About Game of Thrones and Socrates

Post 576:

  Hello lovely people. Come on. Socrates and Game of Thrones. Been wanting do a new video for a spell, but I’ve been rocking on three new novels and going through my editor’s notes on another. And that job thing. Yes. Musician is a job. It says it right there on some piece of paper I filled out. This goes with…

            Woe is me, right? Break out the sackcloth and ashes.

            So I try to read as much as time grants and watch the well-written shows, probably for entertainment and edification in equal measure. It helps my own writing and also serves as an asset when I have to talk about “things” with other “humans.”

            I recently re-read a biography of my main man Socrates by Paul Johnson, brilliantly titled Socrates. And yes, I do mean So-crates. Anyway, I had to go on a colossal note-taking rampage. Paul Johnson is a great writer of history. He’s one of those types with the unmitigated gall to have a sense of humor. 

            Disgusting. I know.

            For real. He’s accessible and astute at the same time, and mostly not a stuffy prick. Trust me. I have a history degree. We are jerks. Anyway, big shout to Paul Johnson. Do it with me. Don’t tarry. Seriously, he’s like 100.

            Grouped in with my novels and my Socrates has been, you guessed it, Game of Thrones. This entails watching the actual show and also going on YouTube in a focused effort to have other people smarter than I am instruct me as to what my emotional state should be.

            In complete candor, I really do enjoy hearing different takes. The lunacy and rage, the ecstasy and worship. The well-reasoned. It’s all good. And totally more salubrious to my mental health than stupid things like exercise and proper life choices.

            So after the detritus left on the charred battlefield and battlements following the Third Episode of Season Eight, what do I think of Game of Thrones thus far?

            Depends on definitions, and I’ll get back to that. But just to avoid incurring the totality of your ire, I’ll say with naked honesty that I think it’s a very flawed, mostly entertaining show that I will watch until the end. For poker players, the term pot-committed doesn’t even begin to describe the situation.

            Sort of a cop out, right? Not hard-hitting enough? I get it. I never could hit that hard.

            Come with for a second. Say you’re walking around Periclean Athens and Socrates comes up and asks if you like Game of Thrones. If you know anything about this shoeless creep, he’s going to find a way to tell you you’re wrong. I’d just go ahead and run away. Socrates was the first superhero. His superpower was the impish ability to make you feel like a stammering sack of crap. He’d prod around, asking, what makes a good show? (Hmm) Is the writing correct? (Hmm) But is correct writing that which satisfies the broadest audience or that which edifies a smaller audience or neither? As a showrunner, is the moral choice the one that makes my employer happy? Is happiness a goal? Is happiness a thing?

            We get it, Socrates.

            This is the sort of thing that gets you the hemlock. We’re talking about one of my heroes, by the way. To quote Johnson concerning Socrates, “Reaching a conclusion is not the object. The object, rather, is teaching the people to whom he is talking how to think, and not least, how to think for themselves.”

            As annoying as this makes the guy, I give him props. He was like a philosophical high-intensity troll that actually wanted the best for you. It’d almost be less annoying if he was out for money and sleazy chicks.

            But he never took money for his teaching. See!!

            So as the opinions about Game of Thrones continue to abound, I’ll have my humble opinions, but leave them open for further revision. As for an example of my analysis: (Clear Throat) There’s no way Tyrion Lannister hasn’t been a frigging baller. And yet I had to deal with endless scenes with him and his lady love talking about relationship pitfalls. This is back when the writing… you know. Whatever. Don’t give me the rose-colored glasses bit.

            I say have a good time with it, deal with those inevitable cringe moments, or watch something else.

            Seriously. There’s dragons and an undead army. If you want high-level writing and a show that hits all the marks, go watch The Wire or Rectify or The Leftovers. You know, all that slow, boring garbage pretentious people pretend to like. Loathsome creatures.

             God, I wish The Wire was still on.

            In closing, I’m humbled by the amount of work that goes into a production like Game of Thrones. I’m also humbled when I read Socrates. He was a righteous dude and puts my own flaws on display and makes Plato look like a wimp, even though Plato’s the one writing about him. See!! Superhero!

            So I guess I’m humbled. This doesn’t feel as good as it should.

            I think I’ll go back to being good old me. You know. The pompous, overworked, underpaid, insecure guy with wifi.

            Cheers guys. See you after.