Lessons From Dragons: Teaching Political Science With HBO’s House of the Dragon
By Zach Lang, University of Missouri and Ronnie Olesker, St. Lawrence University
This paper analyzes the first season of House of the Dragon (HOTD) with two goals in mind. First, we demonstrate how pop culture is impacted by real-world politics by examining the change in gender and racial representation in HOTD as compared to Game of Thrones (GOT). We argue that changing political attitudes over the time of both shows airing and the backlash GOT received for its gender and racial representations explain this change. Second, we demonstrate how instructors can use the show’s content to teach American and Comparative politics and provide specific examples of assignments that use show content.
The Journal of Political Science Education is an intellectually rigorous, path-breaking, agenda-setting journal that publishes the highest quality scholarship on teaching and pedagogical issues in political science. The journal aims to represent the full range of questions, issues and approaches regarding political science education, including teaching-related issues, methods and techniques, learning/teaching activities and devices, educational assessment in political science, graduate education, and curriculum development.