The following article first appeared in the Culture Section of The KKE (Communist Party of Greece) newspaper, Rizospastis on Sunday November 24th 2013. It is reproduced here for the edification of all social classes within and without Westeros. Minor plot spoilers are revealed from the first and second seasons of the series.
Game of Thrones: An Interpretation of The Well-Known Series
by George Milionis, member of the department of culture of KKE
A major television production, unquestionably exciting and “provocative” - as the need for sensationalism must be fulfilled - the series Game of Thrones is a global televisual “event.”
As such it is to be expected that it will provoke discussions, the majority of which however merely place the series on the “shelf” of “fantasy” stories.
However through a different reading, Game of Thrones can lead to the acquisition of substantive knowledge.
The series condenses an entire epoch of serious upheavals in the feudal system - which in turn would play a catalytic role in the development of those material conditions that would lead to the later upending of the feudal system and its replacement by a superior socio-economic system: capitalism.
Game of Thrones consists of the struggle between different feudal lords as they each seek the throne of the absolute monarchy and the subjugation of the others under the sword. This subjugation means unification of the “country,” and therefore the accompanying unification and multiplication of the disparate means of production, foremost among them being human labour.
At the same time all of the feudal lords have built an enormous wall in the north of the “country” which divides the “civilized” world from the “barbarians” that live north of the wall.
Criminals and outcasts, who are not active participants in productive enterprise, man the Night’s Watch, the so-named force guarding the wall, ready to die in the bitter cold in order to defend civilisation.
However, the guard is not made-up entirely of such people. In the series Jon Snow is inducted into the Night’s Watch; even though he has an aristocratic upbringing, he is illegitimate, a fact that means that he has no legal right to an inheritance from his feudal lord father’s estate.
The feudal lord who has under his rule the most advanced means of production leads in the “race” for the absolute monarchy with the trophy being the “Iron Throne,” which itself is excellently portrayed as being forged from the swords of defeated feudal lords by the first king, who managed to raise his banner over the country before he in turn was murdered by rivals.
The viewer may begin to discern advancements in the means of production in each fiefdom if one first carefully observes the forged weapons. The phrase, “a sword made from Vallyrian steel” which is recurring in the series, is a clear indication of the development of a certain level of sophistication in metallurgy which is clearly not restricted to making swords.
Development is seen not only through the weaponry, but in the buildings, the books and the level of literacy of the feudal lords.
The most important indication of the level of development and maturity of the feudal socio-economic system - which heralds the transition to a new system - is the increasing frequency of transactions using money.
In those times, the necessary preconditions for this to occur was an increase in populations on the one hand, and on the other for those populations to neighbour each other to an ever greater extent, such that simple barter trading of products produced by individuals was insufficient. This led to surpluses in production on all sides and the development of a market.
This activity necessarily then led to the invention, spread and establishment of monetary transactions as the basis for market trades. The next necessary historical step was market driven production.
With these preconditions the lord with enough money to first acquire an army, and then human labour, would lead in the fight for absolute supremacy.
The “economy” however is only the material basis for major changes that are also reflected in social affairs. The fact that the Dothraki - a horde of horsemen and fierce warriors who speak a language only they can understand - are socially isolated from the rest of the country because they lack an organisational structure based on materialism, is a case in point.
The role of women: Women play a leading role in the Game of Thrones. From prostitutes (the female body as a tradeable good) to noblewomen, from Lord Ned Stark’s young daughters to the dazzling Daenerys Targaryen, they too - if one’s gaze doesn’t linger too long on the “bodies” and the “sex” - illustrate the transitional phases of the socio-economic system.
In the “more ancient” societies, from the “barbarians” north of the wall to Daenerys Targaryen, they represent women from the older societal order; a matriarchal organisational model. That is why they have opinions that they still express.
The “barbarian” who fell in love with Jon Snow fought equally alongside her tribal companions. Daenerys, when her fearsome warrior companion Khal Drogo fell ill, did not hesitate to kill him and take the reins of the Dothraki tribe herself and launch her own campaign for the throne.
In the “civilized” world, where material surplus is a prerequisite - that is more material goods are produced than are required - society has moved to an ownership model of the means of production which is reflected in the patriarchy, where women are no longer at the forefront.
Their former power, which was however based on an overall lower level of societal development, is barely kept alive in the form of “feminine tricks” which due to millennia of female alienation in the class system have come to be thought of as “normal.”
The “work” of the noblewomen is to give birth to boys destined to become kings, while the fact that the red-haired prostitute’s movements are linked to those of the armies and the market they create, clearly illustrates the role of the market economy in defining women’s roles.
The role of the myth: the series Game of Thrones has many mythological elements, particularly when referring to the “barbarians.” The inclusion of such elements may give the impression of a “fairytale” however it would be wrong to ignore the role of myths as the first form of social consciousness, as the first formation of an overarching view of the world, which gradually leads to the development of more sophisticated forms of social consciousness, such as the birth and development of Philosophy.
How will Game of Thrones end? It has been reported that the author, George R.R. Martin, has not decided how his major work, begun in 1996, will finish. Independent of whatever conclusion the author will provide, society’s own evolution points towards the story’s ending: that a specific socio-economic system will be replaced by a superior one. This conclusion can only be reached through the methodological approach of historical materialism.
Sources:
1. “K” Magazine, issue 541 - “Kathimerini” / 13th of October 2013 - Game of Thrones: Why is it so popular?
Bibliography:
1. Karl Marx: A Contribution to the Critique of the Political Economy
2. Karl Marx - Friedrich Engels - The German Ideology
3. Friedrich Engels: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
4. Friedrich Engels: The Part Played By Labour in the Transition From Ape to Man
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