strength, supernatural gifts and many more. The theme of revenge is often brought up in this series, and the determination of getting back what is rightfully their's.

    Some find that this series contains too much nudity and can be rather boring at times, because the episodes are quite long (1 hour) and there are very long scenes in which there are only two characters talking. But there are also very intense and epic moments, there is a lot of drama. 

   This series is very entertaining, and that's the main goal of any kind of entertainement: to entertain. There are also a lot of questions asked in this series about power and what is truely important in life.