Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Same Old Thrones

Well, for a thing that started with Ice and Fire that sure ended on a blandly bureaucratic note. Like, who would have through after eight long years, numerous kings and queens, endless betrayals and countless innocent lives lost that the Iron Throne would be decided because of…electability? Yeah, you know, the male candidate with the best story. Nothing to do with gender or the patriarchy. Just, you know, a likable story. I’d totally vote for a female Queen of Westeros, just not that female Queen of Westeros.

Yes, a show that dared us to soar with the dragons has ended with a king no one wanted, who isn’t even really a person, but darn if he doesn’t have a good story. And have we mentioned that he is a he? Remember, “ Men decide where power resides, whether or not they know it.” I mean, they even wrote that directly into the dialogue – unironically. Men. Decide. Where. Power. Resides. OK, got it, fellas.

You can practically hear Benioff and Weisss saying, “Look, I like Warren Sansa, too. But it’s too much to have her rule all Seven Kingdoms right now. Especially after the Hillary Daenerys debacle. We don’t want another Trump Joffrey, do we?”

Also, can we talk about Tyrion Lannister embodying the maddening ability for straight white men to fail up? He served as hand for King Joffrey Baratheon. King Joffrey Baratheon: Dead. Served as hand for Queen Daenerys Targaryen. Queen Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, Lady of Dragonstone, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons: Dead.

And now he gets to be Hand of the King for Bran the Broken, too? And while we are at it, why would all those Lords and Ladies listen to a prisoner who is literally in chains in the first place? (While laughing uproariously at the idea of democracy, pish-posh unwashed rabble!)

Cool story, bro. Well, at least Sansa got The North and Arya peaced out of the narrative entirely.

In giving us a neat and tidy bureaucratic ending to the Game of Thrones, the writers have decided their story was strong enough to transcend the times it was told in. But, here’s the thing, it isn’t. I’ve read a couple round-up of reviews of the “Game of Thrones” finale and I’ve noticed an undeniable trend. Men seem OK with it. Women are pissed. Because the world we live in continues to have men decide where power resides – right down to controlling our bodies and our uteruses. Politics is always personal, and intricately intertwined with our entertainment.

We have invested almost a decade in Daenerys and Sansa and Arya and Brienne and Yara and even Cersei freaking Lannister. We thought a world where dragons painted shadows across the sky and wolves strode like stallions through the wilderness and a woman would not be burned no matter how big the stake that anyone could rule. But, you see, men decide where power resides. So, in the end, it was the same old game after all. The Patriarchy is alive and doing extremely well in Westeros.

It’s not easy to see something that’s never been before. And Game of Thrones decided not to even try.

9 comments:

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

I couldn't agree more.

backlash said...

This. All of this.

Carmen SanDiego said...

Standing ovation. You said it all
I was so disappointed .
The only moving moment of the finale came from a CGI dragon, The rest was a bunch of “ugh” followed by eye rolling
Beautiful cinematography, great acting, fantastic effects and piss poor writing.

Arte said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arte said...

Thanks!!! Exactly what I felt :( they threw away many opportunities in deepening about women's great story lines. Even Emilia Clarke said she would have loved scenes between Cersei and Daenerys.

Anonymous said...

One of the things that's funny to me is when writers claim that "happy endings" are simply not realistic and yet they go to extra lengths to make sure the favorite white, cis, het dude with one facial expression gets exactly that. At the end of the day Jon will move on from this in the same way he moved on from his first fridged girlfriend. If women can't get that "happy ending", why the hell do men who have literally done nothing to deserve their praise get one.

Maria Rigel said...

The book isn't written yet. Surely enough complaints from fans could make Martin change the ending. Assuming that's the ending he had in mind, which I seriously doubt. He probably hasn't decided the ending, and that's how the TV show ended up having such a terrible ending.

Anonymous said...

Precisely. They took the most compelling and albeit worthy character and heel-turned her so quickly it gave me whiplash AND THEN THEY FUCKING MURDERED HER. So, that the straight white dudes (one of whom was off canvas for an ENTIRE FUCKING SEASON) could have happy endings. Man, the fuck outta here with that shit. Not to mention their other compelling female character (and straight up villain) barely did anything but stare off into the distant and they finished her off by dropping some rocks on her?! Seriously, Cersei deserves a much more epic death. She was God-awful but, she never pretended to be anything but. She deserves better. And, I can't stand that bitch (kudos to Lena Heady's incredible acting chops). The only saving grace for me, I only watched up to season 3, watched an hour long season 1-? recap video, read the reviews for the last season, and watched the finale at a friend's house... so, I wasn't nearly invested as others. But, the rushed story telling and the garbage ending to not escape me.

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