Just looking through these photos of Gwendoline Christie – Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones – I can’t help but think that she would make a good queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Gwendoline is “regal” all over the place. She is EVERYTHING! She is Queen B(rienne). Perhaps that’s what we were working towards all this time. It was never about Dany and Jon Snow and Tyrion. It was always about getting Brienne on the throne!
Anyway, Gwendoline has a new interview with Entertainment Weekly about this past season of GoT and all of the criticism the showrunners have received. This really was the “turning point” season where it feels like a lot of dyed-in-the-wool Throners just had enough. Following the finale on Sunday, I’ve read about a half-dozen “think pieces” about why GoT sucks and why no one should be watching a show that treats its female characters so poorly. While I read and mostly enjoy those think-pieces, at the end of the day, I pretty much accept the way violence against women is portrayed on GoT. I remind myself that the violence is fictional, that the GoT-era is based on medieval European history and that atrocious, vicious and violent acts against women have happened throughout time and still happen every damn day in the modern world. Which is pretty much how Gwendoline feels about it too. Gwendoline is referred to as “an avowed feminist” and then asked about this past season in particular:
GC on the historical context: “I’ve always been quite clear about my attitude toward gender equality and female empowerment. And a lot of this show is inspired by actual historical events, and that’s what’s occurring with the women. Women have been treated appalling in history. Men have too. Human beings have. What this show is doing is shining a light on women and has an exploration of female characters that has rarely been approached before—and I applaud that. Yes, those scenes are difficult, and they should be difficult. They should further illuminate human consciousness about how we interact as human beings.”
The story is more complicated than the criticism: “Those downfalls and points of agony and pain that affect us so acutely with these horrific events that the female characters go though, those events are not the only things that happen in the show. The show is so dense and so complex. This isn’t just a season-by-season story, we’re looking at this story as a whole.”
GoT is fundamentally about power and the balance of power: “I truly believe this, I truly do. Because people ask me about this all the time. And what’s wonderful about Game of Thrones is it’s a TV show, and in watching it, the show allows us to perhaps adapt our own personal attitudes and create a better reality.”
Yep, I agree. I also believe that for some viewers, it’s way more complicated, and some of those scenes can be triggers. Which is a valid criticism, except… I kind of think people know what they’re signing up for when they start watching GoT. Sex, violence, retribution, revenge, gore, rape, incest, magic, zombies and dragons – that’s what you’re getting.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
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