The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 216: Game of Thrones' Fantasy Politics

Discussing the TV show (2011-2019) based on the books by George R.R. Martin. What's the role of a mass-consumed fantasy series in today's society? Is it our "fantasy" to have all these horrible things happen to us? Is this an edifying prompt to engage in public moral thinking, or a spectacular distraction of the kind that those Marxist theorists keep warning us about? We get into the function of fantasy and how a more "realistic" show plays with that, the extent to which we're supposed to identify with the characters, depiction of moral complexity, low art vs. high art, identity issues, and more. With guest Sabrina Weiss. End song: "Fire and Blood" by Sacrifice Feat. Mark Lint; hear the interview on <a href="http://nakedlyexaminedmusic.com/nem-24-tyler-hislop-sacrifice-copious-rhymes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nakedly Examined Music #24</a>. Don't miss the <a href="https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/membership-options/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Citizen-only</a> spoiler-filled <a href="https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2019/05/23/ep216-follow-up/">follow-up discussion between Mark and Wes</a>.

The Partially Examined Life is a podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a short text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don't have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we're talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion. For links to the texts we discuss and other info, check out www.partiallyexaminedlife.com.

We also feature episodes from other podcasts by our hosts to round out your partially examined life, including Pretty Much Pop (prettymuchpop.com, covering all media), Nakedly Examined Music (nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, deconstructing songs), Philosophy vs. Improv (philosophyimprov.com, fun with performance skills and philosophical ideas), and (sub)Text (subtextpodcast.com, looking deeply at lit and film). Learn about more network podcasts at partiallyexaminedlife.com.