Writing about the TV series Game of Thrones and its fantasy book series and source material A Song of Ice and Fire, has been on my ‘to do list’ for a few weeks now. During the controversy of the last few episodes of the recently broadcast season 5, I held back commenting via this blog, preferring instead to post the odd tweet and share online articles on my Facebook newsfeed, whilst waiting for the season to finish, so I can then write about it with knowledge of any any organic resolutions to those controversial moments.
But as always is the way of a writer, both published and non-published, other stuff got in the way. Work on a novel took importance, whilst a pause from that has led me to a short story.
However, having received the last edition of ‘Interzone’, and started by reading the regular feature ‘Time Pieces’ by the excellent Nina Allan (check out her story ‘Marielena’ in Interzone #254 for a wonderful example of her writing), now seems as good a time as any.
Unfortunately I have no link, so you will need to read the feature yourself - and if you love diverse and interesting science fiction and fantasy, yet don’t regularly read Interzone, why not?
She admits that she hasn’t read any of A Song of Ice and Fire, saying, quite honestly, that she can’t justify the time commitment. I myself, have gotten four books in - well three books as the third is a two volume set. Her reasoning is the same I used up until last summer when I decided to give it a go, having been an avid watcher of Game of Thrones since it first begun. It is a series that at times drags, and I made the conscious decision to dip in and out of it, so I didn’t miss out on other genre novels that caught my eye. Nina also admits to only being halfway through season 2, so skipped ahead to see what the fuss was all about in regards those controversial season 5 episodes and in particular the scene involving the rape of Sansa Stark by Ramsay Bolton (whilst Theon/Reek was forced to look on).
Some would argue, that she perhaps needed to invest in the entire series before commenting on it. This though would be a weak argument but I am sure she did her research via the many online spoilers for all series before writing her piece.
The main criticism of that scene is the violence towards women. In fact it is in some ways the straw that broke the proverbial camel as this isn’t the first rape scene in the show and in the books. It is a very difficult scene to watch, less because of what you see, and more that we, as the audience, are viewing it through the eyes of Theon/Reek (I assume anybody reading this will have knowledge of why I use both names). Which is why, I believe Nina is missing the point when she argues that “Sansa is currency.” Theon/Reek is also being used as currency. Having watched the past three seasons, where Theon goes from arrogant, misogynistic lord to quivering wreck; tortured and belittled, manipulated and having the symbol of his sexuality removed from him. It was just an organic step to see him so frightened, yet so submissive to sit there in fear watching it happen, not having a single ounce of strength, both mentally and physically, to help her. This whole process of turning Theon into Reek has hardly been mentioned at all by critics of the show - dare I say it, but would the reaction have been more angry, if Theon has have been a woman and not a man being tortured by another man?
But of course, it is also difficult to defend the rape of Sansa, any rape is difficult to defend in a form of entertainment. The whole purpose of Ninas’s article was due to the writer of A Song of Fire and Ice, George R R Martin defending the use of rape in his series and subsequently the TV series. He argues that this was what life was like in the medieval world, and he has chosen to create a fantasy world based on that same medieval world, so he feels it would be dishonest not to include rape. Its an argument that on the face of it, makes perfect sense. However, there is a feeling that with the Sansa rape scene, it wasn’t particularly organic. Yes, Ramsay is a monster, and he’s hardly going to be all lovey-dovey with his new wife on their wedding night - so the rape made sense. However, its seems to me, Nina may very well be onto something, when she refers to Sansa as “currency”. There was no real logical and organic reason why she was sent to marry Ramsay in the first place? Was she a pawn of master manipulator Littlefinger? Or as I suspect, was it a device to get her into a situation, where Theon/Reek finally finds the strength to rise up against his tormentor (see final episode of Season 5). If this is the case, then the criticism is justified.
My main issue at the time, and still is an issue was the reaction. What made this particular scene so wrong in the eyes of many watching it, yet other equally shocking scenes didn’t register on the moral compass? One must remember that as early as the first two episodes in Season 1, Daenerys, a young bride is raped by her new husband on their wedding night. And who can forget ‘The Red Wedding’, where a number of important characters are slaughtered in a brutal and violent fashion, including the pregnant wife of one major character being stabbed in the belly - try watching this scene with a heavily pregnant wife, understandably upset.
So why wasn’t there such uproar after those scenes? Why didn’t viewers switch off in disgust two episodes in when Daenerys was raped? Was the real issue, less with rape, and more simply that Sansa is a popular character (I believe Nina has at least made her argument with no bias towards the character - unlike others)?
Which is one of the main points and reasons for my liking of the seried. No one is safe. There are no ‘main characters’ to cheer on. No Frodo to overcome great odds. No Luke Skywalker to realise his destiny. In all honesty, apart from Daenerys, it is quite difficult to pinpoint who will win the Game of Thrones at the end, and even then she isn’t far from reaching a grizzly end. It may be, that the final resolution will be, that the Boltons, the brutal and sadistic family win.
That is the beauty of the show. Its unpredictable. It has its flaws, nothing is perfect after all. Nina, could do with watching season three and the development of Brienne as a woman knight in a world dominated by males, when she attacks Martin for “suggesting that the number of intelligent, freethinking women in any given society is mainly dependent on the extent to which men are prepared to allow and encourage their wives and daughters to be those things.” Brienne is a knight, because she wants to be one, and she will fight with every ounce of strength to be one and carry on being one. Here is a a strong woman and perhaps a role model for young women, and equally me, who wish to see some equality in their genre fiction. Like all characters in the series, she has moments of weakness and moments of strength, much like any other strong male character, and it could be argued, in a world with a lot of male characters dying, her survival is a small victory.
Before I finish, I will go back quickly to the Sansa rape scene. What was lost in a swirl of controversy and anger, was the superb acting from the three actors in the scene. The anguish and torture on the face of Theon/Reek or the fearful duty of Sansa, or the sadistic brutality of Ramsay, all three deserve plaudits, not to be mere currency in a different game of thrones - that of the anger from those opposed to it going up against the writers trying to justify a potentially unjustifiable scene.
