game kings: May 2019

Monday, May 27, 2019

Simple Reproduction

Whatever the social form of the production process, it has to be continuous, it must periodically repeat the same phases. A society can no more cease to produce than it can cease to consume. When viewed, therefore, as a connected whole, and in the constant flux of its incessant renewal, every social process of production is at the same time a process of reproduction.

Marx - Capital Vol 1 Ch 23

Production, other than specialized weaponry, seldom takes the stage in Game of Thrones. In the final episode it receives some attention as the Small Council attends to the required repairs to the infrastructure of the realm after the Last Battle. This isn’t why we’ve watched it. Nor can we complain that the working population of Westeros is invisible except when it is being slaughtered or seeking refuge. We seek out fantasy, in part, to evade production.

The “constant flux” which has commanded our attention over eight seasons is the story of a ruling class. We have been fascinated by a vast compilation of political battle among an enormous cast of aristocrats and their retainers. We are enthralled by stories of the aristocracy because, to start with, they are no longer our ruling class but, more fundamentally, because the reproduction of a hereditary ruling class is human reproduction.

The abstract and sophisticated narratives which are part and parcel of our world of abstracted production carry over the much older stories but they have never disappeared and they dominate the mass market. We don’t need to look very closely at Game of Thrones to find them. Above all we find the story, over and over, of inheritance. And each time we do the story ends badly. With the interesting exception of Sam (Tarly?) Jr there are no surviving heirs who were born after the execution of Ned Stark. And among the principle members of the Westeros aristocracy none are married at story’s close.

The Queen who was pregnant lies crushed. The Queen who was deceived into sacrificing her only child and became mother to dragons is murdered by her nephew, the true claimant to the Molten Throne, who is then sentenced to celibacy. His sisters survive unmarried. If there are heirs to any of the great houses of Westeros we know nothing of them. And the throne itself is given to a paralyzed seer nominated The Broken.

We have been prepared for this. The most notable wedding was a massacre. Characters have been widowed at a rate more than medieval. Children are sacrificed and men are castrated for a variety of causes. And now the surviving House of Stark have each one abandoned the field. Jon has left for the northern forest, Arya for the western sea. Sansa has seceded, and even the new king has taken to the flyways searching for Drogon.

Speaking of the House of Stark, is winter still coming? Wasn’t it supposed to last a long time? From my perch in the True North I can’t say I’m impressed.

What they leave behind in the six kingdoms does not inspire confidence. The new Master of Coin seems distracted. Rebuilding will likely require substantial loans from the Iron Bank. Interest rates will probably rise since the new administration cannot claim the AAA rating of the Lannisters. And won’t they still have to amortize the Golden Company even after they were executed? The game which the Mad King set in motion demonstrates a crisis of social reproduction and brings it to a head. Isn’t that why we not only watched but were fascinated?

If the feudalism of Westeros is crumbling because of the insanity of its rulers then the election of a paralyzed shaman could be a solution. That would certainly be a comforting thought for the major parties of our own republics. But aren’t we still uneasy about Westeros? And aren’t we uneasy about our own world? If not then why have we so raptly consumed a story that proclaims its subversion of its own genre? Whatever our favorites in the game would we have been content with any of them on the throne any more than we are with the three-eyed raven?

Again and again the feudal claimants have disappointed us. This is because feudalism has disappointed us. And so has capitalism. Nothing is produced that is not over production. Nothing is consumed that does not entail debt. And the planet groans. Maybe the mass dissatisfaction with the final season shows that we are looking for a new story. Wheels, broken or merely mired, are not the problem. What we require is another path forward.