John Bradley as Samwell Tarly and Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
Game of Thrones is a worldwide phenomenon, and you can bet that it hasn’t escaped the notice of academia. The English University of Hertfordshire is hosting a conference on our favorite fantasy show, and speakers from as far away as Australia, France, Denmark and New Zealand are appearing at the event.
The University has spent two years preparing for the conference, which kicked off yesterday, September 7, and continues through today at the school’s de Havilland campus. Why? Organizer and senior TV and film lecturer Kim Akass explained to BBC News that Thrones is a “21st Century TV phenomenon” and that the academics at the conference want to discuss and explore the program’s “place in TV history…We decided that now – before it gets to the final season – it would be a good time to investigate why it’s such a huge phenomenon and what we can learn from it.”
French-based Doctoral researcher Julie Escurignan is attending because the conference allows her to meet with other “interesting scholars” who study TV. Escurignan is presenting a paper on her research about how Thrones has captured the imaginations of millions of people around the world. “It is one of the biggest hits of the 21st Century… and a phenomenon that everyone knows,” she says. “It is a show that is so complex and so people get attached to it and exchange a lot about it because there is so much mystery.”
Panel discussions investigate everything from the reasons for the show’s cult success, the ramifications of killing off main characters to the spinoff business of adult coloring books. Other lecture topics included the nature of the show’s huge fan base, hacking problems and ongoing copyright issues.
Business Insider cataloged some of the conference events (for a full list, see the conference itinerary):
- Jon Snow vs Laura Roslin: The demise of democracy’s representation in “Game of Thrones”
- Fan Theories and Aesthetic Consciousness: On Jon Snow’s death and resurrection
- Legitimacy and being female: Character arcs and storyline convergence in Season 6 of “Game of Thrones”
- “We’re going to need a bigger box of red crayons” — Adapting “Game of Thrones” for the adult colouring book market
- From fantasy to reality: Representations of Northern Ireland and Ireland in media coverage of “Game of Thrones”
- “Game of Thrones” and Journalism: The emergence of feminist collectives in Brazilian digital pop culture
Hertfordshire is serious about it’s Game of Thrones. The university’s Hatfield campus is using the conference as an opportunity to start a George R.R. Martin society dedicated to the study and preservation of the author’s works. And they’re no strangers to the study of cultural phenomenon — the school also hosted a three-day conference on werewolves in 2015.
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