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Politics and analogy: Learning from ‘Game of Thrones’
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo delivers his speech at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Oct. 12. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
T
he October meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank became another stage for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to communicate his concern to the global audience.
After his previous statement at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, which included pop culture references to the blockbuster movie The Avengers, President Jokowi again drew his mark with a reference to popular TV series Game of Thrones (GoT).
The storyline follows the journey of three kingdoms named House of Stark, House of Targaryen and House of Lannister. These kingdoms compete to rule Westeros and sit on the Iron Throne.
However, these kingdoms do not realize there is a much greater threat from the Whitewalker and a long-lasting winter.
Therefore, GoT acts as a strong reference to depict the current global order, which involves major states fighting for dominance without realizing external threats from, among other things, climate change, technological disruption, terrorism and financial market uncertainty.
It is interesting to see pop culture adopted as one of many ways to communicate with an audience, even in such a formal forum as the IMF-World Bank meetings.
Political communication has advanced in a manner that it needs to pique the interest of many groups, not only political or economic practitioners but also a mainstream and general audience.
