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Harvard Are Offering A 'Game Of Thrones' Themed Course

Harvard Are Offering A 'Game Of Thrones' Themed Course

Dissertations are coming.

Mark McGowan

Mark McGowan

University isn't for everyone. When considering the possibility of higher education, you might well ponder where there are any subjects that interest you.

Maths is just numbers, English is just letters and science is just random numbers and letters, and all of it together is a bit shit. You just want to pack your stuff up, get out and binge-watch a few series on Netflix.

But what if you could study some of those series? That might change everything.

You can only imagine that there was a huge spike in applications to study chemistry once everyone got a glimpse of Walter White in Breaking Bad, and the same with law following the likes of Suits and Making a Murderer.

via GIPHY

Good news! According to Time, Harvard are offering a new Folklore and Mythology course, themed around none other than Game of Thrones.

But don't go thinking that it's just a doss where you can watch the show for hours, say it was good and call it a day. No, the course is titled 'The Real Game of Thrones: From Modern Myths to Medieval Models'. It will look at both the books and TV series to explore how the franchise "echoes and adapts, as well as distorts the history and culture of the 'medieval world' of Eurasia from c. 400 to 1500 CE."

Maybe sounds a little more boring than you might have thought at first, but still, better than Geography, innit?

Teaching the course are Sean Gilsdorf and Racha Kirakosian, a medieval historian and Administrative Director and Lecturer on Medieval Studies, and an assistant professor of German and the Study of Religion, respectively.

Plans for the course include examining "a set of archetypal characters at the heart of Game of Thrones - the king, the good wife, the second son, the adventurer, and so on - with distinct analogues in medieval history, literature, religion, and legend."

Kirakosian explained: "When I read medieval verse epics with my students, they'd say, 'Oh, that's like in Game of Thrones.' No, if anything at all, it's the other way around. Isn't it partly our job [as professors] to use that interest and go deeper?"

There's a hope that the course will help boost an interest in Medieval Studies, because, as we alluded to earlier, no one really gives a shit any more. Besides, season seven's out soon, as this recent trailer reveals:


Credit: HBO

So if you're not into studying Game of Thrones and just like watching it with a big bag of crisps and a couple of beers, it returns to HBO on 17 July.

Enjoy.

Featured Image Credit: HBO

Topics: Game of Thrones