So, I got into Game of Thrones when it was 5 Seasons in and became obsessed quickly. The complicated plot lines, the character development, the fantasy mixed with medieval kinds of reality was just all so very welcome, not to mention the violence and gore, because sometimes that is artistic and necessary.
It launched it's 8th and Final Season last night and as I'm thinking of all these epic moments throughout the last decade of the show's production, I'm not sure you could coin the series as "feminist" per se, but perhaps at least some pretty amazing exhibitions of the ultimate girl power.
I could easily break it down by each female character I've loved, but I'll focus on the 5 main characters I hold dear that prove regularly that women kick ass. We have Queen Daenerys Targaryen, Brienne of Tarth, Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister, and my personal favorite, Arya Stark.
Let's start with Daenerys, who has her whole family lineage to live up to and was sold into some version of slavery by her power-thirsty brother. Through the course of the show she is raped, chained and bound let by a horse, and constantly told what she cannot be in terms of standing alone, and she basically finds a way to say "I don't need a man, I make my own future." She has one brief experience of marriage and then returns to being solo, where she cultivates her bad-assness carefully. She stumbles along the way and makes some impulsive decisions but we love her as this "promised queen," figure.
We watch her punish those that talk shit or get in her way. Anyone that doesn't stand with her is more or less against her and they will learn to respect her or perish, inevitably. What I love about her is that she consistently carries herself with grace. You rarely see her break her composure, even when things aren't going very well.
Brienne of Tarth is just a tall, fierce woman. She got picked on by the boys for her size in her youth and then learned to fight with them, wield a sword and generally take names as a woman "Knight" if you will. She loves being a protector, as it is where she thrives. She pays almost no attention to men. Any attraction we get a whiff of is often sweet and subtle, also with no expectation from her. Her world doesn't revolve around men but she realizes they have to coexist. I feel like Brienne looks closely after other women, which is serious girl power in my eyes. Rather than be catty and jealous she just wants to kick the ass of anyone who tries to hurt the people she cares about.
Sansa Stark is quite the epitome of an evolution in character development. She was this young, pathetic "stupid girl," who's hopes and dreams seemed to get the best of her leaving her to find her way. While she had a woman of power in her midst to guide her, she struggled with finding her footing more often than not. She had seen the good and evil in men, and she was cautiously optimistic. Sansa was beaten and raped, sold into more "acceptable" forms of slavery like arranged marriages with psychopaths and lusting older men trading her around in power plays, but she commanded presence and asked for help when necessary, fighting to persevere.
Sansa is the one we've seen cry often and she's not afraid to ugly cry it out. Sansa is our emotional but strong goddess figure. She has been through some seriously traumatic shit and is consistently underestimated by the men around her, always having to prove herself but being silently smart and calculated, unafraid to take control and usually ends up helping to vastly improve a bad situation. Sansa also has never been afraid to properly show her cautious fear, but also show her determination to get herself out of a challenging issue. When she speaks eloquently with sass, I fall in love with her a bit more. Plus she's a redhead, so I instinctively flock to her.
Cersei Lannister is one bad bitch. She is completely evil, narcissistic, rash, and even cruel, but she has also been through some shit. She lost her mother at a young age, was sold into an arranged marriage with a man that detested her. She only believes in family and is a true testament to the entire realm of the power of a mother's love. She has been humiliated and tortured, but might be the most vicious killer of all the women on this list in the fact that she leaves far more unnecessary casualties. She is ruthless.
What I love about Cersei is that we are meant to hate her. She's not like-able yet, you admire her strength, resilience and fortitude. She's always undermining anyone in her way and taking any steps necessary to make sure nothing can get past her. She is very cut-throat and vengeful but leaves you in awe of her capacity to be so horrible and manipulative. She definitely has the "Queen" thing down and rules entirely with fear. She has only shed tears in frustration or worry, I'm not sure we've seen much sadness but rather cold hard grief. She, too, carries herself well and inevitably to be a bad bitch. She might be like the Oscar-winner of Resting Bitch Face.
Last but not least is my personal idol and all around ultimate bad ass, Arya Stark. From the little girl rejecting "lady of the house" and "Princess" cultural norms to someone who got herself across an ocean to train to take revenge on the people that hurt her family, you never dislike Arya, but boy do you learn you would never want to mess with her!
Arya grows up before our very eyes on this series. She is the epitome of a Tom boy and happens to find many random protector figures to aid her survival and let her grow, form her strength, inevitably to require no protection. She goes through some serious torture, but evades the rape and marriage stuff as she's still quite young, but also exhibits not a shred of concern or interest in men at all, other then learning to defeat them, should the opportunity come.
She has had a list of people to take down to avenge her family and she set her goals and followed them. Against all odds she has withstood some intense wounds and lessons, seen a world her sister never has and got some real life education in people-watching and just how messed up things can be. Arya has played the fates with some God-like figures, to which the other women seem to disregard, so I'm interested in how that plays out. Regardless, Arya is a force to be reckoned with, to say the least.
In the wake of the Me Too campaign and Time's Up things, I think a show like this, as fantastical as it may be, speaks worlds to what women as a gender have to put up with and suffer to get their shot at a position of power. This may sound a little contrived but I think the graphic nature of this show, pushing boundaries and making us see and imagine such evils, is just a testament to how strong we are as a gender, and that we're on our way up on the ladder.
These characters make me proud. The suffering of Sansa and Daenerys especially, I feel is a subversive homage to what we are expected to overcome and deal with as women. It may be medieval in nature on the show, but I think that millions of women can relate to the psychological and physical trauma withstood by these women on their way to their life, status and, in a way, career goals.
I think that as a whole, Game of Thrones champions the power of women. Among the main females is also Melisandre who conjures the Lord of Light and Missandei, who knows like 40 languages and recovered from being enslaved and was given the chance to support another woman in power. Then we have, Yara, the Queen of the Iron Islands that sails her own fleet with the big boys, the women of House Tyrell, Marjorie and Olenna, who manipulated their way into power with their strengths, and lastly the Sand Snake sisters in Dorne who were trained in combat and held themselves well, especially in an attack. There are so many others too! I feel like the series is covered in all different manners, ideas, stereotypes, and iconic rolls of women.
I won't speculate as to how I think it ends but I just want to say that I appreciate how diverse the show is, and especially in terms of giving women the chance to prevail and share their complex stories, interwoven through the plot lines. So thanks for the kick of Girl Power, Game of Thrones. I can't wait to see how you empower women the rest of this season!
No comments:
Post a Comment