By Yasemin Ongun, Turkey
Game of Thrones is an American fantasy TV show which started on April 17, 2011. It was based on George R. R. Martin’s fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire. The shows running time is around 50 to 69 minutes per episode, which seems a bit long but, while you’re watching the episode, time just passes by. They also don’t have a specific location for filming. The episodes were filmed in places such as Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Canada, Croatia, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the beginning of every episode the theme music composed by Ramin Djawadi and named “Main Title” plays, and even from the theme music, you can understand how exciting the episode will be. In my opinion, a TV show should have attractive theme music so that the viewers start enjoying the show from the second they start watching it. Game of Thrones gives us this opportunity.
The show created a stir because of its unique visual effects and quality of the production, but it also attracted criticism for its many scenes includes nudity and violence. Power and violence are the main themes of Game of Thrones, and even the number of weapons used in the episodes proves that. The critics say that the show involves too much female nudity and sexual violence (especially against women). It is true that the series mainly focused on these scenes during the first seasons, but it seems like the producers paid attention to the critics and lowered the number of these scenes. In 6th and 7th seasons, instead of nudity, they mainly focused on the war going on between the houses and the developments that have been made.
The cast of the show is also very impressive. Each actress and actor fit very well to their characters and their excellent skills of expressing the characters emotions are unbelievable. Each of them has diverse techniques and with these actors, the show becomes even more enjoyable. To find such an outstanding cast must have been challenging for the casting directors, you might think. But it actually wasn’t that difficult. Most of the auditions were on point the directors say. There were some casting changes during or after the auditions, but no matter what, the current cast is splendid. To start describing some of the characters, I will start from my,-and probably most of fandom’s favorite character, Tyrion Lannister. Peter Dinklage is playing the role of Tyrian known as “the dwarf”, who has been leading the principal cast since Season 2. Next is Daenerys Targaryen who is also known as The Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Queen of the Andals the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen and Breaker of Chains, and this role is played by to Emilia Clarke. Then there’s the Stark family, Sansa Stark, being played by Sophie Turner, Arya Stark by Maisie Williams, Bran Stark by Isaac Hempstead-Wright, and their illegitimate brother Jon Snow, the King of the North is played by Kit Harrington. The rest of the Lannister family are Cersei and Jaime Lannister who are being played by Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Sources write that an average Game of Thrones episode costs $6 million to make, which is two or three times more than any other TV show costs if compared. For example, each Breaking Bad episode costs nearly $3 million and each Big Bang Theory episode costs $2 million. As the seasons continued, the quality of the scenes increased which caused the cost to go up. For Season 6, each episode costs about $10 million, which shows the effort they put in while filming the show. Game of Thrones is known for its visuals and styling. Every episode has different themes, and with the new themes, new costumes come. The inspiration for the costumes comes from lots of different sources. All clothing used is aged for two weeks so it appears realistic.
The show, Game of Thrones, has a huge fan base. In 2012, Vulture.com ranked the series’ fans as the most devoted in popular culture. The passion they have is extremely unbelievable, but no matter what, they continue to show their love for the show in every way possible. The devotion is even too much for the crew, but the fans can’t help it. The determination each of them creates a stronger fandom than ever. They never give up on supporting them, mostly on social media. When a new season starts, Game of Thrones pictures, memes, critics show up on everywhere. All of them work very passionately until the end of that season. And even when the season ends, they still keep on working. They have blogs that they share pictures of the crew on their every step or blogs that write about their lives, or even blogs that write fictional stories about them. You can spot a Game of Thrones fan everywhere you go. It is impossible to not to see one when you go out on the street.
If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones yet, it’s a bit late, but you can still view it. You haven’t lived fully if you never had a TV show that you’ve been watching so passionately. I’ll put the trailer of the first season, and after watching it, the choice is yours.
efsantabarbaranews.com 