DRAGONS AND DRONES

Photo: Queen Daenerys and one of her three dragons.

HBO's Game of Thrones (GOT) is a roller-coaster ride for medievalist nerds like me. George R.R. Martin's books, upon which the series is based, have been surpassed by the audio-visual interpretation. I would not say this about  J. R. R. Tolkien's medievalist fantasies or C. S. Lewis'. Their media interpretations, while entertaining, suffer from a Disney disease, which Martin's have escaped. Perhaps some ambitious geek could dig up C. S. Lewis's  obscured Space Trilogy and give it a go.

GOT is something else indeed. Martin's fantasy world has been crafted into a modern-themed masterpiece of metaphor, staged exquisitely in rugged costumes and slick CGI. The third-wave feminism of the lead female characters covers the gamut from ethical Queen Daenerys, leading a neutered male army, to narcissistic and incestuous Queen Cersei, defending corrupted aristocratic power.

My favorite aspect of GOT is its use of medieval myths for modern phenomena. This brings me to the dragons. If you do not know the series or the books, Queen Daenerys is the Queen of Dragons. She emerged from walking into a bonfire naked with three dragons, hatched from three ancient dragon eggs which had been presented to her as a wedding gift. I'll leave all that symbolism alone for now.

The grown dragons now travel with Daenerys as she tries to recapture her family's traditional throne. Yes, the dragons breathe fire, of course. They are huge, but perhaps a little spindlier than a medieval artist might have drawn them. And their fire power is quite precise, when directed by Danerys, who rides their backs when she goes to war.

We live in a time of ascending feminist power. We live in a time of increasing drone warfare. Drones deliver fire from heaven like dragons. A recent candidate for U.S. President, a blonde woman, was Secretary of State at a time when our drone warfare escalated sharply to fight terrorism abroad. A popular television show, Madame Secretary, presents a Secretary of State who is even more akin to Queen Daenerys ethically. She is conflicted about drone strikes against the bad guys due to collateral damage.

The depth of great literature, written or enacted, lies in its ability to mine and expose the deepest human elements. GOT is managing to do this through its seven remarkable seasons.