The art of the episode – beginning of the fifth act.

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones has begun. As a reminder: Dramaturgically speaking, this series is rather a long epic feature film and follows the corresponding rules. This structural structure is complemented by a historical drama in the tradition of Shakespeare. Therefore, Game of Thrones doesn’t follow the rules of a series in which each episode must have a dramatic climax on the vertical narrative level. With this series of weekly comments on this series I complete the book „Game of Thrones sehen“, published in 2017.

With this eighth season the fifth act begins. Accordingly, the art of the first episode of this last season is not only to recall important aspects of the previous action after the long production and waiting period, but also to organize the necessary explicit action for the decisive fifth act. References to previous events must be included, especially to those of the first act, in this case the first and second season, which corresponds to the dramaturgical requirements of a last act of a feature film.

This referential level is already established in the first scene when we observe a boy (Felix Jamieson) walking through the crowd to climb a tree to better observe the approaching troops. This scene reflects on the one hand the scene from the first season, in which Bran spotted the approaching caravan of King Robert from the lookout at Winterfell Castle. The boy’s about the same age as Bran was in the first season. Part of the caravan now riding in are Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and at his side Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), but also some of the central figures from the different action levels of the previous seasons.

Shortly thereafter, a boy of similar age – Lord Umber (Harry Grasby) – appears during the assembly in the Throne Room, which deals with the preparations for the presumably decisive Battle of Winterfell and the Seven Kingdoms. Also in this situation events of past seasons are called and at the same time the meaning of the forthcoming battle is underlined. Lord Umber, calls for more horses and wagons to secure his family’s contribution to the battle. Sansa (Sophie Turner) responds to this demand, underlining her position as Lady von Winterfell. At the same time a logical and probable situation has been created in which the character Jon once again combines a past decision with the expected dramatic climax and thus creates an elegant dramaturgical arc. In the final scene, the figure of the young Lord Umber is used again to recall one of the very first scenes in the series – the gruesome arrangement on the clearing and Umber recalls the image of the girl nailed to the tree.

The art of the dramatic design of the fifth, final act consists, on the one hand, in leading the action to its dramatic and tense climax and its dissolution, for which references and arcs or spies, depending on which of these concepts seems more understandable to whom. What is meant is that situations, places, events from the exposition are revisited and recalled in the development of the last act, and an echo is playfully received or answered. This is particularly true of the central conflict, which in this case is a multi-layered one: who owns the throne, who is the rightful king of the seven kingdoms, which is a more abstract conflict at the ‚collective level‘.
The other, more emotional question associated with the main character is who Jon’s mother was. This, however, is logically linked into the first mentioned, central level and gives this abstract collective level the concrete, exemplary individual fate. Now we viewers have known the answer to the personal question for some time. Here, a gimmick known from Hitchcock’s films of the ’self-effect‘ is used, which creates tension because we know more than the figure it concerns. The tension is to observe the character Jon, who knows or suspects nothing of his origin, but for whom this knowledge would influence the decisions he has to make.
In this episode, Jon Snow finally learns of his special origins and the completely different situation in which this character finds himself. He is, this is summarized by Sam Tarly (John Bradley) once again Aegon Targaryen, the son of Lyanna Stark (Aisling Franciosi) and Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding), and thus the rightful heir of the throne – in the logic of the rules that are set for this kingdom. Of course this scene takes place in the crypt in Winterfell, between the graves of Lyanna and Ned Stark. Here, too, the arc is closed that began with the conversation between Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and King Robert (Mark Addy) just there in the first season. The overall conflict was already embedded in this dialogue.

With this scene between Sam and Jon/Aegon, a change in the quality of the plot has been achieved, a reorientation that gives the plot a twist that makes a reorientation of the plot necessary for a nude change possible.

The organization of the nude changes in this series also includes letting Cersei Lannister (Lena Hadley) start a new intrigue.  The immanent conflict between Winterfell and Kings Landing, the south and the north, connects the two regions. This is relevant for the tension building of each series and serves as an additional explicit narrative level that enriches the overall plot.  The figure of Cersei is designed in such a way that she still hopes to guarantee herself total power and the throne over the Seven Kingdoms. Implicitly, this constellation also tells of the conflict between an egomaniacal and dictatorial character and a social character that is intent on the welfare of the community. Dramaturgically speaking, each of the intrigues that Cersei leads gives a season a substantial dramatic arc, with the help of which each season can be brought to a certain conclusion without having to adapt the overall plot too much to nude progressions or to a series dramaturgy. In order to also draw a line to the first season on this level of the narrative, Cersei’s lover Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) is designed to reflect the behaviour of Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) from the first season. In this series, the principle of evil is passed on from one human character to the next as in a relay race. When Euron Greyjoy, like Joffrey, now acts in close proximity to Cersei, evil has returned to her side.

A further task for the design of the fifth act is to conclude secondary actions.

Right at the beginning of the episode, a scene is set in which Arya and Jon see each other again as an echo of the situation in which Jon hands over her ‚Needle‘, in which Jon’s relationship to Daenerys is also addressed. This constellation is very probably still relevant for the further course. Because in the way characters are organized here, Daenerys has replaced Arya at Jon’s side for some time. Since the character of the Daenerys was threaded into the plot via her brother, it is quite possible that she will be unthreaded from the plot before her next male relative. This character has been able to make enough enemies in the course of the plot to make such a procedure probable. However, this is only a dramaturgical option, not a prediction.
Gendry (Joe Dempsey), the young blacksmith who is also the only surviving heir to King Robert’s throne, now forges weapons out of Dragon glass. The Hound and Arya face each other as well as Jamie and Bran. There are still conflicts to be resolved between these characters.

Modern Dramaturgy is often defined as “alternative” or ‘breaking the rules’^[i], or a ‘stylish style’.[ii] The dramaturgical patterns of traditions of narrative-performative art, in short drama, are applied to these movies classified as poetic or creative, cinematic or ‘non-Aristotelian’. This is also true if no dramaturg is involved. These dramaturgical models emerged from three categories of drama, which Aristotle only referred to in his Poetics,^[iii] but did not discuss. One example using traditions of modern dramaturgy[iv] is:

Still Life – The Good People of the Three Gorges (The Good People of The Three Gorges’ CH 2006

The Chinese original title is a direct reference to Der gute Mensch von Sezuan [The Good Woman Of Setzuan] by Brecht/Berlau/Steffin (1938-1940), translated as ‘The Good People of The Three Gorges’. The story of Zhange’s movie is situated in the province of Setzuan, in Fengjie, where the Three Gorges dam is about to be built.

The main character with whom the movie starts, going by the name Sanming (Han Sanming), travels from another province, Shanxi, to the city Fengjie. He is searching for his daughter who disappeared with his wife, who left him dreaming of a better life in that city. In the middle part a woman, Shen Hong (Zhao Tao) from the very same province, is searching for her husband, who went to Fengjie for a job. The switched protagonist in the middle of the film mirrors the character of the first chapter from a different perspective. In the third part, the character Sanming with whom the movie began, has learned from both episodes.

The male character is a mineworker, representing the traditional China, and the female character the modern. He hopes to reunify his family. She comes to ask her husband for a divorce. Both characters and their motifs represent the impact which the politic can have on the life of common people. By having a mirrored part showing different courses and outcomes, Zhangke may respond here to the dramaturgical approach of Kieślowski’s BLIND CHANCE (Kieślowski PL 1987 (1981)) – although in Zhange’s film the mirroring scenes are reflecting on the different mindset and gender specific circumstances of these two characters.

The mineworker searching for his daughter finds the address as situated in the part already flooded for the first level of the dam. To stay for the search, he joins a group of men from different regions who came to the city for work. They introduce their home regions to one another by showing the pictures on the back of different banknotes. In contrast, the female character leading the middle part is shown as more distanced and observing. Her search starts from a privileged situation by having a common friend who supports her search. The space, within which the action takes place is well defined and part of the implicit dramaturgy. On the other hand, time is not shown as being a definite progress in any of these episodes. There are days and nights but not a naturalistic protocol of the time these characters are spending in the city, or of how long it actually takes to find someone – or oneself.

The impetus to make this film was for Zhangke the dam project and its foreseeable result. That project symbolises ‘the great change’ and promises for a better future. The dam is going to be built in a landscape that became iconic for the Tang Dynasty, the Golden Age of China.^[i] By sending two characters for a search into this town, Zhangke is able to show a kaleidoscope of characters, situations, the dialectic “mixture of ancient and modern, ethereal and physical” as well as the female and male experience of this city. Their experiences and points of view give the opportunity to tell about the impact, which the contemporary political situation has on social life and the interaction of very many people.^[ii] STILL LIFE is also categorised as ‘ecocinema’.^[iii] A definition of eco-cinema summarises the definition of epic movies (without mentioning epic) and emphasising that “Such films invite viewers to refresh their perception of the world and the environment and to contemplate the world view in a new light different from usual mainstream commercial filmmaking.”^[iv] One feature of eco-cinema as well as of epic movies is to employ “extended shots relatively still imagery as a way of asking that viewers slow down and explore what they’re seeing.”^[v]

In Still Life, the main characters encounter a wide range of people and situations. Writer-director Zhangke wanted to give an impression of the simultaneity of beauty and ugliness, compassion and cruelty by showing extended shots of the landscape, the city, faces, and some still lives of different kind.^[vi] Aesthetically, he combines a detailed observation about the life in Fengjie with poetic moments. In two situations people are dancing to music that is difficult to dance to. One of them is located on a roof terrace above one of the new bridges built for the time after the flooding. The other one happens after the wife and husband met each other again after been separated for two years. This situation is located at a provisory bank in front of a viewing spot simulating the new level of the river after the dam is finished. They are also dancing to a kind of music, which is not providing a danceable rhythm.

Zhangke also integrates fantastic moments in the realistic setting. From time to time a UFO appears, and a landmark building transforms into a rocket and flies off. These poetic interventions visualise how surreal life became as a result of the transformation process in China.[i]

[i] (Zhangke 2008)

^[i] (Zhangke 2008, 7 )

^[ii] (Zhangke 2008, 7)

^[iii] (Lu 2017, 5)

^[iv] (Lu 2017, 3)

^[v] (MacDonald 2004, 115)

^[vi] (Zhangke 2008)

^[i] Cf. (Dancyger and Rush 2013)

[ii] (cf. Bordwell 2006, pp 115)

^[iii] (Aristoteles and Schmitt 2008)

[iv] (Stutterheim 2018)

Bibliography

Bordwell, David. 2006. The way Hollywood tells it: Story and style in modern movies. Berkeley [u.a.]: Univ. of California Press.

Dancyger, Ken, and Jeff Rush. 2013. Alternative scriptwriting : beyond the Hollywood formula. Fifth Edition. ed. Burlington, MA ; Abingdon, Oxon: Focal Press.

Kieślowski, Krzysztof PL 1987 (1981). Przypadek

Lu, Sheldon. 2017. „Introduction: Chinese-language ecocinema.“ Journal of Chinese Cinemas 11 (1):1-12.

Stutterheim, Kerstin. 2019. Modern Film Dramaturgy. London and New York: Routledge.

Zhangke, Jia. 2008. Jia Zhangke on Still Life London: BFI.