We’re midway through the penultimate season. GRRM is late with Winds of Winter (though he did meet with his publishers and suggest it might be out 2018/2019).
While we wait, let’s discuss whether Game of Thrones is woke.
That isn’t a fair question, because there are really three separate entities/works to consider:
- George R. R. Martin (the author)
- A Song of Ice and Fire (the books)
- Game of Thrones (the HBO series)
This is not a simple question. The author has written dozens of books, short stories and scripts (including episodes of Twilight Zone). The books themselves are complex, running into thousand of pages with hundreds of characters and several political systems, including feudal monarchy (Westeros), slaver aristocracies (Slaver’s bay), warrior-nomad clans (Dothraki), popular democracy (Wildlings), libertarian trade centers (Braavos) and pastoral paradise (the Summer Islands).
For every argument, we have a counter argument. Yes, Daenerys Targaryen can be read as a white savior. Yet Greyworm and Missandei are fully fledged characters with their own complex motivations, informed by the world they find themselves in.
If there’s a hero willing to wade into the storm, it’s Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf who is both privileged, and the object of derision. Is Arya a cold-blooded killer, or a woman who has learned to deliver vengeance in a vengeful world. Is Jon Snow a reluctant hero, or is his coy self-doubt just a device for a reveal to give him a sense of hereditary purpose? Is Cersei Lannister a role model? Is Varys? Is Littlefinger? Why do the bi and gay characters die so quickly?
The bad guys aren’t dark, they’re literally white walkers. Yet most of the principal characters and lore feels Euro-centric in landscape/geography and US centric in terms of demographics.
There’s no real people’s history, this is about lords and ladies, kings and queens. Though it’s clear the author is sympathetic to the small-folk and wildlings. Are we in an elitist monarchist fantasy? Or is this a saga of a people’s revolution led by a heroic woman who wields power only for the good of the realm?
Yes, the author and the show focus on violence, and often sexual assault. Is this an unflinching reflection of what happens in war and regime change? Or are they fetishizing violence and sexual violence.
Is the warg and Bran’s control of animals (and even humans) an extreme violation of free will? Or is it just an extreme example of how the dogs of war and events chew up and spit out all individuals?
Finally, Benioff and Weiss are going to produce ‘Confederate’ and as Ta-Nehisi Coates explains, there’s no reason to give them any benefit of doubt. But that’s off-topic for the poll.
— @subirgrewal