A bus bus rolls by announcing that War is coming, and we're supposed to believe it? This poster was frightening even though I logically knew it was an ad campaign. It's in huge capital letters with no picture or further explanation. (I took this picture in mid-February, having no idea what Game of Thrones was.) I'm sure all of the Game of Thrones fans who saw this bus were psyched to hear that war is coming to HBO on April 1. In 1938 when Orson Welles read War of the Worlds on the radio people believed it and panicked. We've come a long way. Which makes me wonder: how far long into the future before wars actually are announced in ads with debut dates on major networks?
It was a couple of weeks later when this poster came out. "Now I get it! War is coming, and it's already season 2! Where have I been?" Then I realized it looked like a lot a lot of the other movie posters that were out at the time. They all looked the same to me, and I was just beginning to set them straight.
This "ring of fire" motif seems to be everywhere, from the flaming skull (and chain and wheels) of Ghost Rider, to the Hunger Games' "Mockingjay" which glows like a red-hot branding iron. Various combinations are similar imagery are reconfigured to slightly alter the message, but in general conveying (thus, selling) a combination of power, fear, drama, violence, aggression, passion, and wrath (see below).
