HBO found an unlikely adversary in its fight against copyright infringement of Game of Thrones materials – the President of United States of America.
Donald Trump tweeted a Game of Thrones-themed meme on Thursday, in response to the Mueller report. It made use of a smoky background and the ornate font style that is signature of the TV show. HBO, understandably, is not happy. They issued a statement asking Trump to not use Game of Thrones material for political purposes.
HBO’s statement read:
Though we can understand the enthusiasm for Game of Thrones now that the final season has arrived, we still prefer our intellectual property not be used for political purposes.
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2019
This is not the first time Trump has made use of Game of Throne’s popularity to drive home a message. This is also not the first time HBO has expressed displeasure about it. Only in January, when the impasse over the border wall was going on, Trump Tweeted “The Wall is Coming“, alluding to the famous Stark words in Game of Thrones, “Winter is Coming”. Last November, Trump used the same format to threaten Iran with sanctions. His meme was a picture of himself with the words “Sanctions are Coming” written over it.
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2018
Several GoT cast members, including Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, reacted to Trump’s usage. HBO also responded in both formal and informal means. They first issued a statement saying: “We were not aware of this messaging and would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes.” Then they took to Twitter for a humorous reply:
How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?
— House Box Office (@HBO) November 2, 2018
But Trump doesn’t seem perturbed by HBO’s displeasure, and this misuse is unlikely to stop. The popularity of Game of Thrones, as well as its intensely political narrative, makes it very well-suited for political messaging in the current political scenario.
This isn’t lost on the cast and crew as well. In fact, some of them have compared Trump with Game of Thrones characters (*cough cough* Joffrey *cough cough*) in the past.
Fan frenzy around Game of Thrones has reached an all-time high at the moment. As the 2020 elections inches closer, it seems that both Trump and his adversaries will continue to capitalize on it.
Game of Thrones is the biggest TV show to have ever filmed, both in terms of its budget and viewership. It also holds the record for the most number of Emmy Awards won. Have you ever wondered, why the show is so popular? Research by data scientists and network theorists might hold the key to the secrets of the show’s unprecedented fame!
Researchers from five universities from the UK and Ireland came together to unravel A Song of Ice and Fire, the books on which the TV series is based.
A paper was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A team of physicists, mathematicians and psychologists from Coventry, Warwick, Limerick, Cambridge and Oxford universities got together. They used data science and network theory to analyse the acclaimed book series by George R. R. Martin.
The study shows the way the interactions between the characters are arranged is similar to how humans maintain relationships and interact in the real world. Although important characters are famously killed off at random as the story is told, the underlying chronology is not at all so unpredictable.
The team found over 2,000 named characters in Martin’s book and over 41,000 interactions between them. Even the most pivotal characters average out to have only 150 others to keep track of. This is the same number that the average human brain has evolved to deal with.
Did the results surprise you? Tell us what you think of the research in the comments below!
Revenge was the main driving force for Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark that kept her going against all odds on Game of Thrones. Her will to survive and the flame of vengeance turned her into one of the most formidable assassins ever in Westeros. Maisie is back with the same burning rage in the new trailer for HBO Max’s dark action-comedy Two Weeks to Live.
Williams, who earlier said her new role was the polar opposite to Arya, is seen raising her kill-count in the trailer. Her character, Kim Stokes is a 20-year-old girl who finds it hard to fit into society after living for a long time in isolation with her mother. Her mother, Tina, played by Sian Clifford, is a paranoid mom who went into hiding after her husband died under murky circumstances.
The story takes a hilarious and action-packed turn when Kim butts her head with her brothers Jay (Taheen Modak) and Nicky (Mawaan Rizwan) in a nearby town. The fun begins when they come across a rumour about the world ending in two weeks. Maisie’s character then ropes in the brother duo in her dangerous quest of exacting revenge on her father’s killers.
Maisie’s new character looks spine-chilling when going for a kill, yet cute when she’s back with her family. Are you excited about the humour-packed thriller? Tell us in the comments below!
Game of Thrones was a life-changing experience for both the fans and the cast of the show. Many of the stars have moved onto new projects ever since the show wrapped up filming. John Bradley, who played the affable Samwell Tarly on the acclaimed TV series, recently joined Lionsgate’s space epic Moonfall.
Bradley was selected as a replacement for Josh Gad for the movie. The Frozen star couldn’t continue due to his scheduling complications. Other than Bradley, the space-epic boasts of a highly acclaimed roaster consisting of Stanley Tucci and Halle Berry.
The casting update arrived via Deadline. Disaster-epic-specialist Roland Emmerich’s upcoming movie features the Moon being knocked from its orbit of Earth by a mysterious force and then heading straight for our planet. The description to the movie says,
“With mere weeks before impact and against all odds, a ragtag team launches an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love and risking everything to land on the lunar surface and save our planet from annihilation.”
John Bradley plays the role of KC Houseman, who is an eccentric and unkempt genius. It is his character who discovers the Moon’s potentially catastrophic fall from orbit. Similar to John’s Game of Thrones character Samwell Tarly, KC prefers brains over brawn to deal with a situation. (Check out his views on the show’s finale)
Are you excited to see Bradley once again over the silver screen? Let us know in the comments below!
