Television series that have become pop culture icons have inspired college courses in the past. The campy Buffy the Vampire Slayer series spawned a feminist study course at Portland State University, Oberlin Experimental College offered a course on David Lynch's Twin Peaks, and the long-running animated series, The Simpsons, inspired a philosophy course at the University of California, Berkeley.
Now, also from Berkeley, a new film course is being offered based on the immensely popular HBO series, Game of Thrones.
The summer class is described as an in-depth look at the series based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novel series. Students will dive right into the themes surrounding the show, its theories and its controversial aspects, such as the portrayal of women, religion and violence.
The course was proposed by instructor Justin Vaccaro, a Ph.D. candidate in film and media studies. According to a UC Berkeley statement, he came up with the idea shortly after the first season of the show aired and even before it garnered a whopping 24 Emmy Award nominations.
Vaccaro says that this summer offering is the highest turnout he has received for any non-requisite class he has taught since 2011. However, students should not expect too much of a light ride through the park in this course.
Included in the reading materials for the Game of Thrones course are selections by Rousseau and Foucault. Students will also be asked to explore heavy themes, such as democracy, climate change, terrorism and torture, corruption, women as objects to possess and of power, and other delicate subject matters.
"Its whole attitude about a world that is morally complicated, and where answers don't come easily or at all, is strangely very compelling and strangely reassuring," Vaccaro says of his course, which asks students to look deeper into this hugely popular show that balanced fantasy and realism to create emotional connections with its viewers.
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