Out Now from McFarland: Power and Subversion in Game of Thrones: Critical Essays on the HBO Series

Further information and ordering information is available at McFarland's website from this link.

Power and Subversion in Game of Thrones: Critical Essays on the HBO Series

Bibliographic Details

Edited by A. Keith Kelly

Format: softcover (6 x 9)

Pages: 198

Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index

Copyright Date: 2022

pISBN: 978-1-4766-8264-8;$39.95

eISBN: 978-1-4766-4466-0

Imprint: McFarland

About the Book

This collection of essays examines the structures of power and the ways in which power is exercised and felt in the fantasy world of Game of Thrones. It considers how the expectations of viewers, particularly within the genre of epic fantasy, are subverted across the full 8 seasons of the series. The assembled team of international scholars, representing a variety of disciplines, addresses such topics as the power of speech and magic; the role of nationality and politics; disability, race and gender; and the ways in which each reinforces or subverts power in Westeros and Essos.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v


Introduction
A. Keith Kelly 1


List of Seasons and Episodes: HBO’s Game of Thrones 7


Breaking the Wheel: Game of Thrones and the American Zeitgeist
Daniel Vollaro 13


Dangerous Nostalgia: Fantasies of Medievalism, Race, and Identity
Robert Allen Rouse 30


Game of Victims and Monsters: Representation of Sexual and Female Violence
Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun 48


Subversion or Reinforcement? Patriarchy and Masculinity
Andrew Howe 68


“I’ll go with anger”: Female Rage in and at Game of Thrones
Lindsey Mantoan 87


The Developing Verbal Power of Daenerys: A Pragmatics Analysis
Graham P. Johnson 108


“Who has a better story than Bran the Broken?”: The Power of Disability Narratives
Jan Doolittle Wilson 131


Magic’s Failure to Reanimate Fantasy
Jason M. Embry 161


A Brief Conclusion on the Conclusion
A. Keith Kelly 181


About the Contributors 185


Index 187




About the Author(s)


A. Keith Kelly is a professor of English at Georgia Gwinnett College, outside of Atlanta, where he teaches medieval literature, linguistics and writing. In addition to being a poet and author of short fiction, he has published work on literary pragmatics, Old Norse saga, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and the representation of the Middle Ages in film and television.

Recent from McFarland: Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Full details and ordering information is available from McFarland's website at this link.

Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Edited by Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette

Series Editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell

$29.95

Format: softcover (7 x 10)

Pages: 236

Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index

Copyright Date: 2021

pISBN: 978-1-4766-7784-2

eISBN: 978-1-4766-4356-4

Imprint: McFarland

Series: Studies in Gaming

About the Book

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the bestselling and most influential video games of the past decade. From the return of world-threatening dragons to an ongoing civil war, the province of Skyrim is rich with adventure, lore, magic, history, and stunning vistas. Beyond its visual spectacle alone, Skyrim is an exemplary gameworld that reproduces out-of-game realities, controversies, and histories for its players. Being Dragonborn, then, comes to signify a host of ethical and ideological choices for the player, both inside and outside the gameworld. These essays show how playing Skyrim, in many ways, is akin to “playing” 21st century America with its various crises, conflicts, divisions, and inequalities. Topics covered include racial inequality and white supremacy, gender construction and misogyny, the politics of modding, rhetorics of gameplay, and narrative features.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Introduction: Skyrim as an Exemplary Gameworld

Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette 1




Part I: “Skyrim is our land”: Neomedievalism, Heroism and ­Ethno-Nationalist Gameplay

From Hero to Zero: Nationalistic Narratives and the Dogma of Being Dragonborn

Joshua Call and Thomas Lecaque 14

Grounding the Neomedieval Gameworld: The Dragonborn Between History and Myth

Alicia McKenzie 28

Expanding the Frontier Through War: Skyrim’s Ludic Contribution to the Frontier Myth

Brent Kice 45




Part II: “Then I took an arrow in the knee”: Agency and Alterity

Queer Harpies and Vicious Dryads: Hagravens, Spriggans and Abject Female Monstrosity in Skyrim

Sarah Stang 60

All the Wheels of Cheese: Hoarding and Collecting Behaviors in Skyrim

D’An Knowles Ball 75

Escapism as Contested Space: The Politics of Modding Skyrim

Liamog S. Drislane 91




Part III: “Sky above, voice within”: Ethics and Politics Within Skyrim’s Cosmology

Nature Versus Player: Skyrim Players and Modders as Ecological Force

Misha Grifka Wander 106

Portraits of the Neomedieval ­Family-Idyllic: Patriarchal Oikos and a Love Without Love in Skyrim

Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette 120

Skyrim’s Competitive Cosmology: A Fluctuating Economy of Power and Parasitic Deification

Trevor B. Williams 137

Testing Your Thu’um: Rhetoric, Violence, Uncertainty and the Dragonborn

Stephen M. Llano 154




Part IV: “Who wrote the Elder Scrolls?” Emergent Narratives and Difficult Questions

Emergent Worlds and Illusions of Agency: Worldbuilding as Design Practice in Skyrim

Wendi Sierra 172

Taking Your Time as Dragonborn: Reconciling Skyrim’s Ludic and Narrative Dimensions Through a Detective Story Typology

Andrew A. Todd 188

The Death of Paarthurnax: The “Good Temptation”?

C. Anne Engert and Tony Perrello 202




About the Contributors 221



Index 223

About the Author(s)

Mike Piero is a Professor of English at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.


Marc A. Ouellette is an award-winning educator who teaches cultural and gender studies at Old Dominion University, where he is the Learning Games Initiative Research Fellow.



Series editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell lives in Brooklyn and teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University.

Coming Soon from McFarland: Larsen's Science, Technology and Magic in The Witcher: A Medievalist Spin on Modern Monsters

Due late 2022/early 2023. Further details and pre-ordering information are available from McFarland's website at this link.

Science, Technology and Magic in The Witcher: A Medievalist Spin on Modern Monsters

Kristine Larsen. 

Series Editors Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III

Format: softcover (6 x 9)

Copyright Date: 2022

pISBN: 978-1-4766-8385-0

eISBN: 978-1-4766-4817-0

Imprint: McFarland

Series: Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy




About the Book

As Andrzej Sapkowski was fleshing out his character Geralt of Rivia for a writing contest, he did not set out to write a science textbook—or even a work of science fiction. However, the world that Sapkowski created in his series The Witcher resulted in a valuable reflection of real-world developments in science and technology. As the Witcher books have been published across decades, the sorcery in the series acts as an extension of the modern science it grows alongside.



This book explores the fascinating entanglement of science and magic that lies at the heart of Sapkowski’s novel series and its widely popular video game and television adaptations. This is the first English-language book-length treatment of magic and science in the Witcher universe. These are examined through the lenses of politics, religion, history and mythology. Sapkowski’s richly detailed universe investigates the sociology of science and ponders some of the most pressing modern technological issues, such as genetic engineering, climate change, weapons of mass destruction, sexism, speciesism and environmentalism. Chapters explore the unsettling realization that the greatest monsters are frequently human, and their heinous acts often involve the unwitting hand of science.




About the Author(s)

Kristine Larsen is a professor of astronomy at Central Connecticut State University, where her teaching and research focus on the intersections between science and society. Her publications include numerous articles and book chapters on J.R.R. Tolkien’s uses of astronomy in his writings.

Coming Soon from McFarland: The World of Final Fantasy VII Essays on the Game and Its Legacy

Due late 2022/early 2023. Further details and pre-ordering information are available from McFarland's website at this link.

The World of Final Fantasy VII: Essays on the Game and Its Legacy

Bibliographic Details

Edited by Jason C. Cash and Craig T. Olsen. Series Editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell

Format: softcover (6 x 9)

Copyright Date: 2022

pISBN: 978-1-4766-8186-3

eISBN: 978-1-4766-4725-8

Imprint: McFarland

Series: Studies in Gaming

About the Book

Final Fantasy VII altered the course of video game history when it was released in 1997 on Sony’s PlayStation system. It converted the Japanese role-playing game into an international gaming standard with enhanced gameplay, spectacular cutscenes and a vast narrative involving an iconic cast. In the decades after its release, the Final Fantasy VII franchise has grown to encompass a number of video game sequels, prequels, a feature-length film, a novel and a multi-volume remake series.

This volume, the first edited collection of essays devoted only to the world of Final Fantasy VII, blends scholarly rigor with fan passion in order to identify the elements that keep Final Fantasy VII current and exciting for players. Some essays specifically address the game’s perennially relevant themes and scenarios, ranging from environmental consciousness to economic inequity and posthumanism. Others examine the mechanisms used to immerse the player or to improve the narrative. Finally, there are several essays devoted specifically to the game’s legacy, from its influence on later games to its characters’ many crossovers and cameos.



About the Author(s)

Jason C. Cash is an associate professor at SUNY Delhi, where he teaches literature, composition, and film. His research interests include Irish fiction and video game narrative. He lives in Oneonta, New York.


Craig T. Olsen is an associate professor and director of the writing center at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. His areas of research include gaming literacy, music and storytelling within video games, multimodality, digital spaces, writing centers, and creative rhetoric.


Series editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell lives in Brooklyn and teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University.