I
think part of the reason people love
Harry Potter and
Game of Thrones
so much are the houses/families. There's something distinctly gripping
and human about sorting people into categories based on what traits and
abilities they gravitate towards. Everyone wants to stand out, be appreciated, and feel unique, so it's only natural that instances in fiction where people are given a very distinct chance to do so are so widely beloved. Just scratching the surface, you have the fact that Gryffindors are brave, Slytherins are cunning, Ravenclaws are smart, Hufflepuffs are sweet and genuine, and if you are one of these things you get sorted into that house. Game of Thrones families are a bit less family friendly in their categorization, but it's the same basic idea. Starks are badass, Lannisters are jerks, Targaryens are cool, alluring, and mysterious.
This is oversimplifying the houses and families by a lot, though, and perhaps the best instances regarding them in each respective piece of fiction are when people take issue with where they've been sorted. Lannisters are proud and vain, yet we have Tyrion, an ugly dwarf outcast who feels rightfully out of place within his clan-like family. Peter Dinklage's portrayal of the character might not seem like he's all that ugly, but take a look at the original, non adapted-for-TV Tyrion.
He's called "the imp" for a reason, and that reason extends far beyond being short. His experience as an outcast shapes his personality to be markedly different from his relatives, where he adopts a dry wit and cynicism, but also comes to care for the downtrodden and misunderstood. "Caring for others" is distinctly unique in the Lannister vocabulary, and his character is a good example of adding three dimensions to the families in the series. Jon Snow, the bastard child of Eddard Stark, is another similar yet inverted example of one who is entirely worthy of inheriting the Stark name and exhibits all of their mannerisms, yet is barred from being declared as one due to the circumstances surrounding his birth. In
Harry Potter, I can't help but love the scenes in the first book where Harry is terrified of landing in Slytherin, and then later when the hat has trouble sorting him, clarifying his fears that he does indeed possess many traits typical of a Slytherin member. The Sorting Hat's struggle tells the reader that yes, Harry is brave and part of the "good guys" of Gryffindor, but he is not clearly cut from that cloth, and had just as much potential to be sorted into any of the other houses. This also sets up the plot behind the similarities between himself and Voldemort, despite them personifying hero and villain respectively, and Hagrid's later speech towards Harry about good and evil residing in everyone. The point I'm trying to make is this: these pieces of fiction sort people into clearly defined categories, but it's not a two dimensional process; there is a clear depth to it that readers can relate to in, again, a very human way. We want to be recognized for who we are, but we are also afraid of being labeled. This three dimensional take on the idea helps satisfy both opposing desires of the reader at the same time. "You can be recognized without being labeled". This is a powerful, idyllic, and gripping message.
See also a "lesser" but still applicable example: anime series where
characters have specific powers tailored to their personalities, and
promote growth of these abilities. Example:
Naruto assigns each character a primary element loosely based off classic interpretations of elements - Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, etc. Some characters are born with special elements that only their family can use, often very unique in their nature - Ice is one, Wood is another, Dust is another. Elements have an inherent advantage and disadvantage towards others, making one character's abilities useful in a situation where another's may not help at all. The elements serve as a backdrop for the series in a number of ways - each person lives in a village that represents a particular element, some people who are capable of using unique elements are persecuted, etc.
The reason why young people are so
drawn to shows like
Naruto is that they are not only power fantasies, but
promote individual strengths and go to extreme efforts to personalize
them. Again, there's something very appealing about making people stand
out as unique through what they're capable of doing. It's such a far cry
from the real world, where very, very few people get recognized as
unique and most are encouraged to join the faceless conglomerate of the working world. So these instances of personalized fiction are not only appealing, but also liberating.
Part of the reason I make this commentary is that, recently, I've spent quite a bit of time in academia, specifically in a graduate school English program, where
Harry Potter,
Game of Thrones and the like tend to get frequently lambasted. But, I refuse to renounce my appreciation for them. I don't watch anime anymore, really, and actually have a genuine disinterest in the culture surrounding it these days, but the point still stands; these books aren't "sophisticated" fiction, and get shit for it, and get pegged as lesser material, when in fact there is a very human undercurrent to why they are so beloved. And I'll keep loving them, dammit.
By the way: Slytherin (they're not all evil!) and Targaryen for life.
