Why I Still Watch Game of Thrones
So it's been almost two months since Season 5 of Game of Thrones ended, and I have had time to contemplate my stance on a very serious issue. No, it's not Jon Snow's story line. I refuse to "accept" he's dead and I'm confident he will rise from his ashes as Jon Targaryen. Case closed.
What I would like to talk about is Sansa stark. After "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" aired, I found my facebook feed filled with anger, not just towards Ramsey Bolton, but towards the shows creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss, for choosing to go in the direction they did.
For those who missed it or have no idea what I'm talking about, a quick recap: Sansa Stark has been taken back to Winterfell that is now occupied by House Bolton. You all may remember Roose Bolton as the traiterous asshole who backstabbed Robb Stark at the Red Wedding. A quick moment of silence. Also residing at Winterfell is Roose Bolton's bastard and sadist son, Ramsey Bolton. In order to maintain his allegiance with the north, Roose Bolton marries his son to Sansa Stark, and that's when we all knew where this was going. On their wedding night, as Theon is forced to watch Ramsey takes Sansa forcibly, and ultimately rapes her.
As a feminist, it was definitely difficult to watch. I love the show and maintain that yes, there are a lot of patriarchal ideals on the show, there are so many strong female characters that keep me hooked. But I will get to that in just a bit.
Blogs and friends began to boycott the show, exclaiming Sansa's stark was completely unnecessary. It never happened in the book. She was never raped. Somebody else was raped in the same exact plot line. Actually in a much worse plotline, because Ramsey ends up forcing Theon to join. Which is where I have issues with. I can respect anybody who chooses to no longer watch a show or movie because of the violence against women. However, it seems like a little bit of a cop out when we support the rape of someone who isn't exactly close to our hearts as opposed to one of the main characters. I'm not saying we are okay with rape happening.
But my issue lies with the fact that people were willing to see another woman get raped. People were going to be more tolerant if somebody who was not Sansa was in this situation. Rape is terrible and awful no matter who it is. It reminds me of our own society. When we tell young men to care about rape culture and we ultimately tell them, "What if it was your sister, or your mother?" Well what if it isn't, because at the moment it isn't. Should they not care? Of course they should!
This isn't the first time Game of Thrones has pulled this. Last season's "Breaker of Chains" episode depicted Jaime Lannister raping his sister Cersei, and this was never depicted in the books. The one that I am most bothered by is when Khal Drogo raped Daenerys Targaryen on their wedding night.
So why do I still watch the show?
Well, going back to Daenerys, in the books, Khal Drogo asked for consent. And she gave her consent. In the show, he just kind of takes her. Which is awful because their relationship ended up being very beautiful. And I can't stand the thought that she basically falls in love with her rapist husband. Not cool.
But then we come to the end of the first season when Daenarys finds her strength. She stops Khal's men from continuing raping the women they were "conquering." Khal Drogo and Jorah Mormont tell her that rape is part of war.
And so it's important to kind of keep that up throughout the show. This violence against women is horrendous and awful, but it's a patriarchal ideal. And it's disgusting.
The beautiful thing about this is, Khaleesi will not use rape to claim her right to the thrown. She hasn't used it and she has stopped it and she will never use it. She will not tolerate it. Which is amazing and awesome. As a society, we, ourselves, are kind of accepting that rape happens during times of war. It's depicted in movies all the time. And it's just kind of brushed off, like, "Well, that's war." But in this patriarchal fantasy society, Khaleesi (I'm hoping) will take these ideals down and break them. She will break the wheel!
It's kind of an awesome thing! So whereas I can support you for not wanting to support Game of Thrones for it's violent depiciton against women, I think it's important to ask whether you're upset that women are raped on the show or if you're upset that your favorite characters are raped on the show.
