Watching Game of Thrones - by Martin Barker & Clarissa Smith & Feona Attwood Paperback

About the Book

How did audiences across the world engage with the blockbuster TV series Game of Thrones? This book presents the findings of a major research project that gathered the responses of more than 10,000 people. Its findings challenge many conventional approaches and open up new ways of thinking about the value of contemporary 'fantasy'.

Book Synopsis

Game of Thrones was an international sensation, and has been looked at from many different angles. But to date there has been little research into its audiences: who they were, how they engaged with and responded to it. This book presents the findings of a major international research project that garnered more than 10,000 responses to an innovative 'qualiquantitative' questionnaire. Among its findings are: a new way of understanding the place and role of favourite characters in audiences' responses; new insights into the role of fantasy in encouraging thinking about our own world; and an account of two combined emotions - relish and anguish - which structure audiences' reactions to controversial elements in the series.

From the Back Cover

'This is the best summary of all the work out there on Game of Thrones I have read. The authors have extensively researched audience reactions and existing work on audience research. I would say that it will prove itself to be a "must-buy" for GoT fans and scholars alike.'
Kim Akass, Professor of Radio, Television and Film, Rowan University

HBO's television adaptation of George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones was an international sensation, generating intense debates and controversies throughout its run. This book draws on ambitious international research that used innovative methods to gather information from over ten-thousand viewers of the series. It details seven distinct ways in which audiences watched the series and how these led to different responses and judgements.

The book considers the claim that Game of Thrones can be seen as a lens for thinking about the world by exploring how viewers engaged with the series' characters, lands and peoples and how they understood its world in relation to their own. It examines how some of the show's more shocking scenes were understood and appreciated as examples of 'extreme storytelling' while others were angrily rejected, and it reflects on what this suggests about broader debates on television and representations of violence. And in the wake of the controversy over the show's final series, it explores how audiences make sense of 'endings'.

Watching Game of Thrones makes an important contribution to understanding the role that fantasy plays in contemporary society, to the study of television audiences and to research on audiences, fans and engagements with media more generally.

Review Quotes

'Watching Game of Thrones offers a valuable contribution to large-scale audience research projects and to Game of Thrones scholarship.'
Critical Studies on Television

About the Author

Martin Barker was Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University and Visiting Professor at UWE Bristol
Clarissa Smith is Professor in the Department of Arts at Northumbria University
Feona Attwood edits three scholarly journals: Journal of Gender Studies, Sexualities, and Porn Studies