Thank God (and Al Gore) for the Internet! Every now and then I come across something online that just thrills me and reminds me why I absolutely LOVE living in the 21st century. When an email appeared in my inbox last night from my dad, I had no idea I was about to discover one of those things.
Game of Thrones fans, prepare to have your minds blown.
An Israeli DJ, who goes by "DJ Rozroz," mashed up "A Song of Fire and Ice" (the theme from Game of Thrones) with "A Man's World," sung by James Brown.
Yesterday the video had 7,000 views. Today it is up to 25,000. I'll spare you from my opinions on why this is a perfect, case-study-worthy example of how artists can tap into existing communities via social media to reach massive audiences. And I will instead mention some of my thoughts on why this mix is so beautiful and interesting.
To some, these songs might seem like an unlikely pair. To me, it's as if they were made for each other. Musically and melodically, the two songs are mesmerizingly complimentary. I just love it. But it is actually the message of it all that seems perfectly, almost eerily preordained.
"It's a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl."
In Game of Thrones, it is a man's world -- or so the men think. It is men who conceive of wars, it is men who fight those wars, kill people, rob, steal, vie for power, and strive for the Iron Throne. Yet, in this man's world that is Game of Thrones, beneath all the power struggles that divide each kingdom, there are far more dangerous forces taking root that will render men's power struggles trivial -- at most. And as those forces take root over the rest of this seasons and those that follow, it seems as though only one woman, Daenerys "Stormborn" Targaryen aka Khaleesi, might have what it takes to save the realm from total destruction.
James Brown's voice echoes hauntingly over the Game of Thrones musical backdrop, reminding us all of an often-forgotten truth -- that while it may seem like a man's world, and while men may think it's a man's world, this world would be nothing without women.
It will end up being a woman who saves the world from destruction in Game of Thrones. And if I were a betting man, I'd say that it will be a woman, or women, who too will save our world from destruction. When women, all women, reclaim their rights, realize their power, re-chart our societal course, rethink our collective values and perceptions of one another, and remind the rest of us of something quite commonsense -- that nothing is more important than life, love and liberty -- then, our world, like the fictional realm in Game of Thrones, will have a fighting chance.