I knew a woman whose dream was to live next door to a bakery. Some might say that it was more of a dozy muttering than a dream, but it's still something that a fairly normal person might say.
Compare that to Daenerys Targaryen's dream of ruling over multiple kingdoms. Boy oh boy, she loves the smell of dragonfire in the morning! She's one of several authoritarian rulers for whom we cheer on the Game of Thrones TV series (or in the Song of Ice and Fire book series), long may she reign.
She Was Chosen
What's that? She's not an authoritarian because her followers chose her as their ruler? Well, all must obey her, none can overrule her and she's in charge for as long as she lives. That sounds pretty authoritarian to me.
But authoritarians aren't the only people for whom we're supposed to cheer. There are the Free Folk, those unsophisticated near-savages from north of The Wall who have their own petty kings and warlords who... oh, wait...
Perhaps the Seven Kingdoms need to break up. Decentralisation would bring greater freedom, just as it did in the Free Cities of Essos where slavers are free to exploit as many... aw, nuggets!
Maybe It Will End In... Democracy?
It doesn't look like the show is building up to a climax where the authoritarians are overthrown by the oppressed masses. After all, the people of Westeros have been conditioned to crave authoritarian rule and accept being abused every bit as much as you have.
Do you think an alternate ending is worth the effort of writing to the producers? Nah, you're right, it wouldn't change anything. We must rely on the benevolent producers of a spin-off series to condition us to believe that we deserve better and can have better.
Honestly, as long as a person's heart is not right, whatever governmental association will still lead to disaster.
When there is revolution, there might be some positive changes for a while, but the same nightmare will start all over again as long as the authoritarian heart individuals (usually they will lead at first) starts to rule because of power.
upvoted
I agree. Long live the benevolent dictator!
I agree with you, as does history. Democracy saves us from having to revolt, but I remember hearing people after the Brexit referendum saying “people shouldn’t be allowed to vote; they should just be told.” The fact that they thought Brexit was undesirable was bad enough, but to use it as justification for heightened authoritarianism was beyond shocking!
WHAT A great comparison!
I just started binge watching the series and am into season 4... luckily no spoilers here!
You have some great twists to look forward to, but I recommend reading the books as they contain soooo much more information and entire storylines (some of my favourites) that the show left out.
Since I am more of a reader or a viewer that may be some solid advice.
Funny, clever analogy you use here.
I’ll probably leverage Game if Thrones in more of my posts.
I've been rewatching Game Of Thrones recently and this aspect is even more maddening than the first time around. The person that annoys me the most was Kat Stark with her ready to sacrificing a bunch of lives and help march armies of people to their deaths just to get her two daughters. Of course you love your children, but don't act all rigthtious about it while giving or supporting orders that will lead to thausands of deaths.
This is something really common on TV. Evertybody that's not a protagonist is expendable and somehow we need to care for the protagonist getting his petty issues sorted even if it costs limb and life for others.
And yeah, in Game Of Thrones, obedience is the honorable thing to do and everybody's looking for somebody to serve. I wonder if we look that way from the outside too...
That's a good point about wanting to serve someone. Brienne of Tarth is a good person, but what is it telling us when she's so eager to pledge herself to someone she barely knows just because they're higher up on the social ladder? Perhaps she's snapping out of it now, though.
There are hints of our criticisms in the show, too. Brienne is a bit different, she wants to serve because she want to feel valuable, valiant and recognized, I think. She is indeed super eager to serve, but because she has been brainwashed that that's the noble thing to do and that's what a knight should do and she very much wants to be a knight. But yeah, when you think about it, she pledges her life to Kat without really knowing her and goes on a quest to protect her daughters killing a bunch of people along the way.
I've met a lot of people sucking up to people they feel are higher on the social ladder and be condescending to the exact same type of people if they feel those people are lower on it than themselves. You see that a lot on the steem blockchain too if we have to be honest ;)
Haha very true hard to make a movie about democracy though because you'll have to film the perspective and thoughts of so many people to reach a decision / action lol
I think a movie about Tiberius Gracchus of the Roman Republic could be pretty good.
Sometimes it takes someone who has been oppressed themselves to repeat the same mistakes... sometimes they end up making a change for the better. It's like parents that treat their children like how their parents used to treat them (or don't treat them)... it's a tough one :p
Well, it has been pointed out that Daenerys has her fathers penchant for killing people with fire.
If you have dragons at your disposal, it would seem like a good use of your resources :D
DEEP! 😂 Interesting how each system, when exploited by evil, can turn evil... I wish I watched so's to make a more relevant input. Don't forget the guards 💂 💂 💂 💂 💂 💂 💂 💂 💂 💂
If I were to use Harry Potter, Shrek or the Hunger Games, would that make it easier? Or The Big Bang Theory?
Not about easy, I get it. Just don't watch that particular show. I love Big Bang Theory though.
What about John Snow
Will he rule the world because he diserves it or because he's the rightful heir ?
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