Amanda Peet defends Game of Thrones over criticisms of misogyny
Game of Thrones Season 5 was probably the most controversial year of the show yet. It stirred up trouble in the usual way—by killing off beloved characters—but was also criticized for the allegedly callous treatment of its female cast. A role call of events in the last half of the season makes clear why some fans got upset. In “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” Sansa Stark, a character many had assumed was getting ready to exert more control over her life, was raped by her new husband. A few episodes later, young Shireen Baratheon was ritually sacrificed by her father, and in the season finale, Cersei Lannister was forced to walk naked through the streets of King’s Landing while peasants berated her.
The show has always been unflinching when it comes to the darker side of human nature, but Season 5 seemed to feature a heightened level of intimate violence against women and girls, and many fans did not approve. Over the past several weeks, they’ve been debating whether the show crossed a line. Yesterday, actress Amanda Peet, who’s also married to executive producer David Benioff, weighed in when she called the backlash over the show’s alleged misogyny “really misplaced.”
Peet made a couple of arguments. First, she echoed an oft-repeated sentiment that “[i]t’s a misogynist world, this world that George R. R. Martin created, but we have to experience it without thinking that people are condoning this.” More interesting, if no other reason than because it hasn’t seen quite as much play, is her comment that David Benioff and his partner Dan Weiss “write some of the greatest female characters that are on television” and that the show deserves more credit for going against the grain.
It’s much more insidious to have middling, ancillary female roles where the women are not part of the plot — where they don’t advance anything…Wife roles, girlfriend roles, there are very few of those in ‘Game of Thrones.’ If someone takes their clothes off and it’s a massive part of the plot? So be it.
It’s long been one of the twistiest ironies on Game of Thrones: the show gets a lot of flak for the way it depicts women, but it also features an indisputably rich lineup of interesting female characters. At a glance, we’ve got major figures like Daenerys Targaryen, Catelyn Stark, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell, Melisandre, Ygritte, and Shae, to say nothing of smaller characters like Olenna Tyrell, Missandei, Gilly, Osha, Selyse Baratheon, Yara Greyjoy, and Ellaria Sand.
And Peet is right about the way these characters push events forward. American TV has a long history of reducing women to playing the wives or girlfriends of the male characters who actually move the plot. This problem is arguably even worse when it comes to popular fantasy literature (how many important important female characters were there in The Lord of the Rings, again?), although there are definitely authors around who push back.
Game of Thrones is a leader in this area, as its diverse female cast is given the chance to develop, grow, and drive the story forward. Think of Dany, who has several satellite characters circling around her, and whose adventures have dominated events east of the Narrow Sea since the show began; or of Cersei, who played an integral part in the murder of Robert Baratheon, the event that set off the war of succession that enveloped the show for the next several seasons. Even a character like Ygritte, who it could be argued had a “girlfriend role,” refused to be defined by her relationship with Jon Snow to the point where she was willing to kill him and his fellow Night’s Watchmen at Castle Black.
None of that excuses any actual misogyny on the part of the show, of course, but it does muddy the waters when it comes to defining what Game of Thrones’ responsibility is when writing sensitive scenes involving female characters. It’s a responsibility the show will have to look at again when Season 6 debuts next year, and an argument destined to rage on among fans in the meantime.
H/T The Wrap
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