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Blog Post 10 Meaning-Making, Gender, and Game of Thrones

    In season 2 episode 3 we are introduced to three different women, Brienne the knight, Margaery  and Robb stark's mother Catelyn Stark. In what ways does Game of Thrones represent women? off the bat I noticed an immediate theme of division between all these women. True, they have their own perceived notions of power; Brienne who is physically strong, Margaery is the queen beside her husband, and we see Catelyn Stark coming in to discuss plans of their next move against the Lannister's. But again the one commonality between all of them, is how much their conversations whether it be in between women or men, it is always about men. Based off of the Marie Claire article "How many Game of Thrones pass the Bechdel test" and the test is a "way of measuring gender bias in the media. In order to pass, a film or TV episode must: a) contain at least two named female characters, b) who have a conversation, c) that isn't about a man." not to say that there are no empowering moments within the show. But it is clear in observation when watching you can tell that these traits are strongly prevalent among pop culture media. In Grazian Chapter 8 regarding he defines “Authenticity can refer to a variety of desirable traits: credibility, originality, sincerity, naturalness, genuineness, innateness, purity, or realness.” but also notes that “Given its socially constructed and thus elusive nature, authenticity itself can never be authentic but must always be performed, staged, fabricated, crafted, or otherwise imagined” 

    So what we see here in lies within an issue that “The performance of authenticity always requires a close conformity to the expectations set by the cultural context in which it is situated.” So despite Game of Thrones being a fictional show set in a “fantasy” world, inspiration and representation is closely fitted from previous medieval and old fashioned constructs of the bias toward women in a man's perspective. They still uphold all these values in a way to engage a sense of authenticity, controlling the narrative of what female characters would do in certain situations and any little amount of a moment that appears empowering within these constructs, will become widely celebrated more so than questioning why there is this environment for these characters in the first place.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 21, 2020 at 1:52 AM

    Hey Grace,
    I agree with you, becuase in the televison industry we tend to see that controlled gender role of man, using the woman. Something I noticed in the Game of Thrones' series was that even though women showed a sence of power, they were also used by the men as sex objects, just how most of television shows protray. I think that popular culture has created a strong bond with male actors, because this is the reality we live in society where the man is always trying to be the dominant, because otherwise you wouldnt be one without behaving this way.

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    1. GraceOctober 22, 2020 at 9:06 PM

      Yeah! when I was writing this I was trying to think about the prompt about how does Game of thrones "gives back" to women. I was genuinely confused, but as I was watching the episodes I felt those scenes were interesting, because there is no denying these women have their own sense of security and power but at the same time I tried constantly and seem to show the audience that women cannot ban together and must seem to ONLY be on the men's side. Also the Bechdel article contributed to this thinking so yeah, it was quite interesting

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