Game Of Thrones: Quality Doesn’t Matter
Now and then I get into discussions with people on Game of Thrones. It’s hard to avoid Game of Thrones discussions, just like it’s kind of hard to avoid Downton Abbey conversations since it’s everywhere. GoT and Downton Abbey are like Fandom Hydrogen. I’m sure there’s disturbing crossovers out there as we speak (probably involving Ponies and Sherlock)
One discussion I get into occasionally is “Is Game of Thrones actually any good.” Some people love it. Some people dislike it. Some don’t care. Most people want Peter Dinklage to be in more stuff and to either look like or sleep with Jason Momoa. Beyond that, not much agreement.
(In my case the show just doesn’t interest me. I feel I should have more of an opinion)
But here’s the thing – I don’t think it matters if it’s good. I mean it seems good to me, and the cast seems to be utterly fantastic. But I don’t think it matters if it’s good.
What really matters is that putting Game of Thrones on TV was once Impossible. Now it’s for real.
Big sprawling fantasy adventure based more on War of the Roses? Not typical TV fare. It got made.
Typical fantasy heroes? Hardly, the cast seems to come from the Academy Of Not Your Typical Fantasy Heroes. It got made.
Sex, violence, incest, torture, politics? Not typical fare for fantasy (even if Sparticus and other shows had helped set the stage). It got made.
The budget would be . . . well, yeah. It got made.
Game of Thrones sounds impossible to adapt. It would be unthinkable to adapt a decade ago. It got made.
That’s what matters.
Right now we’re in an age where technology, demand, interest, geekery, and extremely dismal media offerings have come together to give us a lot of opportunities. The thing is that we won’t know what we can do until we push ourselves and not play it safe. American media is not really known for trying to do the impossible.
GoT in fact, sounds like something that could have blown up easy.
So, GoT gave us the impossible on TV. It showed it can be done. It showed controversial work can be made into a media sensation. It showed a broad, sprawling work can exist in the cable drama medium. It’s a testimony to the “impossible” not being so much.
If you don’t like GoT? Don’t worry about it. GoT made sure impossible thinks could get done, so your favorite impossible thing might get done next . . .
Or maybe your impossible work will get adapted.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
