Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Game of Thrones vs Lord of the Rings

Over the past year, I have heard a number of things regarding the show Game of Thrones, based off of the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. All of these comments have to do with Lord of the Rings. Some say that it is an adult version of Lord of the Rings while others say that it is far superior than Lord of the Rings. As for me, I say that neither of these applies. You see, my belief is that the Lord of the Rings books are our generations version of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Both Homer and Tolkien wrote characters that fought great wars with mythological creatures and went on journeys and had fantastic adventures. Game of Thrones on the other hand, I would associate more with many of Shakespeare's plays such as Julius Ceasar, Hamlet or even Macbeth. All of these plays deal with ideas of murder, betrayal, loyalty, honor, family rivalries and so forth. All of which can be seen in the show. Sure, the story and the themes are a bit heavier than that of Lord of the Rings, but does that make them better than Tolkien's books? Not necessarily, it really all depends on which you prefer. Do you prefer Shakespeare or Homer? They both have great stories, both have great characters and you really get involved in what is going on in both cases. Again, I can't really say which is better because they both had a specific purpose and both of them achieved it beautifully. All I can say is that the three Lord of the Rings movies are ranked amongst my ten favorite movies of all time, and Game of Thrones has become one of my favorite shows.