A little while ago both Erik and myself were giggling over this clip of Ben in Parks and Recreation passionately casting down the idea that HBO’s Game of Thrones would ever be canceled. Ben argues that it’s a hit because it tells real world stories in a fantasy setting. At the time, I said that that was a perfect explanation of why the show and series among non-traditionally fantasy inclined fans:
What I love about the clip is that the explanation is also one of the best and most succinct ones I’ve heard/seen of why the show/series is successful.*
Really? Do you know someone who’s fathered three children through his sister? Is your best friend a stunted dwarf desperate for love, drowning his sorrows in the bosoms of whores? Has your older brother been killed and his family’s home put to the torch because he decided to marry someone for love?
No. Ben’s explanation is incomplete. The reason the show is successful among non-fantasy lovers is because the characters think like normal people. This is not the clichéd epic where the protagonists talk in faux old English and are constantly worried about honor. These characters are appealing because we can understand how they think and we see that they aren’t always inclined to do the right thing. Sometimes they do the selfish, wrong, ugly, stupid, thing instead. It’s entirely human.
*I realize how absurd it is to quote oneself. I’m only doing it here because I’m criticizing my own comments.
Eh, I quote myself all the time (especially in arguments with myself!) But I think you and Ben are making the same point, actually.
I also think that, like Harry Potter, the writing style itself is just accessible. The names of characters aren’t quite so far-fetched. For all its complexity, the story itself is fairly straightforward. We’ll be delving into R. Scott Bakker’s work shortly, and I think it’s actually better fantasy, but it’s less accessible for a number of reasons, and I think we’ll want to talk about why as the book club(s) draw onward.Report
But isn’t Ben saying that the fantasy setting is just a thin veil for thin and common problems of modern day culture? I’m not saying that the stories are bad, just extraordinary (not in the positive sense of the word).Report
I thought he was referring to universal human themes and struggles, not necessarily modern day problems specifically.Report
Ah well I thought he was referring to the latter, not the former. If your interpretation is right then you, me, and Ben are all in agreement (and basically the same person from what I can tell).Report
This discussion would be great material for a show like Parks and Rec. We are analyzing a five second statement by a comedy show character for goodness sakes. Which is great.Report
Damn straight we are!
And I wonder why I’m single…Report
Dude, embrace being single. I’m single for tonight only and it’s great! (I mean, I love my wife, and I wouldn’t trade her for the world, but it’s totally great to have the house to myself for a night so I can waste my time drinking beer and fucking around on Twitter.)Report
I hope you’re drinking good wheat ale like a man who appreciates beer.Report
I’m working along these lines tonight.Report
That is one strong tasting beer (hoppy, 7.0 abv). I tend toward the less hoppier side of the spectrum. I’ve really been enjoying this Pilsner Urquell —which isn’t very strong.
How do you feel about Delirium Tremens?Report
I’ve had it once and I liked it, but the particulars are blurry now. In the Folly Pack you have a couple pretty strong IPA’s and a couple more mild brews, so it’s a great mix.Report
Fucking around on twitter, Erik? Good thing you’re not a congressman!Report
Oh not like that!Report
I’m pretty sure Weiner was completely sober during his little internet escapades…sober on alcohol that is…Report
I don’t think ASoIaF is a good allegory for modern times. Medieval politics is quite different from the modern variety. But the characters do tap into universal themes.Report
James, I’m not so sure it’s so different anymore. I’m not a very experienced writer, but I can see the potential in a futuristic epic where the most powerful corporations are roughly the equivalent of the upper nobility, and alliances are formed and broken by family members, starting wars, while the peasantry just try to get along and hope they don’t get crushed by armed gangs ostensibly protecting them but in reality always looking out for the corporations…..
What?Report
So basically Apple Inc. are the Lannisters?Report
Agreed.Report
I realize how absurd it is to quote oneself
It’s not absurd at all!
How awful would it be to be someone who never said something worth quoting!Report
Well I think that’s not necessarily the same as quoting oneself. My gripe with the self reference we’re talking about is that it’s often rooted in egotism. The self-quoting happens because the person thinks it sounds good, not because it’s uniquely insightful. I think you need someone else to better know when something you say is worth quoting or not.Report
I think you need someone else to better know when something you say is worth quoting or not.
I have one of those but she hates political arguments so we’re back at square one more often than not.
In that vaccuum we are left saying “is there someone who already made the point I’m trying to make?” and, if there is, there ain’t no shame in quoting this person. Even if it’s you.Report
Fair enough. Either way though, I just don’t like quoting myself. I don’t think I’m that insightful…although I realize that writing as a form is an egotistical medium and blogging semi-anonymously as I do is even more so.Report
I realize how absurd it is to quote oneself.
It’s fine as long as you don’t do it in the third person. (Mike says so.).Report
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