Abigail Nussbaum

I might agree with a weaker form of the main argument, that, as it has moved away from the books and ramped up towards its endgame, #GameOfThrones has gotten worse at incorporating social forces into its storytelling.

So you get, for example, Cersei destroying a major public landmark in King’s Landing, killing most of the city’s civic and religious leadership (the latter of whom had been leading a major spiritual revival among the smallfolk) without any meaningful blowback.

But the argument the article seems to be making, that in its early seasons #GameOfThrones’s characters were stand-ins for broader social currents, whereas in later seasons the show has shifted to prioritizing heroic and anti-heroic figures, strikes me as insupportable.

On the contrary, it’s hard to imagine a more personality-driven show than #GameOfThrones. Most of the major twists of the early seasons – Ned Stark’s death and the Red Wedding most especially – came about because of decisions rooted in character, not social currents.

Now, obviously, character is shaped by the society it’s formed in. As @arrroberts writes, sociology and psychology aren’t as easy to disentangle as Tufekci’s article seems to be suggesting. http://amechanicalart.blogspot.com/2019/05/game-of-thrones.html …

So Ned making a merciful decision that ultimately leads to his death and to his family’s many travails isn’t just about him as a person, but about the codes of honor and decency that he was raised with.

But I would argue that the exact same thing is happening in #GameOfThrones’s current season, albeit obviously not as well-written.

For example, the fact that Jon rejects Daenerys’s romantic overtures – and her implicit offer of marriage as a solution to her political problems – is rooted in a Westerosi incest taboo that she doesn’t share. #GameOfThrones

And the reason Daenerys needs to marry Jon to cement her rule is that she has so totally failed to win over the people of Westeros, and especially the North, because she doesn’t understand their culture and social organization. #GameOfThrones

I agree with the broader point Tufkeci makes, that Hollywood tends to prioritize personal forces over social ones, even when depicting stories that unfold on a grand scale. But #GameOfThrones has always been an example of that tendency, not a refutation of it.

It is possible for TV and other pop culture to foreground the social forces that buffet characters and lead them to make certain decisions – the example Tufkeci offers, The Wire, is a prime one. But #GameOfThrones was never a story like this.

To be honest, I find the entire cottage industry of “why does #GameOfThrones suck now” thinkpieces a bit dismaying. Did none of these people watch S7? Or, for that matter, S6, where a lot of these problems were already apparent?

The answer, to me, feels self-evident. This is not a story that was ever meant to end. Trying to craft an ending means relying on its weakest elements. Add to that showrunners who clearly have one foot out the door, and this is what you get.