Winter Has Come: Seeing the World in a Post Game of Thrones Light
Known for its raunchy and fantastical scenes, Game of Thrones has captivated audiences across the country by creating an alien world. In 2011, the show launched from the roots of a poorly received first pilot to eventually garnering millions of views across the world. It is the most pirated television show to exist and has become a cultural phenomenon. With a wondrously magical world and great characters, the show captured viewers’ imaginations. Although it may seem like a far-removed fantasy, the world of Game of Thrones actually echoes the history of our own world. Its callbacks to Western medieval history and early eastern empires have created the perfect Easter egg hunt for history buffs, while the moral dilemmas that arise in the show are often in dialogue with our society’s manipulation of political mechanisms and acceptance and engagement of philosophical interpretations of ethics. Although Game of Thrones ended, it has created a space for socio-political conversation that is essential for our society but is flawed due to orientalist constructions of the show.
Modeling history, Game of Thrones often caused social controversies with its depictions of women and minorities. Image via
Critiqued for hyperbolically lewd and controversial scenes, Game of Thrones has created the space for viewers to debate contested topics such as the portrayal of people of color in the media and the historic role of women in power. Kara Peruccio, a former PhD candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations comments:
“I think in some ways the sensationalized portrayals of medieval societies, eastern and western, simultaneously presents challenges and unique opportunities for academia. For example, it would be easy for a student to accept the television show's depictions of the Dothraki as brutal and barbaric nomads if they have never studied Islamicate, Central Asian or indigenous American history to understand the foundations of these people. Similarly, the kingdom of Dorne (unfortunately terribly adapted in the tv show) was inspired by Welsh history and culturally/materially by Nasrid Spain; thus the writers chose to frame Dorne through an Orientalist lens.”
“The sensationalized portrayals of medieval societies, eastern and western, simultaneously presents challenges and unique opportunities for academia.”
In 2017, Game of Thrones faced massive backlash for the sensationalism of its portrayal of Dornish women.
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Depicting caricatures of eastern societies and people, lauding white saviorism, and seemingly condoning sexual assault, Game of Thrones often misses a beat with its viewers. As mentioned by Professor Peruccio, the portrayal of the Dornish was panned by critics and viewers, with many finding the lewd trope of the feisty, salacious eastern women extremely problematic. While Martin, wrote long narratives and extensive backgrounds to the Dornish characters in his original Song of Ice and Fire books, these plots were written out of the show to accommodate for the transition to television. In doing so, the writers chose to take a long, overarching and significant plot about people of color and compress it into a subplot to the focal plot of the white lead characters.
In the past few years, critics have panned the graphic nature of Sansa Stark’s rape scene and her statement on deriving personal power from men using her. Many of the conversations the show provokes could happen without extreme depictions of rape, racism, and oppression. However, Game of Thrones is not a perfect show with an egalitarian narrative or writers. The decisions and perspectives of its male, white writers color the tone and basis of many of the scenes and events in the show.
The narrative perspective of the show speaks to the many conflicting views of our society. By presenting white saviorism in dramatized and repeated circumstances, especially notable in Daenerys’ liberation of Slaver’s Bay, Game of Thrones provokes viewers to consider the mindset and ethical approach to such actions. Viewers are introduced to Daenerys’ plot through her doctrine and perspective. In this perspective, Daenerys is seemingly gilded, a hero with no flaws. However, the melodramatic receptions and reactions of Essosi to Daenerys’ actions provokes viewers to consider the fanatic nature of her actions. It echoes western traditions of questionable conquests under the justification of “the white man’s burden.” Her actions and crusade is done in a manner that has immediate consequences of liberation, but these are short tern due to her unfamiliarity with the people she rules. Game of Thrones places viewers in an unfamiliar place that parallels our own world’s contentious history. In doing so, Game of Thrones helps people grapple with the consequences of white saviorism by establishing some of the nuances, contexts, and moralities behind it.
A scene of Daenerys liberating the people of Slaver’s Bay.
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With the tools of media and music to establish tension and deliberate tone, viewers have the option to reject the moral compass of the show. Across the world, Game of Thrones has sparked conversations extending from how power should be divided, shared and yielded to the intersection of justice and humanity in judicial systems and beyond to vital discussions on the effect the brutality of rape and sexual assault has on victims in both living rooms and text group chats.
It is not in spite of, but because of Game of Thrones’ many flaws that viewers can engage with the show in an open dialogue. Viewers are not directed by the show or its writers’ moral compasses, rather, the show provokes all to seize their own morality and decide for themselves what is right and wrong. Many viewers gave up the show following the brutal depiction of Sansa Stark’s rape, following their moral compasses past sensationalizing the show. Game of Thrones' is not just an ethical journey for characters; its flawed narrative is a terrain for viewers to cross. Due to modern media outlets, viewers are given many perspectives from members of academia to the cast members of the show to consider controversial scenes and dialogues.
The graphic scenes of physical and emotional abuse during Sansa Stark’s marriage to Ramsey Bolton were met with massive criticism.
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Television has historically served as a way to address many problems that are otherwise taboo. In the 1960s, Star Trek took over television and media. In its (literally) alien worlds, characters explored issues that paralleled contemporary subjects like race, feminism, and militarism. By creating an alien world with allegories to then-contemporary problems, Star Trek established the necessary dimensions and circumstances for viewers to discuss these conflicts. Without its intangibly, imaginary nature, Star Trek never would have been able to provoke such conversation. Today, like Star Trek, Game of Thrones has created a space to address our human history of bigotry, ignorance, and failure, giving us an “in” to these sensitive topics that would otherwise be difficult to address.
If Game of Thrones is a great Easter egg hunt, then UChicago students are amongst its most eager participants. This quarter, the Department of Medieval Studies held a screening of the show’s first episode, creating a forum to discuss the many social and cultural aspects of medieval society the show touches on. In the past few weeks, I’ve engaged and witnessed in conversations about Game of Thrones in classes, house meetings, and study groups. These conversations extend beyond complaining about plot and character development.
“When racism and colorism are central to an idealized fantasy world, it says a lot about the society that we live in today. ”
My peers and I have debated the waxing and waning power of women, like Sansa Stark and Daenerys Targaryen, on the show, the flippant treatment of civilian beliefs and desires, specifically with the finale’s distasteful comic relief at the expense of the masses, and the diminishing voice and presence of people of colors noted at the end of the eighth season. One student notes:
“Game of Thrones (GOT) definitely provokes necessary conversations about our society. Although the show is fantastic, it also has numerous shortcomings. Many of the conversations that I have about GOT actually revolve around race and the treatment of POC in the show. When racism and colorism are central to an idealized fantasy world, it says a lot about the society that we live in today. It reflects the fact that our society has trouble witnessing worlds where racial equality is the norm, and that is deeply troubling. I think that GOT has certainly inspired me to speak to my friends about this particular issue in our society.”
Through the fantastical world of Game of Thrones, people are given a forum to form and vocalize opinions that are essential to understanding the dynamics of our world. While the show exists in an imaginary world, based on the dynamics of civilizations from hundreds of years ago, its themes of rising up to oppression rejecting unfair norms, and working to create systems that reflect collective values and ethics resonate to modern viewers and events by. Today, we are living in a post-Game of Thrones world. While the show and its magic fade into history, we must continue the dialogues about representation and portrayal of women, people of color and minorities in both media and reality it has catalyzed.
