Ethnography on Game of Thrones Discourse Community 1

Ethnography on Game of Thrones Discourse Community

Frida Sofia Casana

University of Texas at El Paso

RSW 1301

Professor Saul Hernandez

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Introduction

A discourse community could be defined as a group of individuals who share the same

common goals and communicate through a specific language or terminology. To be a discourse

community there are six requirements, being that they have to share a common goal, mechanisms

of intercommunication among its members, use participatory mechanisms primarily to provide

information, they utilize more genres in their communicative of their aims, they also have a

special form of lexis which is their form of communication, and the last one is that they have

experienced members (Swales, 1990, p.215). Discourse communities are not only seen in

literature but they can be seen in media. Game of Thrones, the HBO TV-show is a perfect

example of a discourse community.

Characteristics

Like John Swales states in his article The Concept of Discourse Community he says

that any discourse community, has to share the same common goal. In Game of Thrones, the

common goal of all the Kingdoms and Houses have is to conquer and sit in the Iron Throne. The

Iron Throne is where the King of Andals and the First men sit. This throne is located in Westeros

at Kings Landing. The Iron Throne represents a monarchy which rules all the Seven

Kingdoms and represents absolute power. The different houses will battle against each other in

hope of conquering the kingdoms in order to climb up the ladder and fight their way into the Iron

Throne (Benioff, Caulfield, (2011) Game of Thrones). This discourse community doesnt just

share the common goal of conquering the Iron Throne but they also share the goal defeating the

White Walkers that lie beyond the Wall. The kingdoms come together to fight these creatures

who pose a threat to all of them.

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Swales continues to argue that a discourse community has mechanisms of

intercommunication among its members (Swales, 1990, p.215). The TV show, Game of Thrones

takes place in a fictional world divided by different kingdoms ruled by different houses. In Game

of Thrones, their main form of communication was sending rolled notes by a raven. A raven is a

medium sized, black feathered bird who would deliver messages from kingdom to kingdom

delivering any important news referencing any changes just like a battle or the new ruler of the

house. These birds are typically natives of Westeros (Game of Thrones Wiki).

Swales states that a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms

primarily to provide information (Swales, 1990, p.215). In order for the kingdoms to be

successful they would take great pride in teaching the future royals proper sword fighting skills

in order to prepare them for the battles to come. There are several examples of the young royals

that are taught how to fight. For example, in the beginning of the series we can see how Ned

Stark, King of House Stark teaches his sons Rob Stark, Bran Stark, and Jon Snow how to

swordfight. There is another instance at House Erryn where Lord Baelish the Lord Protector of

the Eyrie decides to have his step son Robert Arryn trained to fight for when he comes to age

(Benioff, Caulfield, (2011) Game of Thrones).

Discourse communities according to Swales utilize and possess on or more genres in the

communicative furtherance of its aims (Swales, 1990, p.215). In other words, they each have a

specific way of spreading the word. In Game of Thrones, they usually get the word around by

performing a big accomplishment or a tragedy. For example, when Daenerys Targaryen freed all

the slaves in Slavers Bay and as well as the Unsullied Army. By freeing the slaves in a slave

capital Daenerys sent a message to all the Great Houses showing that she was becoming more

powerful and was ready to take the Iron Throne (Benioff, Caulfield, (2011) Game of Thrones).
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Swales also adds that a discourse community has its own ways of communicating.

(Swales, 1990, p.215). Lexis, is the way a discourse community communicates, they create their

own language or slang. There are various languages in the series that make their own discourse

community. The common tongue which is modern English used in the Great Houses. In Essos,

they use High Valyrian and Low Valyrian a language created by a family. Around central plains

of Essos they use the language called Dothraki used by the nomadic horse men, they created

their own unique language. The Lhazareen also created their own language called Lhazar. Qarth

is a language uses in Westeros but not understood by most, usually Qartheens speak the

common tongue to visitors and individuals who dont understand their language. Lastly there is

a language that is used by witches to create spells, AsshaiI and is used in the shadow islands

(Game of Thrones Wiki).

Lastly, Swales states that in a discourse community there is a threshold level of

members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales, 1990,

p.215). All throughout the series the Royals of each house change because of wars and battles

that may kill the leaders of each house. In the fight to possess the Iron Throne, the houses battle

each other in order to rule more than one house. This is the reason why there are different rulers

in certain periods of time. For example, in the series and in-House Lannister the king goes from

King Joffrey to King Tommen due to the death of Joffrey. Theres also another example where

in House Stark king Ned Stark is killed by the Lannisters and results in having Robb Stark to be

the new King of the North (Benioff, Caulfield, (2011) Game of Thrones).

Conclusion

It is evident there are many discourse communities outside of the literature world.

Game of Thrones is only one of infinitely many, possessing all six characteristics. One can
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conclude that this fantasy world forms its own discourse community. Even though that the Game

of Thrones world had several kingdoms and houses, they each made up their own discourse

community as well as a vast discourse community made up of all the houses. They all share the

same common goal, intercommunication among its members, use participatory mechanisms

primarily to provide information, they utilize more genres in their communicative of their aims,

they have their special form of lexis, and they have experienced members (Swales, 1990, p.215).
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References

David Benioff David Benioff

Benioff, D., & Caulfield, B. (Producers). (2011). Game of Thrones, Season 1-7 [Video file].

HBO.

Game of Thrones Wiki. (n.d.). Retrieved September 25, 2017, from

http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_Wiki

Swales, J. (1990). The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic

and Research Settings. (p.215-227)

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