Masterchef SA: You be the judge!

complexity second only to Mandelbrot’s Fractals or perhaps a really big silk-based Persian carpet. The issue is power and the intruiging revelation that sex and murder are the appropriate channels to achieve it. If only political science was taught this way at UKZN. So. We are in Westros. Surprise surprise Westeros is an imagined place unknown to Google Maps. Nevertheless, given the veracity of the photographic image, the high production values of the series, a cast awash with fine actors both naked and clothed, the world of Westeros is a hell of a lot more real that the giant industrial kitchen assembled for the benighted Masterchef show already dealt with. So what’s the big deal about Game of Thrones?

For a start it’s even better than Mad Men. The exploration of power and its exercise makes for compelling viewing as does the contextual violence, incest, incidental non-gender specific couplings, three-eyed ravens and of course, dragons. While the ravens, the dragons and the swords might be off-putting to some pointed headed liberal intellectuals, the dramatic status granted to marginal folk breaks the frame and defies corny expectations.

A dwarf provides the greatest emotional and moral complexity of the entire cast. Further insights come from other marginal people such as the homeless, the crippled and the androgynous. So is Game of Thronesmerely a collection of every myth and fable ever written?

No. Beams of modernity flicker though it as five would-be rulers and their armies fight for the Iron Throne. That the Iron Throne is currently occupied by a teenaged woman-hating sadist gives a moral tinge to the various crusades. But don’t be distracted by all this. The dragons are the next big thing. Stay tuned. Stay very very tuned indeed.