In this paper I want to analyze interdependences of George R. R. Martin’s "Game of Thrones" with focus on gender diversity and sexism as well as on the political and economic situation that has created such a world mastered by paternalism and capitalism and governed by a peculiar and institutional kind of gender imbalance, sexual subjection and hierarchical structure.
After watching the first five Seasons of HBO’s TV series "Game of Thrones" full up with the foreseeable female nudity I was remembered that this is still a big thing in our modern society as well. In fact, when George R. R. Martin is writing about his imaginings about family relationships, economic depressions and individual distress, it is tough not to think about sexuality, which is definitely connected to it. Relating to the series nudity and sexuality is universal and the show is rotating around a “fuck them all” mentality, whereas this sexual fetishism is both ubiquitously and forcing. The revenant use of bareness is arbitrary and stimulating, but when along with agony it appears often as too provoking. It shows a world full of suppression and patricide, misogyny and neutering, decruitment and bondage.
Especially, for female actors, who are exposed to male desires with diverse showings for intercourse - propagation, desecration, rape and incest. There are plenty graphic embodiments of sex and sadistic torment. Particularly, violence occurs with sexual actions, since female showrunners are repetitively slated and humiliated, for example when Sansa Stark was raped by her mentally ill husband Ramsay Bolton. This illustrates that the destiny of high-born ladies is depending on the nature of her husband, a hazardous allegation in a society where forced marriages are daily fare. Another scene where Sansa was nearly raped is displayed as a natural outcome of gorgeous females when they are not sheltered by men. The tried violation is shown as both as an ordinary event and as an acknowledgement that women can get hurt by men without consequences, since all of that is ostensibly legitimate.
Index
Abstract
The Night is Dark and Full of Brothels
A Game of Sex and Lust
You know Nothing about the Real Situation
Turn Women away and They will burn You first
Politics are Coming
The Political Situation Sexism has caused
It is actually a Game of Coins
References
The following paper will be comprehensible for those who have watched the TV series Game of Thrones or have read the books A song of Ice and Fire written by George R. R. Martin. However, I am trying to simplify it for those who are not acquainted with Game of Thrones as well1 and attempt to look at topics from different points of view. For all of you who still have not managed to watch the show or read the books, I would be glad if this paper will give the impulse to reconsider that.
Throughout my whole paper I have enacted to highlight only a limited number of occurrences and relationships in order to emphasize the basic ideas behind it.
“I’m not going to fight them,
I’m going to fuck them”
(Lord Petyr Baelish)
Time has shown that it is inevitable to talk about sexism. Conflicts about sexual behavior often become the source for superseding social anguishes and unseating their appendant emotional dimension. Therefore, sexuality should be discussed with more comity in times of social tension.2 As through the entire history of human being, sexual interdependencies affected decisions about social structure and moral codes, since sexual longing is one of most influential inherent characteristics of humanity.
Abstract
After watching the first five Seasons3 of HBO’s TV series Game of Thrones4 full up with the foreseeable female nudity I was remembered that this is still a big thing in our modern society as well. In fact, when George R. R. Martin is writing about his imaginings about family relationships, economic depressions and individual distress, it is tough not to think about sexuality, which is definitely connected to it. Relating to the series nudity and sexuality is universal and the show is rotating around a “fuck them all” mentality, whereas this sexual fetishism is both ubiquitously and forcing. The revenant use of bareness is arbitrary and stimulating, but when along with agony it appears often as too provoking. It shows a world full of suppression and patricide, misogyny and neutering, decruitment and bondage. Especially, for female actors, who are exposed to male desires with diverse showings for intercourse - propagation, desecration, rape and incest. There are plenty graphic embodiments of sex and sadistic torment. Particularly, violence occurs with sexual actions, since female showrunners are repetitively slated and humiliated, for example when Sansa Stark was raped by her mentally ill husband Ramsay Bolton.5 This illustrates that the destiny of high-born ladies is depending on the nature of her husband, a hazardous allegation in a society where forced marriages are daily fare. Another scene where Sansa was nearly raped is displayed as a natural outcome of gorgeous females when they are not sheltered by men. The tried violation is shown as both as an ordinary event and as an acknowledgement that women can get hurt by men without consequences, since all of that is ostensibly legitimate.
The Night is Dark and Full of Brothels
Game of Thrones describes a Hobbesian world6 and what began as a gendered strife among women as immolations and men as perpetrators has currently getting more compound, since the strength and demerit are not clear to distinguish anymore. After some time in Game of Thrones, female and male actors abide affliction, sexual assault and mutilation, amplifying the shows’ devotion to sexism͘ For instance, Theon Greyjoy’s mental misuse and neutering or Jaime Lannister’s castration trauma.
All of the above, shows a series with pornographic illusion of control and sexuality and the witting intention of hardly no moral standards. Women are seen as investments for brothels, since “whores seldom sink” (Lord Petyr Baelish). On the other hand, for the majority GoT7 is fascinating and complex, which concerns me with one anxiety when I think about myself, why I’m also still watching this show?
Doubtlessly and according to my opinion, due to the coarse and precisely purport of sexuality, which pleases the voyeuristic urge of the viewing audience, since they are joyful about the brouhaha of power and sex. Moreover, GoT also enrapture us, because of its lachrymose ending of characters, e.g. when King Joffrey beheaded Lord Eddard Stark for treason, and its sophisticated economic and political environment. Though, the series has a fantasy context it also brings up to mention social affairs like gender diversity and the agitation of downward social mobility and its resulting economic bankruptcy, which is ubiquitous in our modern society as well.
In the upcoming parts I want to analyze interdependences of George R͘ R͘ Martin’s Game of Thrones with focus on gender diversity and sexism as well as on the political and economic situation that has created such a world mastered by paternalism and capitalism and governed by a peculiar and institutional kind of gender imbalance, sexual subjection and hierarchical structure.
A Game of Sex and Lust
Due to its controversial dealings with sexism, the show has attracted disputes for its presentation of female nakedness and graphic sex and violence. In particular, the scene where Jaime Lannister has forced himself to his sister Cersei. However, such attention through media might come up with a possible opportunity for an alteration through talking about silenced experiences of trauma.8
I would like to point out the scene again, where Jaime rapes his sister next to their son’s coffin.9 This scene is not only dazing due to its abnormal characteristic, but it connects rape with sexual skills which makes sexual force flirty, whereby no means yes and women would enjoy it in the end, who are just seen as sexual objects of lust. This indignation at the apprehended defiance of viewers’ prospect and what was commonly descried as a crystallization of GoT’s sexism, was only aggravated by the producers’ replies that Cersei was kissing Jaime back before he has torn her underclothes. Nevertheless, male desire is shown as overly powerful and beyond control, just excused by ‘calm down it’s not real’͘ This exemplifies how degrading and derogatory female characters are treated in GoT.
The concern behind such activities is that even in our modern world we can talk about a “rape culture”͘ “Rape as a culture [is] a complex social phenomenon that is not limited to discrete criminal acts perpetrated by a few violent individuals but is the product of gendered, raced and classed social relations that are central to patriarchal and heterosexist culture͘” (Ferreda D͘ (2015) S͘22) Furthermore, the Republican senatorial candidate Todd Akins carried the term rape to extremes, when he alleged that women cannot become pregnant if they do not consent to sex.10
As a result, things like that have come to tragic depictions of ignorance around these topics. What is more, exactly this interrogation of language are being a pivotal point for feminist investigations into cultures of sexual abuse.11 As women were being silenced in a myriad of ways, comprising the ways of telling their stories through virile-controlled communication medias, where justice is unlikely. Furthermore, victims of sexual violence are continually posed as being sensible of the embarrassing effect of telling the truth just as to talk about sexual assault is to venture victim-blaming or being even responsible for the misuse.
“When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.”
(Cersei Lannister, Season 1, Episode 7)
Another scene that forces the viewing public to see someone being raped is when Daenerys Targaryen was compelled to have sex with her husband Khal Drogo for the first time.12 The depiction of Daenerys with Khal Drogo behind her affixes an atmosphere of sexual abuse to the scene and when Daenerys is bend forward, it conduces to emphasize the harassment of her. After she was violated several times she has gained expertise in inveiglement techniques just to regain control. This shows that in such an environment it is obligated for women to pleasure men to acquire influence. So women have to give men complete control over their bodies just to reach a better rank in the hierarchy. In this phase of the show women were not able to be in a leading position, because of their gender.
However, even if Game of Thrones is a man fiction and patronizingly it turned out to get positive attention from the population’s other half as well.13 It turns out that this culture provides a framework for feminine fascination.
You know Nothing about the Real Situation
The fantasy novel actually does not just describe the past and a fictional story far way and it securely does not transmit an unremarkable nostalgia, but rather the urgency of society changes to a cohesion and ethical distinctness. Because nationals are greatly separated by their stratum of society, their gender and their accession to capital. Captured in an environment of inequitable political and economic authority, especially women are knuckled to inexorable misuse and mightiness, as their preferred purpose is slighted to the ability to father a child and sexuality. Game of thrones is displaying the reality more than you would expect in the first place.
What is more, the topics emphasized in GoT are about sexism and the inequality of power between the rich and the poor as well as between men and women. This is reflecting the declining surroundings in the 2008-, characterized by a recurrence of restrictions and a spanning atmosphere of social and economic risk and mistrust.14
Furthermore, we have to show particular alertness to sexual discrimination in our times of high unemployment and low economic growth, which is still a problem in our society too. The problem is that females still represent approximately only 15 percent of outside board member seats in the S&P 1500.15 The result is, that governance and liability are assigned to a small number of individuals, since all of us already know that profits, returns and ranks are having priority over fair play. The association in GoT is unquestionably ruthless constituted by some egocentrics and a harsh creed of the survival between the strongest regularly lead to affliction of those who have not had the same amount of money. As you can see GoT reflects the reality - those who have the money have the power. Even Tywin Lannister had to confess his formally sweeping and wealthy clan owes all of it to the Iron Bank of Braavos. Now you know who really rules the kingdom and to some kind our modern world as well.
“You can’t run from them. You can’t cheat on them. You can’t sway them with excuses. If you owe them money, you’ll pay them back.”
(Tywin Lannister, Season 4, Episode 5)
This reflects in some way the actions of the Wall Street. Westers’ bankers are dedicated in essential operations of capital, financing in a speculative sense and trade in risks due to gambling on outcomes in the future. As the resulting social status from such activities is a key to health and glory.16
Turn Women away and They will burn You first
Discrimination and sexism on GoT is a recollection that it may take some time for Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen to modify their destiny. Until now, these guys’ obvious struggles for freedom, and the disconsolateness of their kismet could be a propulsion for a move and battle against the Lords, which subdued and debased them.
As we already know, the Seven Kingdoms are constituted around male patriarchs and hierarchies undeniably exist in the world of Westeros and that facts like being a man, straight sexuality or fecundity are extremely favored. However, there are also powerful female characters, containing Daenerys Targaryen, Brienne of Tarth and Arya and Sansa Stark. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that women are unable of obtaining mightful positions if they are not married to a forceful man. In the upcoming parts I do not want to consider if the actors are reflecting affirmative or negative pictures of women anymore, but how females are depicted in the show.
On the one hand, GoT is playing in a durable patriarchal environment, where women are displayed as stereotypical clichés. However, the series is also showing the power of females on a scale ranging from charming women to unstoppable leaders. This contrary to the patriarchal regime is a discriminative spectrum of sex and probably one of the most diverse gender reflections on TV at the moment.17 Consequently, female characters are a major element to consider when thinking about the portrayals of gender.
For instance, Arya Stark discards the gender idea related to her sex and refuses to follow the usual performance of how a woman should act.
[...]
1 (spoiler alert)
2 Cf. Rubin G. S. (1984)
3 This paper only considers the first five seasons of Game of Thrones
4 Based on George R͘ R͘ Martin’s “ Song of Ice and Fire“
5 Game of thrones: Season 5
6 Cf. Bechky P. S. (2015)
7 Game of Thrones
8 Cf. Ferreday D. (2015)
9 GoT: Season 4
10 Cf. Ferreday D. (2015)
11 Cf. Marcus S. (2002)
12 GoT: Season 1
13 Cf. Bellefante G. (2011) 6
14 Cf. Genz S. (2016)
15 Cf. Lerner D., Oberholzer-Skizas C. (2015)
16 Cf. Moones S. J. (2014)
17 Williamson M. (2012)