The Women of Game of Thrones Deserve Better Than This Season
Like most female fans of the show, I watch Game of Thrones for its kickass women. But after episode four of the final season, many women, celebrities included, have grown tired of the show’s subtle (or heavy-handed) sexism—due in part to the jarring lack of women behind the scenes. Sunday night’s episode offered some chilling scenes for its beloved female leads, like a reckless death, a lack of appreciation for its heroines, and the use of rape as an “empowering” backstory. Celebrities like Jessica Chastain and Ava DuVernay slammed the show for its carelessness in telling such stories.
“Rape is not a tool to make a character stronger,” Chastain wrote on Twitter, adding, “A woman doesn’t need to be victimized in order to become a butterfly. The #littlebird was always a Phoenix. Her prevailing strength is solely because of her. And her alone.” The “little bird” the actress is referring to is Sophie Turner’s character, Sansa Stark, who reunited Sunday night with the warrior who protected her in King’s Landing years ago, The Hound. In the scene, he said that Sansa had been “broken in rough” by Ramsay Bolton, who serially raped and abused her in season five, and Littlefinger, who manipulated her and preyed on her when she was young.
“You’ve changed, little bird,” the Hound said, to which Sansa replied, “Without Littlefinger and Ramsay and the rest, I would’ve stayed a little bird all my life.” Some women on Twitter were quick to point out the jarring lack of women behind the camera on the show and how that affected the female characters’ storylines on Sunday. In January of last year, Salon reported that there would be zero women directors or writers on the final season of Game of Thrones—so this isn’t news—but it is beginning to rattle female fans now that we’re finally able to see how these last episodes are playing out with only men having created them.
DuVernay also called out the show for its poor treatment of Missandei, the show’s only woman of color, who was savagely put back in chains and beheaded on Sunday night’s episode. Game of Thrones has certainly proved that all of its characters are expendable throughout the years (we all remember the Red Wedding in season three and the wildfire massacre in season six). However, to throw away the sole woman of color on the show—as if her five-season run was all for nothing—was distressing to many.
The HBO series’ poor treatment of women has been a long-standing issue for female fans. Personally, I know many women who refuse to watch the show because of the gratuitous rape scenes that have transpired over the years—and I don’t blame them. The scenes are traumatic to watch and exploitative rather than empathetic to the women characters. And many of the female leads have been raped, serially abused, objectified, or a wicked combination of such.
Sansa isn’t the only female character who rose to power after “embracing” her history with sexual abuse. Daenerys Targaryen was serially raped in the first season, then forced to overcome and “grow stronger” from it. So, while many of the powerful female leads’ motivations are gendered and based in trauma, the strong male leads on the show, like Jon Snow or Tyrion Lannister, grew more powerful because of their natural ability to lead—they’re conversationalists, warriors, heroes with daddy issues. Meanwhile, Brienne of Tarth makes it through eight seasons of slaying battles and a knighthood only to leave her crying over a man?
The scales have always been tipped toward the white men on Game of Thrones—that’s what happens when the people making the show are mostly male and white—they don’t do their female characters, or people of color, any justice.
Back in 2018 reporter Mo Ryan broke down the offscreen gender issue on the HBO series, noting that by the time the show ends, only four episodes will have been directed by a woman, the same woman—yes, only one woman, Michelle MacLaren, has directed an episode of Game of Thrones, of which there are 73. In the writers room there have been only two women. They had full or partial writing credit in only four episodes, and the last time a female writer was credited was in 2013.
The most insulting part of the show’s gender disparity is the sweeping size of their female audience. In 2013 Wired reported via Nielsen that approximately 2 million women tuned into the show each week, which makes up for 42 percent of the viewership—nearly half. Wired also reported that women were having 50 percent of the conversations online about the show, and only positive mentions were counted, so it wasn’t negative discourse. And in 2018 fan site Watchers on the Wall conducted a survey among 2,532 Game of Thrones fans, and 53 percent of those who participated were female.
Also, at the season-eight premiere in April, Gwendoline Christie, who plays the brawny knight Ser Brienne of Tarth on the show, told Variety that the show has numerous powerful female characters due to demand by their female audience. The creators for the show even said they extended Lyanna Mormont's role because of the emphatic response to 16-year-old Bella Ramsey's portrayal of the fierce Bear Islander. Clearly, the producers understand the hunger there.
I love Game of Thrones, but I’m with Chastain and DuVernay on this—the white, male writers and directors are making this show increasingly hard to root for.
