Game of Thrones, Rape Culture and Feminist Fandom

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5853751
AutoresDebra Ferreday (0000-0001-7540-1034)
Año2015
Volumen30
Número83
Páginas21-36
Fecha de publicación2015-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAustralian Feminist Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1321-7568 • E-ISSN: 1465-3303
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08164649.2014.998453
OpenAlexW2132936136
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas22
Referencias citadas11

Throughout its run, HBO's adaptation of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series, retitled Game of Thrones (GoT), has attracted controversy for its depiction of nudity and graphic sex and violence. But a particular recent scene, in which a brother rapes his sister, caused outrage in media and fan commentary. This article considers the scene in question, and feminist responses to it, in the context of wider cultural debates about rape culture and the media representation of sexual violence. Following Sarah Projansky's argument that rape is a ‘particularly versatile narrative element’ that ‘often addresses any number of social themes and issues’, I read GoT and its online fan responses alongside literary theories of the fantastic, to examine how dominant rape culture discourses are both reproduced and challenged in fan communities. In particular I argue that fan narratives both reproduce discourses of masculinity and futurity that contribute to rape culture, but also provide a potential space for change through speaking out about silenced experiences of trauma

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis · Art · Context (archaeology · Depiction · Fandom · Literature · Masculinity · Media studies · Narrative · Outrage · Political science · Politics · Popular culture · Representation (politics · Sociology · Digital Games and Media · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Gender Studies · History · Law