Sunday night’s episode of Game Of Thrones took an even darker turn than usual: Jaime Lannister, who has transitioned from one of the story’s villains to one of its heroes, takes the opportunity of his son’s death to rape his sister and lover, Cersei—in the Westerosi equivalent of a church, while Jof

Today’s musings is based around this latest fire-storm of idiot controversy.    There have been a million and one articles about this since…well….as soon as it aired, and many of them take slightly different takes on what happened. 

But this in article in particular is going to by my subject for this debate.

“Why are the game of thrones showrunners rewriting the books into misogyny?”

That line, right there, tells me everything that is wrong with this article. And in a time span that seems to be overburdened with in-your-face womens’ activism, it’s really tiring to see the stretch people try to make just to be offended. 

If you are unfamiliar, or just don’t care to take the time to read the article, they are discussing an incident that happened in this past Sunday night’s episode, “Breaking Chains”, of Game of Thrones.  And this author, in particular, uses a basis of the book-to-show comparison to argue her debate of rape. 

My issues with this article, is I’m not entirely so sure that this writer actually saw the show….Or is, perhaps, just incredibly bad at reading people.  or perhaps just stretching some interpretations for the sake of argument and offense. 

I watched the show. In my opinion, as far as the GoT franchise has gone – this was quite a boring episode that was simply an obligatory necessity to get from one plot point to another. Nothing happened. Nothing. So I guess this was the biggest “shock” of the show, and if you have to write about something, this scene must be the one to write about. 

A slam at the showrunners, though, for turning the story into misogyny is pushing the bar a bit far, and unfairly. Nobody needs to turn the story misogynistic – it does that all on it’s own. It’s a part of the greater world that Martin has built in these books. It can be a dark, cold, uncaring world, and the struggle and turmoil to survive and stay on top for both women – and men. So the idea that writers / producers are intentionally trying to turn a gender bias is, I’m sorry, just a load of crap in my book.  Let’s not fail to mention here that Martin is an *integral* part of the Show’s production, and has written several episodes screenplays himself. And further interpretations, reinterpretations or so on, in the end, has his sign of approval to be done to his work. Maybe not as nitty gritty as signing off on ever line of script, or edit, or tweak – but on the grande scale of things, he has given allowance for such edits and changes. And while it is his story, frankly, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it. Regardless of it’s true to his books or not.  Stories change, all the time, and characters grow and evolve just like real live people in the flesh. It’s the organic nature of being a story teller, and seeing his works and his characters come to life on set / screen may have given him a new take on their personalities, or hearing feedback from a new broader fanbase, and the team working on the show, may have also opened his eyes to new takes he hadn’t previously thought of. 

So frankly, get over the changes. To put it blunt, and stop trying to blame people for turning the characters one way or another. If you have an issue with an element of the story or plot, then if anyone, point the fingers at Martin – because he has laid all the groundwork for interpretation here.  Everyone is going to see things in a different light, based upon their own personal experiences, but you can’t see what hasn’t been given to you, and there’s one person who gave you that frame work to interpret : Martin. Not the showrunners. They are just interpreting it in their way – just as every single reader interpreted in *their* own way as well. 

Now let’s move on to the actual rape itself.

There wasn’t any.

Did *you* watch the show?? Did I just miss something entirely?? Because, yes, I’ll give it to the writer of this article that it was a much darker, more volatile and emotional scene than in the books…..but. If I can be entirely frank here – the scene in the book was porn. That’s it. It was porn, and it was as flat and cheesy and horribly scripted as any corny porn movie.  I am sorry to those Martin worshippers out there that I’m sure I just made faint at the blasphemy of such words to be spoken, but it’s the honest truth. I enjoy the story, but I do not think Martin is all that his die-hards make him out to be. And even if he were a God to the written word….he is in fact, only human, and therefore not going to be perfect. NO ONE can be 100%, 100% of the time. Nobody. There will be times his writing is awesome….and there will be times where he writes cheesey porn. Just sayin….

SO, yes. It was a different take on the book. It was not as straight-forward raunchy inappropriateness. But, again, did you watch the episode?  She did protest – as she *also* did in the book scene – She protested with much more emotion in the episode, but at the same time, the show portrayed the entire scene in a much more believable way. Emotions were high, and conflicting, and confusing. Imagine yourself in Cersei’s shoes. Wouldn’t you be a bit screwed up in the head too? Not taking into account that she has to be screwed up in the head to be as cold, murderous, and incestual – just ignore all that for just a moment, and look at just the scene. Her son is dead. He had *just* died, and had been murdered cruelly. She knew he was horrible, but it’s also her baby. So there must be conflicting emotions there, a sense of relief, but also of hate and anger and rage and sorrow that her child has been taken away from her, guilt and anger at herself for feeling relief. She looks for comfort in the man that she loves, but is still at the same time this his happening when her anger and bitterness towards him was high. So now she wants to love the man she loves, but is also hurt and abandoned. And that’s just looking at what is going on *right now* not everything else that has happened to this woman throughout the entire story up to this point. SO YES. I think any person under those circumstances is entitled to some contradicting statements / actions. That is far more real, and relatable, and believable as a story than how it was portrayed in the book. 

As far the act of rape itself – Yes, she protests…..and then proceeds to help him out of his pants.  She says no, no, not like this, and begins sobbing….and then pulls him in to kiss him. She is actively protesting (by words) but then telling him she wants it (through actions)  …..just. exactly. as. in. the. book.  Just much more emotionally charged than the book. WHICH IS WARRANTED.

Am I the only one who saw this ? Was everyone else just skimming between gapped fingers? Or did they simply choose to ignore those moments? 

And getting onto the Dany / Drogo dilemma. Again, I find the interpretation much more true-to-life (as much as it can be, being a fantasy world) and much more believable. I do not think a 13 / 14 girl being sold off for the sake of her far more abusive, controlling brother’s benefit would have acted the way portrayed in the book. At all. I find a terrified child, overwhelmed with everything that’s going on around her that she has no control over, breaking down, and crying, and acting as a scared 14 year olde girl would is far more believable, and relatable. ALSO – it was also not rape. It was not necessarily what she wanted, but it was also not necessarily what she did not want. She was a scared child, with no control over her own life. She not once ever said no, or stop – she knew what was happening, she knew what the deal was, she knew she was being married off, she knew it would have to be consumated. And she went along with it. Do you think porn stars or prostitues always want to have sex? I’m sure they don’t – but they do it anyway because, whatever their reasoning is.  Are there times when I am *really* not in the mood to have sex, but still do it anyway because I take my husband into consideration instead of thinking only about myself? Absolutely. Is any of this rape?? Fuck no.  Wanting it is not the same as consent. Consent is not synonymous with want. She may have been scared. She may not have wanted it – but she agreed to it.  That’s the catch. She did not object.  And PS – the scene where he asked “no?” is in the TV show.  It just continues on longer he asks “No?” then states is as “No.”  then shakes his head “No.” then looks at her, wipes a tear from her eye, and says “No.”  This was not written as him taunting her, this was written as in him saying don’t be scared, do not cry. But, when you are trying to portray a wedding of a child to a full grown man, who have completely polar opposite of culture, and speak not a lick of each other’s language – this is a very true to form way to portray it on television. …..not quite the cold-hearted rapist they want you to believe the show is portraying. 

And when you look at the comparison, it is really not *that* far off from the books as well. It’s all in the matter of interpretation, and I’m sorry to get all the Martin-lover knickers in a twitch. but I prefer the way they portrayed it in the show, because of that realism they brought to it. 

So, in the end to each their own; we are all going to see something different in both book, and show –  but don’t slaughter someone’s reputation over your own personal distastes when you might not have considered the story from all angles. That’s all I’m really getting at here.