A past that never was: historical poaching in Game of Thrones fans’ Tumblr practices

ABSTRACT

This article explores the textual and historical poaching practices by Tumblr fans of the novels A Song of Ice and Fire and the television adaption Game of Thrones, a pseudo-historical fantasy series. Fans critique both the text (novels and TV show) and other fans’ interpretations of the text, as well as parallel real-world history with the world and characters of the series. Tensions arise around the “historical accuracy” of the novels and show, along with the role that dominant narratives and cultural norms play in interpreting a past that never was through the lens of a real-world past. Fantasy and history intersect in layered ways and are used by fans to support a variety of textual points of view. Issues of violence, presentism, colonialism, gender, and “historical truths” are argued in relation to the ahistoricism or historicism of the novels/show.

KEYWORDS:

• Fandom
• Tumblr
• historical poaching
• textual poaching
• Game of Thrones
• history
• social media
• television
• online discussions
• fantasy

Notes

¹ http://www.assignmentx.com/2011/interview-game-of-thrones-creator-george-r-r-martin-on-the-future-of-the franchise-part-2/ http://entertainment.time.com/2011/04/18/grrm-interview-part-2-fantasy-and-history/ http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26824993.

² http://entertainment.time.com/2011/04/18/grrm-interview-part-2-fantasy-and-history/ .

³ http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/11/george-r-r-martin-the-winds-of-winter http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/11/110411fa_fact_miller?currentPage=all http://flavorwire.com/394460/10-things-george-r-r-martin-is-doing-instead-of-writing-the-next-game-of-thrones-book/ http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html http://scifisongs.blogspot.com/2009/08/sci-fi-song-20-george-rr-martin-is-not.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/01/10/why-i-wont-be-reading-george-r-r-martins-new-winds-of-winter-chapter/ http://io9.com/5504626/best-song-ever-george-rr-martin-is-not-your-bitch.

⁴ http://www.tumblr.com/about.

⁵ http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/.

⁶ turtle-paced http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/130357742540/a-waste-of-time.

⁷ Catherine of Aragon was Henry VIII’s first wife who was Spanish. Anne Boleyn was Henry’s second wife, who was English yet had spent years in France. Anne’s wearing of French gowns was a political statement around who the wives were and which countries they favored respectively.

⁸ racefortheironthrone - http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/74864258387/asoiaf-and-realistic-violence.

⁹ medievalpoc - http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/74856591324/why-do-they-find-the-violence-in-asoiaf-unrealistic.

¹⁰ only-an-emigre http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/149408002855/the-real-world-weirwood.

¹¹ towerofthehawk http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/125709110183/feminism-and-misogyny-in-george-rr-martins-the.

¹² Ellomelissa, nothingisnevergood, tortuugaconmuletas http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/83512908770/ellomelissa-nothingisnevergood.

¹³ Medievalpoc http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/74513642316/things-were-just-like-that-back-then-thoughts.

¹⁴ tafkarfanfic http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/119913626560/a-song-of-ice-and-fire-has-a-rape-problem.

¹⁵ renlyslittlerose - http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/76817949257/in-your-post-earlier-you-said-sansa-was-too-young-to-be.

¹⁶ ofhouseadama - http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/56655240578/ofhouseadama-so-the-idea-of-but-it-was-normal.

¹⁷ bethwoodvilles - http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/62487324639/bethwoodvilles-tywin-lannister-richard-neville.

¹⁸ olennatyrell - http://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/84960583185/is-margaery-tyrell-another-anne-boleyn-and-will-she.

¹⁹ For example, see Eric Ives, David Starkey, Retha Warnicke, David Loades, Tracy Borman, Amy Licence, etc.

²⁰ http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009.