I Like to Think I'm Funny (Subvertisement)

This week in class, we have been working on Advertisements and Subvertisements. We were tasked to take an existing ad and transform it into a subvertisement (which is the process of subverting the original message to create a new message). I decide to start with an ad for the popular show, Game of Thrones. This ad is very simple in its focus, the man (Ned Stark) sitting in a chair made of swords (the Iron Throne) and the title of the show followed by a tagline: “You win or you die,” which – in my opinion – is a very apt description of the franchise. At the bottom is copyright information and where you can watch the show (HBO). 

The focus is obviously to catch the audience’s attention – specifically, the target audience is people who are already familiar with the books – by George R.R. Martin – as there really aren’t many specifics of the connotations of a man sitting in this throne. Some would argue that the audience is meant for people who have never heard of the books or show. The idea behind this response is that people who are already fans of the series will be intrigued enough to watch it without additional convincing. The dusky background and dark colors also give hints to the stylistic choices the show makes – they are dark and mysterious. It would be odd to see an ad for Game of Thrones that looked similar to an Apple ad, because there is no continuity in the style.

 

I chose to create a more politically-leaning subvertisement. The audience of this meme is made up of people who watch – or read – Game of Thrones. In the series, more often than not, someone who is not fit to rule sits on the throne (usually very corrupt or going insane) and the rest of the cast is doing underhanded things to dethrone the king – so the kings don’t really last very long… (Of course, there are other things than just uprising after uprising going on in the show, but the dethroning is what the subvertisement is trying to get at.) The change in tagline to: “You win or you’re fired” is a nod to Trump’s TV show, The Apprentice.