So, there’s reading and analyzing a book for yourself. Then there’re Cliff Notes, the overly-stressed high school student’s savior from the time-wasting constraints of public education. And then there’s Thug Notes, which is like Cliff Notes, but more…stylized. The edutainment web series did an episode on the first novel in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones, earlier this month. Have a look:
There’re some pretty humorous reactions to events in the series here (particularly everything involving incest: “eurgh, Joffrey!”), and Jon Snow is once referred to as “you know, the pretty one,” but it’s also an insightful analysis of some of the key themes and symbols of the series, including those of ice and fire (fairly obvious but always worth mentioning) and how the direwolves reflect the personalities of their owners. Host Sparky Sweets also ties together the Starks through the sensations, particularly the eyes—remember, Ghost was the only direwolf of the litter whose eyes were open when the family stumbles upon them in the woods. (There’re some crazy insightful lines about using your eyes in the first book, evidently.) I also like the use of the painted faces to represent each character; it’s good to remind ourselves every once in a while that Littlefinger actually has an evil twirly mustache in the books.
My only question is this: what edition of the book are they using to cite quotations? These citations are no good without an accompanying edition identifier! Help us out, Professor Sweets!