HBO’s Game of Thrones is set in a fantasy world that contains dragons and magic yet, contains modern elements of personal interaction and relationships to which many of the viewers can relate. The semi-graphic sex scenes; intense and carefully crafted dialogue; complicated character portrayals; and allusions to conspiracies afoot around every corner, have amassed the show a large and dedicated fan base.

The shock factor is also one of the great elements of the show. There are torture scenes, decapitations, murders, and spiteful malicious acts peppered throughout the series.

The season finale was my first chance to live tweet the show. It was a fun experience to see all the varying reactions to the scenes but there was one moment in the show that really stood out to me. {Spoilers ahead}

When Theon was being tortured by Ramsay Bolton into adopting the new moniker of Reek, I had an immediate reaction to the scene. My reaction was not unique. Almost every person of color who I was live tweeting with, made a connection between Theon’s experience and that of Kunta Kinte in Roots. It was an INSTANT connection. The tweets were filled with references of: "Theon just got Toby’d"; "Ramsay did him like Kunta Kinte"; "Ramsay just pulled a Roots move on Theon."

It was a surreal experience. Roots, a movie from over a generation ago, was that much in the forefront of our minds that we were able to make that connection instantly. The pain and suffering that was experienced during slavery in no way compares to the amount of time that Theon experienced torture at the hands of Bolton yet, we still made the connection between the two shows.

However, there was something so raw and inhumane about the torture and the renaming of Theon that it brought back the flood of imagery from the scene in Roots where Kunta Kinte is whipped in an effort to make him accept his new name, Toby.

I write this post to say that the shows we watch leave an impression on us that we sometimes do not readily identify. The instant connection that many of us made between Theon’s renaming to Kunta Kinte’s is just a one example of the impression that TV and movies leave on us.

Television and movies may just be fun and entertainment for many people but they do leave footprints behind. It is something to be cognizant of and I will explore it in more depth in some of my future posts.