Naturally, ardent fans became upset, some even going as far as threatening to leave the fanbase after Sansa’s sexual assault, including Senator Claire McCaskill, who after the episode tweeted: Ok, I’m done Game of Thrones. Water Garden, stupid. Gratuitous rape scene disgusting and unacceptable. It was a rocky ride that just ended. (Cillizza)
After suggestions that Game of Thrones relies on rape more heavily than A Song of Ice and Fire does, Tumblr user Tafkar conducted research on how often rape occurs in both texts and found staggering results. To date, Game of Thrones contains 50 rape acts and 29 victims, whereas A Song of Ice and Fire contains four times those amounts, with 214 accounts of rape and 117 victims (Jaworski). Moreover, …show more content…
To demonstrate Joffrey’s monstrosity, Benioff and Weiss created the character Ros, a prostitute, whose sole purpose is to be naked and used for sex until she is shot numerous times with a crossbow by Joffrey (“The Climb”). By the same token, the need to cement how truly despicable Joffrey is proves equally unnecessary as with the case of Ramsay; the audience is enlightened from the moment Joffrey orders the execution of Sansa’s father, Edward, in the season one finale (“Fire and Blood”). Finally, rape as a narrative tool is defended because it maintains “historical accuracy.” Benioff and Weiss acknowledge how “horrible” and “unbearable” rape in the show is, claiming it happens “both in war and perhaps worse, it can happen in peace as well” (Hughes). Despite this statement, the “horror of rape” continues to be “clumsily shoved in almost as a shock tactic” (Hughes). When asked why his books contain so many accounts of rape, Martin stated rape and sexual violence are integral to every war ever fought and to “omit them from a narrative centered on war and power” would have been “false and dishonest” (Flood). The fact that
After suggestions that Game of Thrones relies on rape more heavily than A Song of Ice and Fire does, Tumblr user Tafkar conducted research on how often rape occurs in both texts and found staggering results. To date, Game of Thrones contains 50 rape acts and 29 victims, whereas A Song of Ice and Fire contains four times those amounts, with 214 accounts of rape and 117 victims (Jaworski). Moreover, …show more content…
To demonstrate Joffrey’s monstrosity, Benioff and Weiss created the character Ros, a prostitute, whose sole purpose is to be naked and used for sex until she is shot numerous times with a crossbow by Joffrey (“The Climb”). By the same token, the need to cement how truly despicable Joffrey is proves equally unnecessary as with the case of Ramsay; the audience is enlightened from the moment Joffrey orders the execution of Sansa’s father, Edward, in the season one finale (“Fire and Blood”). Finally, rape as a narrative tool is defended because it maintains “historical accuracy.” Benioff and Weiss acknowledge how “horrible” and “unbearable” rape in the show is, claiming it happens “both in war and perhaps worse, it can happen in peace as well” (Hughes). Despite this statement, the “horror of rape” continues to be “clumsily shoved in almost as a shock tactic” (Hughes). When asked why his books contain so many accounts of rape, Martin stated rape and sexual violence are integral to every war ever fought and to “omit them from a narrative centered on war and power” would have been “false and dishonest” (Flood). The fact that