The Fine Lines Between
This post is about writing and is mostly for adults. Also, some spoilers for A Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice & Fire.
So there has been some more minor controversy with an episode of Game of Thrones. A female character has been shunted into a story that is not hers from the book and subsequently she has undergone sexual assault. Rape is pretty common in A Song of Ice & Fire, though it does not happen to every female character on every page as ome people might have you believe. The author uses it as a means to show life is hard and has consequences. Certainly today issues of consent and rape are common even in our civilzed countries, not to mention places where lawlessness holds sway. Beingn a woman in any point in history has been difficult, for many reasons, but the act of rape is so violent that it causes fear. Society does nothing to alleviate the fear, but only heightens it in what seems to me a sick obsession with what women do with their bodies (by both pro- and anti- feminists I might add #BFAD).
On top of that and ths is where things get hairy, there is a certain appeal to consensual adult behaviors. So consenting adults role play these heinous moments. I don't think that is sick; fantasy is good for the mind and if it keeps it from happening for real so much the better. Hell I write fantasy so I obviously encourage people to lose themselves in role playing. The problem is though when our fantasy or in sme cases well intentioned use of rape to show how brutal, brutal can be, becomes an attack on women. And on men, actually. A Game of Thrones and to a lesser extent the books that spawned it have moved in that direction. At least in my opinion.
Yes the actors and show runners say all the right things. Of course they are going to say the right things, they have jobs to keep and a vision to promote. The show in particular has become a caricature of its source material and is rapidly becoming a caricature of itself. The latest Sansa storyline is not about anything but the show runners obsession with their leading sadist, Ramsey (Snow) Bolton. I do not blaem the actor, who puts on a phenomenal performance under what must be difficult circumstances. His character is responsible for more than a few heinous crimes and I suspect will be responsible for more both in the books and in the show.
Somewhere along the line the show runners have forgotten what good story telling is. Over use of rape is the perview of slash fiction, sexually immature writers, and piss poor romance novels that bring down what is otherwise an often well written genre.
Additionally, both the author and the showrunners repeatedly show contempt for the good guys. The protagonists are running around wasting their time while he bad guys or the bad things roll on. The reason why bad guys lose in real ife is because of competent and well organized good guys, rarely some last minuted heroics. This is not good story telling either any more than the good guys never messing up is.
I won't be using rape in either Wicked Boys or Toils of Persephone. I was never inclined to, to begin with but now I want to specifically not use them. I want to be part of the solution that breaks the cycle of abuse against women in fantasy and more importantly against men who are often as limited n their rapine activities as their victims are in being victims. This is not a soap box as much as it is me calling bullshit on anyone who thinks the latest episode or the Sansa story are good for anyone: reader, watcher, or actress involved. Even if it is a fine line between reality and fantasy.
