Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Game of Thrones" in Simple English language version.
Like Game of Thrones, the action in those ancient tragedies centered on the stories of four ruling dynasties: House Atreus of Mycenae, House Cadmus in Thebes, House Erichthonius in Athens, and House Minos in Crete.
But while Game of Thrones is in part a rebuttal to traditional fantasy fiction, I'd argue that it's become clear—after five books in A Song of Ice and Fire and five seasons of the TV series—that Martin and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are actually playing with a format that isn't so revolutionary at all: They're reviving and updating the classical tragedy as a narrative form.
From the bro-style bloviating (or, broviating) of True Detective's first season, to the ominous proclaiming that punctuates the general whoring and slaying of Game of Thrones, to the unceasing climatological and psychological punishments meted out to the cast of The Killing, it seems as though some of the most celebrated recent examples of serial drama have elected self-seriousness as their default tone.
From the bro-style bloviating (or, broviating) of True Detective's first season, to the ominous proclaiming that punctuates the general whoring and slaying of Game of Thrones, to the unceasing climatological and psychological punishments meted out to the cast of The Killing, it seems as though some of the most celebrated recent examples of serial drama have elected self-seriousness as their default tone.
But while Game of Thrones is in part a rebuttal to traditional fantasy fiction, I'd argue that it's become clear—after five books in A Song of Ice and Fire and five seasons of the TV series—that Martin and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are actually playing with a format that isn't so revolutionary at all: They're reviving and updating the classical tragedy as a narrative form.