We tell how the main fantasy epic of the XXI century not only delighted and infuriated fans, but also influenced the economy, science and the entertainment industry
Game of Thrones has become one of the brightest cultural events in recent years. This show brought together a lot of people from all over the world and made geek culture and fantasy hobby something normal in the eyes of that part of humanity that not so long ago considered lovers of adult fairy tales, at best, infantile fools. Now the series is over, and in the last season has managed to turn away many loyal fans from himself. Still, it would be foolish to deny the contribution of Game of Thrones to our shared cultural code. Thanks to this series, new catchwords appeared, children were named after his characters, and Donald Trump’s opponents somehow compared him to Joffrey Lannister to make everyone understand how disgusting they think the 45th American president is. And if you dig a little deeper, it turns out
She blurred the line between film and television
Once upon a time, TV shows and genre films had well-defined niches. Cinemas were temples of spectacle, where epic stories were told and shown that were breathtaking. These stories had gigantic budgets, and fans, discussing some high-profile novelty, always said: no, well, this, of course, is only to watch in movies! The TV had its trump card: the ability to stretch the narrative over several years. Of course, it was often squandered on endless soap, but if it suddenly came up to adapting a thick book, it was clear that it would be easier to cut the plot into forty-minute episodes and present it gradually, and not cut it off beyond recognition, trying to squeeze it into the film format.
Game of Thrones was the first television series to combine both. From the very beginning it was clear that there was no other way to embody George Martin’s book cycle on the screen. Too large scale, too many characters and storylines. The first season turned out to be very successful, it became clear that it was impossible to leave a new series. But then it was necessary to somehow shoot the large-scale battle scenes described in the original source. And in general – a show with a large crowd, complex costumes and a bunch of special effects – not cheap pleasure. And so it happened that, starting with a budget of $ 60 million, by the sixth season, “Game of Thrones” was already costing $ 100 million per season. This, if anything, is $ 7 million more than the budget of the Fellowship of the Ring.
And, no matter how you relate to the “Game”, when viewing it you can clearly see what all this money was spent on. Because when it comes to entertainment, the show is doing just fine. Even in the last season, for which many fans, including our staff, have a lot of complaints, the staging of the battles is still at a high level. You can find fault with whether it was worth treating the Dothraki like that at the Battle of Winterfell and so on and so forth, but it all looked really beautiful.
In general, it turned out that if you want an epic, then a movie screen is not at all necessary – the TV will show everything no worse, and even give you the opportunity to watch everything at home, on your favorite couch. Although, if someone really wanted to watch The Game on the big screen, there was such an opportunity too – the HBO show became the first television series, episodes of which were shown not just in cinemas, but in IMAX.
Unsurprisingly, now all TV market players are frantically looking for the next Game of Thrones. The HBO channel itself has so far relied on Westworld, and recently showed a trailer for the series based on the book cycle Dark Beginnings – also clearly expensive, beautiful and with an excellent literary basis. Netflix tried to grab a piece of the pie with Marco Polo, but it didn’t work out very well. And Amazon, meanwhile, is filming an expensive series in the Lord of the Rings universe.
By the way, about the competition. It is possible that, largely thanks to Game of Thrones, streaming services with exclusive content, like Netflix, have developed so much. The sight of how the public eagerly devours dark fantasy for years and demands more, of course, could not but affect the mood of investors.
She helped the economies of Croatia and Northern Ireland
These days on a computer, perhaps, you can draw and animate anything in general, and – as realistic as possible. But sometimes it’s easier to use location shots than wasting time and money on complex renderings. Therefore, if you want, for example, to visit the Royal Harbor, then there is such an opportunity – just buy a ticket to Croatia and drive to the ancient city called Dubrovnik, where the scenes in the Harbor were filmed.
Many people do this. So many that, according to some estimates , the flow of tourists to Croatia has increased by 10% thanks to Game of Thrones. It even helped end the country’s recession, which lasted from 2009 to 2014. There are even too many tourists. Since 1979, Dubrovnik has been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but after a sharp influx of vacationers, this status has been threatened. Because of this, the mayor of the city even decided to set limits on the number of tourists who can visit the city in one day – despite the obvious loss of money.
But in Northern Ireland, cooperation with the authors of “Game of Thrones” did one good thing. Many episodes of the show were filmed here, and thanks to this, the country not only became more popular with tourists, but also simply received a lot of money. Although Northern Ireland was initially chosen not least because of the tax laws favorable to filmmakers, from 2010 to 2017, filming still brought in £ 150 million.
She revived interest in the Middle Ages
When a person chooses what education to get, what discipline to devote his life to, it is clear that, not least of all, he thinks about what career prospects each option promises. Therefore, for example, in American colleges for a long time there was a decline in interest in the humanities in general and the study of the Middle Ages in particular.
But “Game of Thrones” also broke this trend, since the professors and university management did not sit idly by either, and tried to explain to future students as clearly as possible how much their favorite show is rooted in medieval history and culture. Harvard, for example, created a course on folklore and mythology called The Real Game of Thrones: From Modern Myths to Medieval Models.
The cycle “A Song of Ice and Fire” itself and its adaptation also attracted the attention of scientists. There is even an entire International Martin Research Network , which includes professors from Oxford and other universities. True, nothing has been heard from its participants since last year.
She made huskies popular and ruined many of their lives
In addition to the Stark family, the insidious Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen, there were several unconditional stars in Game of Thrones up to a certain point. These are direwolves, which in the first episode are found and rescued by Ned and the children. The fans of the show liked the animals so much that many of them wanted to have at least a dog that would resemble this severe northern predator. For the role of the best replacement for the direwolf, public opinion has determined the husky – a really very bright and beautiful breed.
True, for many dogs bought in a fan rage, all this did not end very well. The fact is that the husky is a very energetic breed. They were bred as running dogs, they are perfect for this role and are able to run huge distances, and even pull a sled with a rider. In general, they have a fantastic reserve of energy, and when there is no load for which the breed was created, dogs give out their energy in other ways. A bored husky, who was left alone, becomes destructive, and can simply gnaw and destroy everything in the apartment. To avoid this, you need to study a lot with a dog, and most modern people simply do not have the energy and time for this.
Having discovered this feature of the husky, many owners who bought dogs because of Game of Thrones decided that they had not signed up for this, and the reverse process began – they began to refuse the animals and throw them out into the street. It even got to the point that Peter Dinkledge personally turned to fans with a request to stop buying huskies simply out of love for the series.
It is very interesting that although we are now summing up and recalling what legacy Game of Thrones has left us, its story is not yet completely over. After all, the original book cycle is not finished – two more large books will be released, many important details in which will definitely differ from the show. But even now we can say that The Game is on a par with the most important fantastic works in history. The last time fantasy caused such a stir was when The Lord of the Rings came out, and that says a lot.
