This essay will look to conduct a textual analysis of my chosen text whilst including and discussing several concepts and theories that can be applied to the text. I will structure this essay by analysing the text in terms of a textual analysis, mainly focusing more closely on the aspects of audience and author whilst also touching on the narrative and structural choices made in creating the text. In relation to audience I will analyse how they can engage with the text across many platforms and what their expectations are for the text and are they being met. I will also discuss the authors of the text and their approach to creating the text and adapting it for many platforms. Leading on from that I will talk about the concept of adaptation, this will link in with authorship and look more closely at how they adapt the original text for different platforms, what changes are made and their overall approach to the texts narrative and how this affects audiences and their expectations of the adapted text. Finally, I will be looking at the participatory culture of an audience, how engaged they are with the text and to what extent can this engagement reach, how do they affect the text and the ways in which they consume it.
The case study that I will be analysing in this essay is George R.R Martin’s series, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ (1996-), and its many spin offs and adaptations. A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of novels written by the author George R.R Martin, the series consists of 5 already released books and 2 that are yet to be released and written. The first book of the series entitled, A Game of Thrones, was released in 1996 and was met with much critical acclaim. The story is set in the fictional world of Westeros and follows several characters and noble houses as they fight for the throne and the right to rule the seven kingdoms. As the years have gone by and more books have been released the series has grown in popularity, around 2003 began the release of spin off material from the books, such as board games, card games and video games. The series became immensely popular worldwide in 2011 when the first book of the series was adapted for television by the American network channel HBO. It is this adaptation of the original text that I will be mainly focusing on during this essay, however I will also be mentioning other adaptations as it is ultimately the number of them that exists that makes this case study a good example of a cross platform text. The Game of Thrones universe has become somewhat of a phenomena in contemporary media, it is a universe in which much fan participation exists, from fan art to cosplayers to video game fans creating mods for games that allows them to immerse themselves into the universe, a strong ‘fandom’ co-exists with the series and this is evident in the shows viewing figures and strong presence in social media, characters from the show and events often trend on twitter which shows that Game of Thrones has a strong presence across spaces and in particular online.
The Song of Ice and Fire series came to worldwide fame in 2011 after the television series adaptation of the books. The producers, screenwriters and adapters of the television series, David Benioff and D.B Weiss, had a lot to think about when adapting the source text, how could they make the show of interest to those who know of the series already and to those who have never heard of the original text. They also faced the problem of adapting the text for a different platform, choosing which parts of the story are best displayed on the screen and choosing what to cut out of the books without causing confusion for viewers who aren’t aware of the books whilst still remaining true to the original text. These two types of audiences are what adapters have to think carefully about when sourcing original text, the knowing audience and the unknowing audience. The knowing audience are people who are aware of the original text and its content and have maybe engaged with it previous to the adaption. The unknowing audience are people who have never engaged with the adaptions source material and have maybe never even heard of it. In her book, A theory of adaptation, Linda Hutcheon (2006, p.120) explains that for an adaptation to be a success, it must be so for both the knowing and unknowing audiences. Knowing audiences can fill in the gaps of adaptations using their knowledge of the original text and what happens in it, obviously unknowing audiences don’t have the ability to do this, and so for an adapted text to be considered a success it must be understandable and enjoyable to those who have and have not engaged with the source material. This may be why the Game of Thrones television series is seen as a big success, the universe of Game of Thrones is very rich, has hundreds of characters and has a very deep, built up history that the author has created which spans back thousands of years, clearly the adapters of the text have had to leave a tremendous amount of this information out, but they have done it so in a way that the series retains the key characters, information and storylines to make the show enjoyable to those who don’t know the whole background behind the series. If we know the original work in question we become a knowing audience and part of what hermeneutic theory calls our ‘horizon of expectation’ involves that adapted text, (Hutcheon, 2006, p.121). This means that knowing audiences have certain audience expectations that must be met by adapters, this means staying true to the original text in order to not potentially upset or annoy the fans of the original text. The more hard-core the original fan base the more chance there is for disappointment from them. Chris Columbus, the director of Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone (2001) was quoted as saying, “People would have crucified me if I hadn’t been faithful to the books” (qtd. In Whipp 2002: H4). So, adapters have to be careful to get the correct balance between sourcing the original text and making their own changes to the storyline. An example of fan unrest in Game of Thrones is from the recent episode from season 4 entitled Mockingbird. The producers changed two words of the character Lord Baelish’s speech, in the book the character ended a certain speech by saying, “only Cat” (in reference to another character form the series), the producers changed these words to, “your sister” (as he was talking to Cat’s sister) for the television show. On the surface this seems like a minor change as was probably done to save unknowing or less educated users who may have forgotten which character ‘Cat, short for Catelyn was. However this small change caused many fans of the book much annoyance as that particular line in the book is seen as very iconic and a famous line, one comment that I observed on a fan forum, from a fan of the book, went as far as to say that they had been looking forward to the character saying that line for the entire season of the show, and the producers decision to change the line had caused them to no longer want to watch the show, this may be seen as an over-reaction but shows the pressure that the adapters are under to meet the needs of fans. Many fans feel that as time goes on the producers are making more and more changes from the original storyline, even going as far as making characters survive longer than their counterparts in the books and creating new characters and storylines all together, many hard-core fans complain about these changes where as much of the unknowing audience aren’t aware that these are changes from the source material and so are somewhat easier pleased than the fans of the original text.
When conducting a textual analysis of a case study, one important aspect to critically examine is the case study’s audience. A text must understand its audience in order for it to be successful and tailor to their needs, to do this we must look at the series’ intended audience. A Song of Ice and Fire, the books and the television adaptation are both aimed at an 18+ audience; this is evident through the series’ strong themes of violence and sex. This may make the series seem attractive to that of a male audience, however a poll conducted on Wired.com found that 48% of the total viewers of Game of Thrones are female, this is approximately 2 million of the shows 4.8 million weekly viewers, also, social activity based around Game of Thrones is split 50/50 between male and female audiences, (Wired, 2014). Another important factor in having a successful media text is its ability to be ‘interactive’ with its audience. Interactivity is important in modern media as it gives fans and audiences a chance to connect with and further explore the text in many ways other than consuming the main text. One popular method of interacting with audiences is through social media, sites such as twitter and Facebook allow audiences to keep up to date with their favourite media. Game of Thrones offers it fans behind the scenes looks and other content via its social media sites and posts regular updates throughout the week in order to be constantly engaging with fans. Another way in which the Game of Thrones television series interacts with audiences across a digital space is through its official website. This interactive site allows fans to explore the Game of Thrones universe, they can explore the map and locations featured in the show, read more about their favourite characters and learn about the history of the houses featured. It is a way for audiences to become more engaged with the show, deepening their interest and keeping them a fan. Audiences are also encouraged to interact with the fictional universe in a physical space, something that is not often done with television series. Fans can visit the Game of Thrones exhibition, which tours around the world and visits several cities. At the exhibition people can see props, weapons and clothes used in the show and can interact with items from it, for example you can have your photo taken whilst sitting in the now famous iron thrones which is a centrepiece of the series. You could also utilise the Oculus technology that is on offer, Oculus rift virtual reality technology offers the chance to put you into the show, using the technology viewers can take a trip in an elevator which takes them to the top of The Wall, which is a 700ft high wall featured in the show, for a chance to look out over the virtually created world of Westeros. This heavy interaction with its audience creates a participatory culture around the series. Fans can feel encouraged to go out and create their own content based off of the series, “…fans are drawing on materials from the dominant media and employing them in ways that serve their own interests and facilitate their own pleasures”, (Jenkins, 1992, p.137). Audience is important to Game of Thrones because it is ultimately them who keep the show going, the more interactive they can be with their fans the better as it keeps fans constantly engaged with the text and prevents them from losing interest and also may encourage them to tell others about the text and encourage others to engage with it. Fan participation also helps with this, for the Game of Thrones series, (both the books and the television series), people often form online communities to discuss their favourite book/show or create fan art and fan fiction to further the story in the way they want it to. “The author starts the story, the audience completes it. The author creates the characters and the situations they find themselves in; the audience responds and makes it their own”, (Rose, 2012, p.88). This also gives them a social identity, possibly helping them to form real life relations and easily find people who are also fans. Henry Jenkins also said, “Storytellers now think about storytelling in terms of creating openings for consumer participation”, this quote helps explain the influence that the audience and fans have on texts and how important they are to its success. The storytellers on the televised version of Game of Thrones may take this approach, however the author of the books, George R.R Martin has openly expressed his dislike for fan fiction based on his stories, so not all storytellers see it as a necessarily positive aspect of an audience, Martin says, “Every writer needs to learn to create his own characters, worlds, and settings. Using someone else’s world is the lazy way out.” (flavorwire.com, 2012).
Fans can form a social identity and create fan made products, such as this
This leads onto the argument of where the power lies in media, the author or the audience? When conducting a textual analysis of a case study, it is important to consider the author. George RR Martin is the creator of the world of Game of Thrones, the characters and stories inside it. His dislike for fan creation would suggest that in this case the power lies with the author. However, those in charge of adapting Martins story for television do take some creative license, as previously mentioned they do occasionally make deviations from the original story, so does this in a way count as a form of fan fiction, as the scriptwriters are taking Martins characters as changing them, they change how some characters are represented in order to get their own meaning across to the audience, this is sometime not the same meaning that Martin tries to convey in his books. Fans often debate on whether they prefer certain characters book, or television portrayals, for this argument to even exist shows that the meanings or representations that the television writers apply to the book characters on screen counterparts must be different to those that Martin applies to the characters.
Having already looked at the power balance between audience and author, it is also important to consider who is the true author of a case study such as Game of Thrones. Many people in the knowing audience will consider George Martin as the true author of the series, as they are after all his books, his ideas and his characters that he has created. But to those who are not aware of the books, does that make Benioff and Weiss, the pair who adapt the source material for screen, the authors of a Game of Thrones. Benioff and Weiss, as previously mentioned, seem to have the power to change the story and add onto it pieces of narrative that they feel will create a better story for television. So where does the creative power lie? Looking further in, does the creative power lie with the directors of the single episodes? Martin, Benioff and Weiss write the material, but the directors that are hired are the people who put these ideas onto screen, so does that mean that the final story portrayed on screen is their vision? Auteur theory is a view in filmmaking that the director of the piece is the main creative force behind it, as they interpret the script in their own ways and are often the ones responsible for adding underlying themes to a piece and deciding how characters are represented. Other arguments have stated that scriptwriters are the main creative force as they are the ones who give the director the material to base their ideas off of. It is hard to pin point the main author, or creative force in any work that is based on or is an adaptation of Martin’s original Song of Ice and Fire series. Almost every adaptation is different and the people behind them make there own changes to the story, even the card games, board games or video games that are based off of the same story end up being different due to authors needs to make things their own, most fans get upset when the source material of their favourite books is changed and altered by adapters, but is this a good thing, as Martin said himself, he wants people to create their own stories, not just copy his, so it is almost impossible to attribute a main author to the Game of Thrones universe beyond the books. The narrative structure of the series has stayed consistent from book to television screen. The book series consists of several point of view characters, the story is told through these characters who have their own chapters that allows us to see the story unfold from the viewpoint of different characters. The television show follows this format as best as possible and these characters become the main characters in the television adaption as scenes and storyline revolve around them. One problem that the adapters have with this format is that the characters book chapters contain a large amount of inner monologue, the characters thinking to themselves. This is obviously difficult to portray on screen and so the adapters have to think of their own creative ways in which to translate these thoughts to actions.
Sit on the iron throne at the exhibition
Take a journey to the top of the wall
During the analysis and research of my case study I have learnt some key lessons about media authorship, how audiences are important to a text and details of what goes into re-writing a text for adaptation and the process around that. In terms of authorship, I have learned that a texts true author isn’t always obvious, even if one or several texts are based on one original source text, they all differ. The author of the original text does not automatically become the author for all texts based off of his or hers original text, changes are almost always made when someone takes another persons work and changes it for a different platform as all authors are different and have their own ways of getting across a story, its message or representations within the story. I have learnt about ‘auteur’ theory and how it is also often unclear who is the primary creative force behind a text. In the future I may now be more inclined to think about who’s work I’m really watching, listening to or playing, with this information I have already noticed, upon watching back some episodes of Game of Thrones, changes in each episode, different uses of camera angles and distances, which would suggest that the different directors hired for episodes are perhaps a main creative force, as episodes are often very different visually. I have learnt that fan interaction and participation in their favourite franchise is pivotal in the success of a brand. A text that gives its audience and fans ore spaces to interact with the text in is going to be a more successful text, as keeping fans engaged and consuming the text at all times is what keeps them interested and keeps their interest alive in the text. Game of Thrones does this well with its opportunities for physical interaction and vast amounts of other spin off texts that fans can keep engaged with, even when the television series isn’t airing. Finally, I have learnt more about the difficulties of adaptation, the importance of getting the right balance between pleasing knowing and unknowing audiences at the same time and that book adaptation is not as simple as taking words from the book and making actors say them in front of a camera. Expectations must be met for knowing audiences whilst not leaving unknowing audiences confused as to what is happening and keeping the adaptation suitable and easy to follow for a mass audience is very important.
In conclusion, aspects of a textual analysis that I have analysed in relation with Game of Thrones are mainly those of audience and author whilst also touching briefly on the texts narrative structure. From this analysis I have found that Game of Thrones is extremely effective in its purpose as a cross platform text, it utilises many ‘spaces’ in the media, both digitally and physically. Game of Thrones nature as an adaptation has also been explored and its effectiveness and success in that manner has also been shown, also why it is successful as an adaptation and as a contemporary cross platform media text has been analysed in this essay. I have learnt mainly from this analysis that it is interesting to look deeper into a text to find out the methods behind making it, and who is really responsible for what we see on screen. It is important to understand and analyse how a professional text such as Game of Thrones is created in order to be able to benefit myself and improve my understand of both the ‘behind the scenes’ effort of creating a text, whether adapted or original, and the physical creation of a text.
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Game of Thrones - A Textual Analysis 