Head on a pike...

[billc]

I was listening to Hugh Hewitt on the radio on the way to class tonight when he brought up the latest factoid about Game of thrones, the HBO series. Hewitt is a big fan of the show and said that the scene where Sansa Starck is forced to look at her father's head on a pike contains a surprise. Apparently, someone involved with the production put President Obama's head on the pike next to Ned Starck's....

O.k., just kidding, it is Hollywood after all, and we all know there is no way they would do that to "The One," The head was actually George Bush. Hewitt said that the guys in charge of the production took the cowards way out and said that there was no political overtone to the use of George W. Bush's head on the pike. They said it happened that they needed more heads on the pikes and, you know, they just had his head laying around. Hewitt made the point that someone thought it would be funny and an inside joke that they could tell their liberal buddies about, but then word got out...and they denied doing it on purpose. Cowards.

On a side note, imagine if this was a conservative show and they had actually used obama's head on the pike. Besides a nice visit by friendly Secret Service agents, does anyone think there wouldn't be a 24/7 stink made on all the news casts and cable news shows about this?

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/06/13/game-thrones-bush-head-spike

The web site io9.com reports the first season DVD of "Thrones" finds the show's creators discussing a rather unusual prop used in one chilling episode.

Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explained in their DVD commentary (from Season 1, episode 10) that the decapitated head is actually George Bush."
The last head on the left is George Bush. George Bush's head appears in a couple of beheading scenes. It's not a choice, it's not a political statement. We just had to use whatever head we had around."
​

The estimated budget for "Game of Thrones" according to The Hollywood Reporter? Between $50-60 million.

Yes, they just had it laying around. If this is true, then they are cowards. Take a stand in your hate, guys. Own it.

 

[elder999]

Hewitt said that the guys in charge of the production took the cowards way out and said that there was no political overtone to the use of George W. Bush's head on the pike. They said it happened that they needed more heads on the pikes and, you know, they just had his head laying around. Hewitt made the point that someone thought it would be funny and an inside joke that they could tell their liberal buddies about, but then word got out...and they denied doing it on purpose. Cowards.

Really, billi...did you look at the picture? Do you watch the program? The head was hardly recognizable, and looks as though a fair effort was made to disguise it.

 

[billc]

Here is another take on the issue...

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/...me-of-thrones-puts-bushs-head-on-a-pike-post/

On the one hand, given the heat they were bound to take for something like this, seems weird that they’d do it with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brevity. If you’re going to put a president’s head on a pike, you might as well make sure people notice. On the other hand, they are making sure that people notice, right? If they hadn’t mentioned it in the episode commentary, no one ever would have spotted it. Go figure that they’d make a high-profile political splash at a moment when they’re trying to drum up publicity for their DVDs.
Exit question: Innocent prop placement or no? After eight years ofinsanely hyperbolic Bush hatred, it’s hard to give anyone the benefit of the doubt anymore.

Wow, they put a wig on it. They are masters of disguise aren't they...

The imbedded link to Bush hate is a nice catalog of the love showed to Bush during his presidency...

 

[granfire]

I am sure HBO is rubbing it's hands with all the free publicity....

 

[billc]

I do watch the show. I think it would be a better show if it didn't resort to sex and nudity that isn't needed to make it a good show. Of course the best character is Tyrion. The show does have the problem of having so many stories going on that it can be hard to follow who is who outside of the main stories.

Free publicity, sure, but why offend your audience when you don't have to. There will be quite a few people who won't watch the show now. Is that necessary? If they were real brave they would have done something like this in the first episode, when it could have really hurt the show. Cowards.

 

[granfire]

roflmao

If you are easily offended, HBO is probably not for you.

 

[ballen0351]

Pretty disrespectful to use any us presidents likeness in that manner. They say that had no political agenda just used what they had around the prop room. I wouldn't want to see Obama's Washington's Nixon's or any other presidents head used like that.

 

[WC_lun]

Have you read the books? Sex is part of the plotline. There is also a viwer discretion warning before the show, right?

Context is everything. If they meant to do it as a political joke, it is in very poor taste. If that's what they had, and they took steps to disguise it so people would not recognise the face, I don't see an issue.

 

[granfire]

It's a rubber head....
As if a president's head is any more sacred than any other head. If anything, they deserve it more to see their likeness jabbed and displayed.

At least he gets to keep his noggin in real life...

Why don't you wonder that they even have a rubber head of Bush laying around.

 

[Steve]

According to the producers and directors, no political statement was intended. Detailed, realistic body parts are expensive and time consuming to make. Often, they are purchased in bulk or even rented. I don't know for sure whether the Game of Thrones bought or rented the parts, but I'd bet dollars to donuts it was just a head among dozens of others that arrived in a box labeled "heads, disembodied/decapitated." It's trivia, guys. Both HBO and the producers of the series have apologized.

I just don't understand the objection. What do they expect to be done? I think that anyone who is offended should take the advice that the GOP often espouses, and vote with their pocket books. If you don't like it, change the channel or cancel your subscription to HBO.

 

[Empty Hands]

George Bush's head doesn't belong on a pike. It belongs in prison.

 

[granfire]

George Bush's head doesn't belong on a pike. It belongs in prison.

Sorry, seems like W was not important enough to be on Futurama...

 

[Omar B]

There's a thread about this! A thread about a prop department using a head because it needed one. Ever read GRRM? I can totally understand them running out of body parts.

 

[billc]

More...

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/06/14/Game-of-thrones-excuses-stink

And have you noticed how these kinds of mistakes only ever happen to Republicans? It's never Barack Obama or Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, or Maya Angelou. It's always one of our guys, never one of theirs.

But what I find most absurd is that no one noticed until that moment when the head was the hardest to spot, and that was after filming.
A film company spends hours setting up scenes like the movie-quality ones shot for "Game of Thrones." I guarantee you that the director, cameraman, lighting people, prop and make-up folks spent hours prepping the fake head, lighting the scene, walking around the set, and ensuring everything was perfect.
We're honestly supposed to believe that the person who put the wig and the make-up on the head, didn’t notice or say anything? We're supposed to believe the prop people and set decorator who placed the head in the scene, never said anything?
No, but we are supposed to believe that the head was spotted only afterwards, in a big scene when it was turned the other way, slathered in make-up, and lost in a crowd of other heads.
What also doesn’t pass the smell test is how sorry everyone is now, because before the scandal blew up…

When the show's creators revisit the scene in the DVD commentary, they make sure viewers notice the former Head of State.

'It's not a choice. It's not a political statement. It's just.. we had to use what heads we had lying around.'
'People may not have noticed this but back up...the last head on the left is George Bush,' one says.
'George Bush's head appears in a couple of beheading scenes,' the other adds.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss say it was no condemnation of Mr Bush and his policies.
'It's not a choice. It's not a political statement,' one says. 'It's just.. we had to use what heads we had lying around.'
Bubbled little elite children proud of their childish prank who have no idea how the outside world would react to such a thing.
Oh, yeah, Obama voters all.
Their story is also changing now, isn’t it? From "We had to use what heads we had lying around" to We didn't know!

They should just come out and say "We did it and we'd do it again," and have a little courage about it. I don't mind that they did it, it is just funny how cowardly they are afterward. Own it guys.

 

[Flying Crane]

wow, I never ever would have recognized that head, if it is indeed Bush's. Hey, I'm partisan. If this is true, I love it. Funny stuff.

 

[pgsmith]

I'm not really sure which is truly more ridiculous ... the fact that they used his head and tried to deny it, or the fact that anybody cares enough to get upset about it. Of the millions of issues in the world to worry over, I would rank this one right there next to "is Bieber really working for the FBI?"

 

[Master Dan]

Pretty disrespectful to use any us presidents likeness in that manner. They say that had no political agenda just used what they had around the prop room. I wouldn't want to see Obama's Washington's Nixon's or any other presidents head used like that.

I also hate the disrespect commentators will use directly or indirectly the current or past president first name or just his last name instead of Mr. President or President so and so?

 

[Steve]

More...

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/06/14/Game-of-thrones-excuses-stink





They should just come out and say "We did it and we'd do it again," and have a little courage about it. I don't mind that they did it, it is just funny how cowardly they are afterward. Own it guys.

This is particularly funny as this post and the one in which Granfire shared an image of Gore's disembodied head are separated by exactly one post.

 

[Steve]

I'm not really sure which is truly more ridiculous ... the fact that they used his head and tried to deny it, or the fact that anybody cares enough to get upset about it. Of the millions of issues in the world to worry over, I would rank this one right there next to "is Bieber really working for the FBI?"

They never denied it. They mention it in the commentary, which is the only reason anyone noticed it. They said in the commentary something to the effect that it wasn't a political statement, but that they needed a lot of heads and this one was in the bin so they used it. Pretty much what I said before. Quality fake body parts are expensive and so it just makes sense to recycle them.

 

[shesulsa]

Anyone else here in the entertainment business? Ever even BEEN to Universal Studios?? They'll use any head they have laying around that isn't busy - doesn't matter if it's Abe Lincoln's or even the sitting president's ... if it's already been made, they will use it if they can. And believe me, these people can.

I can't tell that's Bush's head ... looks like another old man to me. But then ... I don't swallow propaganda hook, line and sinker.