Recently, a German figure skater named Paul Fentz performed a routine that drew inspiration from Game of Thrones. To be exact, he donned a costume that was inspired by Jaime Lannister, which went as far as to incorporate a glove that was meant to invoke the idea of said character’s prosthetic hand. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people who responded to the routine with enthusiasm, which even included the commentator Tara Lipinski, who was less enthused when it came to delivering her verdict at the end.
With that said, this wasn’t the first time that Fentz has managed to catch the interest of social media. In fact, this wasn’t even the first time that Fentiz has managed to do so at these Winter Olympics. After all, an earlier routine of his captured a fair number of interest because it used a jazz cover of Oasis’s “Wonderwall,” which was a huge hit in the heyday of Britpop but has managed to hang on to various extends in the time ever since.
It is interesting to note that Fentz isn’t the sole figure skater at the Winter Olympics who is making use of pop culture for his routine. For example, a French pair performed to a Disturbed song, which in turn, was a metal cover of a Simon and Garfunkel song. This is because this is the first Winter Olympics to permit the use of songs with lyrics, whereas previous Winter Olympics limited figure skaters to instrumentals. For those who are curious, there were a couple of reasons for the change.
First, there were a fair number of figure skaters who were keen on the change, whether because they wanted to work songs with lyrics into their routines or because they felt that songs with lyrics could enable them to perform better than otherwise possible. Second, the choice was made for the purpose of bringing in viewers from younger generations, which was critical for a sport with a fan-base that is older than what most people would consider to be ideal. The exact results of the change remain to be seen, but for the time being, it has made a part of the Winter Olympics that much more interesting for the sake of novelty if nothing else.
On a final note, Fentz’s choice of Jaime Lannister is rather curious. Certainly, the character is memorable, seeing as how he tossed Bran off of a tower, which struck a certain tone for Game of Thrones that has stuck around to various extends ever since then. However, it seems safe to say that people love a redemption narrative, which could explain why there has been such a significant change of opinion regarding the character since the initial response. With that said, it is important to note that Jaime’s narrative is much more complicated than what most people would consider to be a standard redemption narrative, though the exact reason is different in the books when compared to the series. Regardless, the character is not just notable but also popular, which probably contributed much to Fentz’s choice.
A Lannister always pays his debts. #WinterOlympics https://t.co/fmMl0C4Amf pic.twitter.com/SHmdiMjlcU
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) February 17, 2018
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