Game of Thrones, the television mediaeval-esque epic fantasy, replete with dragons, endless wars, plotting and killing, returns for season 7 next week. With high ratings, an obsessively devoted fan base and multiple awards especially for its high production values, it has become a showbusiness phenomenon. There has been criticism of too much sex and slaughter, but viewers seem to lap it up. It is based on George R Martin’s series of novels, A Song of Ice and Fire based on the War of the Roses and Ivanhoe. He has written prolifically since an early age, graduating from comics to horror, fantasy and science fiction.
George R Martin was born 20 Sept 1948 9.25pm Bayonne, New Jersey (astro.com). He has a Virgo Sun in the performing/entertaining 5th house with creative Neptune also there, with his Sun in a confident, optimistic square to Jupiter in Sagittarius in the financial 8th which is in turn trine an Aries Moon. And Venus Pluto in Leo square Mars in Scorpio in the hard-working 6th. Virgo is a writers’ sign and he’s more showy than some being in the 5th house. The Mars square Venus Pluto will give him a taste for vengeance, sex and unpleasant deaths – in his fiction at least.
When the show first launched on 17 April 2011 tr Saturn was conjunct his Neptune and tr Neptune was opposition his Saturn – so maybe on tenterhooks since there was no way of knowing whether it would fly or flop. And it did take a couple of years to build an audience.
When GoT launched there was a wonderful collection of planets ranged through Aries, which is the adventuring, fantasy-romantic-dreamer sign – Uranus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Sun; with Mars Mercury in a hard-edged opposition to Saturn squaring onto Pluto. With the North Node in crusading, constant-travel Sagittarius. The Saturn Pluto would give it grit for a long shelf life; Mars Saturn has associations with armies and fighting; Mars Pluto with brutality. The emphasised Pluto would point to a tightly controlled and secretive production machine; as well as to an influential entity. The Sun Jupiter conjunction has been moving closer to exact as the series became more and more successful, culminating in 2019 when the final series is expected to be shown.
I watched a couple of the DVDs in 2015. I shook my head from the confusion with plot lines, killing, indifferent acting, and sex. Lots of full frontal nudity of women. That’s fine…I suppose to some 😉
People really watch this stuff? What am I missing?
The expansion of the story line has added much more depth. Four arcs will intersect this season–Queen Cersei, Queen Daenerys, King of the North Jon Snow, and the White Walkers army of the undead.
GOT is the most popular misogynistic television show in history. In addition to the ffn, all of the strong female leads have been raped– Cersei, Daenerys, Sansa. The rape of Cercei wasn’t even in the books, but thrown in by the HBO writers.
Thanks again Marjorie 🙂 I know when I watched the 1st series a couple of years after it aired I was shocked by the sex and violence and was convinced it was degrading women and just another excuse to parade women around in a sexual context. I do think that side has been tamed down a bit since. A few years later and after a box set binge-fest, I’ve completely changed my mind. There are super strong females in it, it’s very well written and produced but, what I think gives it its edge is the unpredictability of it. I’d never watched something (or even read for that matter) where major and pivotal characters were getting killed left right and centre. It goes completely against the grain. It really is a chess game made for TV.
Jo, There was a lot of criticism about the relentless female nudity. Writers and directors heeded it, and added full male nudity. Kinda funny, since their first volley was a scene that opened with a closeup of twigs and berries!
I find it interesting that all this sex death blood violence macho Mars Pluto stuff is dominant in GoT stories. Something I see foreshadowed in the story lines is a time when all the major thrones in Westeros are held by queens. And how will that play out…?
Yes, that will be interesting to see. It emanates hugely with Martian Plutonic overtones. The women have been fascinating in this and I do hope Margaery hasn’t really been killed off! It’s interesting we didn’t actually see her die, yet it is assumed she did. We always see major/important characters die in a shocking way. Her husbands killed himself (and Cersei’s last child) and Cersei herself has claimed the throne back BUT could Margaery lay claim to it if Cersei is found guilty? She no longer has heirs. Would Tyrion or Jaime step up? This is going to be very interesting. And yes, the violence is often graphic and makes me wince a lot. If it wasn’t so well written, acted, and produced, the violence wouldn’t be enough to keep me hooked.