With less than 50 days to go, the whole world is excited about the launch of the much awaited seventh season of the popular TV show Game of Thrones. While the initial seasons of the show focused in on the physical and political dominance of the several ‘kings’ and their men. Characters like
Ned Stark,
Jon Snow,
Jaimie Lannister,
Tywin Lannister, and the much-hated villain
Ramsay Bolton succeeded in turning the tide to the worship of machismo while the women of the show were more than happy to knit, pray or please them in their bedroom.
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| photo courtesy: HBO |
The only female character that stood out was
Arya Stark, the daughter of
Ned Stark who threw away the sewing needle for ‘the needle’, her sword and set on to learn the art of killing rather than the art of dancing. Her mother
Catelyn Stark also takes up the reigns when her husband is beheaded under false allegation yet she still yields when her son forces her to do so.
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| photo courtesy: HBO |
Parallel to the events in Westeros,
Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, marches on with a very few people and three dragons to take on the powerful masters of the East merely with her words and her astounding ability to resist fire burn. She frees the slaves from their murderous masters and succeeds in raising an army so large as to trounce the largest army in Westeros and take back the throne that she claims to be rightfully hers.
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| photo courtesy: HBO |
Joining her is
Yara Greyjoy who is also fighting against her uncle in her claim to the inheritance of her land and castle.
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| photo courtesy: HBO |
Back in Westeros the tame and silent
Sansa Stark has finally emerged as a strong character, avenging all the harm her ‘husband’ had done to her when she finally feeds him to his own dogs.
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| photo courtesy: HBO |
But none of these characters could bend the backbone of
Cersei Lannister, the Queen mother. She had been alleged with many illegitimate actions, had been humiliated and shamed in front of the whole city and even rebuked by her own family. Even when fate stood against her and seized from her, her precious possessions- her children and father, Cersei gets her revenge against all those who wronged her, literally burning them into ashes.
The show is finally handing over the power to the ladies as it is turning over a new leaf. From the very beginning, the show had been criticized for the sexist depiction of women, though the story line is set in a thoroughly patriarchal society. This emergence of the women from the ashes has finally set an example for the power of women even during a time when they were objectified to the maximum. The final episode of the sixth season clearly foreshadows the rise and rule of these women characters and the penultimate season is but a perspicuous call on feminism.
Written by
Parvathy N
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