Warning: Contains spoilers from Game of ThronesSeason 6, episode 5 and everything before.
We're all upset about the tragic ending of last night's Game of Thrones, but something good did come out of it, and we can thank Sansa Stark for that.
I was not a fan of Sansa in the beginning of the series. She felt weak, an odd doormat that I couldn't believe was the daughter of Eddard Stark. Her journey seemed like that of a constant victim for makers of the show to use as a punching bag. Last night's "The Door" wasn't just a turning point for the eldest Stark girl, but also a turning point for female Game of Thronesfans.
Watching "The Door" and seeing Sansa finally confronting Petyr Baelish, one of her ultimate betrayers, for essentially selling her to Ramsey, is an incredible turning point for her and for every fan who "quit" on the show. She was a strong woman.
Witnessing Sansa's adversity up until this point now seems worth it to me. Just as actress Sophie Turner promised way back before the season premiere, this is finally going to be the year of Sansa's journey towards actualization and I love it.
Via GiphyAs the eldest daughter of an affluent lord, Sansa is set up with a lot of pressures and expectations: specifically to marry well and be a noble lady who gives her husband a lot of sons.
Season 1 through 4 are all about her abuse in that regard. I can, and have, identified with other fans' frustrations with these plot lines that make Sansa into a victim rather than a well-rounded person.
Via GiphyShe's betrayed by her psychotic boy-king-crush, Joffrey Baratheon and his mother, Cersei at every point. The Lannisters removing all potential allies, including executing her father before her very eyes. She loses the rest of her family either by death or estrangement, is threatened with both rape and murder, is toyed with by Joffrey, is forced to marry Tyrion in a power play (though he turns out to be an ally) and is blamed for a murder she didn't commit.
Her saving grace came from Baelish, a.k.a. Little Finger, who ended up being the biggest betrayer of all -- to practically no one's surprise but Sansa's.
The problem with Season 5
The abuse rose to new heights last season with her marriage to Ramsay Bolton.
Some argued that showing any rapeat all was gratuitous and should be banned from the show, and I have to admit, I avoided watching for many months until just before the Season 6 premiere. I, too, was tired of seeing women being needlessly brutalized on TV.
I am grateful for these critiques. It's important to note that this is what trigger warnings are for -- not for censorship, but to prepare people for what they are about to see. And once I saw the scene of Sansa's wedding night, I have to admit, I simply thought it was poorly handled.
I feel sympathetic to lovers of the books who thought Sansa should never have been given to Ramsay in the first place. This was supposed to happen to another character, but I don't think that would have made the wedding night scene scene any better. Screenplays often have to combine characters and simplify plots for TV.
One criticism that I quite agree with, was not necessarily that the rape had happened, but about its point-of-view. While Sansa was forcibly violated by Ramsay, show-makers chose to point the camera toward Reek (Theon) -- thereby making the scene about the trauma he was feeling in the moment and not hers. While Reek's point of view is important for his own motivation later on, it should not take priority over Sansa's in the moment.
Perhaps the producers actually did have the best intentions by not showing a graphic rape scene up close and personal, but by pointing the story at a man in a situation that is specifically about a woman's experience in the scene, it felt false and mostly unnecessary. It underscored the abuse suffered by Sansa and demeaned it further by giving the the trauma to someone else.
However, full-on censorship wasn't the answer. What the show is doing now with Sansa's character, actually, is.
Sansa's search for justice for all that has been done to her is what makes her uniquely notstereotypical of women on TV.
The fact that Sansa is constantly working toward her freedom, whether it works out or not in the moment, only proves that she refuses to see herself as a victim. What we have here is a strong female character -- and it's taken six seasons to fully realize it.
Sansa is finally facing the men who have wronged her and they are literally rendered speechless. This can sometimes happen when you're faced with bare truth.
Via Giphy"Did you know about Ramsay? If you didn’t know you’re an idiot, if you did know you’re my enemy," she asks Baelish in "The Door."
"Would you like to hear about our wedding night?" She says. "He never hurt my face — he needed my face... But the rest of me, he did what he liked with the rest of me, as long as I could still give him an heir."
Backed up by always-badass-and-perfect Lady Brienne, Sansa doesn't just lay out her pain to Baelish, she demands that he put the words in his own mouth, and when he can't say them outright, she calls out his hypocrisy.
Via Giphy"I thought you knew everyone's secrets," she says, adding, "the other things, ladies are not supposed to talk about those things but I imagine brothel keeps talk about them all the time."
Female Game of Thronesfans, especially, who have stuck with the show have been waiting for this moment and it is truly cathartic. Sansa isn't just speaking for herself, she's speaking for all the women on the show, and for women everywhere.
On top of her dropping brutal truths on Baelish, her other scenes involve her negotiating an alliance to take over the North again (even if she has to lie a little to her half-brother Jon to do it). We might be looking at the future Warden of the North here.
She, Arya and Daenerys are shaping up to be future leaders (or even just powerful beings), and, yes, we can finally start looking at this show as feminist.
That said, all art should be critiqued, and the only way we can continue this trend is by raising our voices and demanding something better than what we've seen.
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TopicsGame Of Thrones
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