Affective Proximity
Tracing Jaime Lannister’s Moral Progression in HBO’s Game of Thrones
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8894924 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Cormier (0000-0003-4574-9915, Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory (CWRC) Research Board, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-25 |
| Publication date | 2019-03-25 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Review of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-7720 • E-ISSN: 1710-114X |
| Publisher | University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3138/cras.49.1.002 |
| OpenAlex | W2937523203 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
Jaime Lannister is one of the most intriguing characters in HBO’s Game of Thrones due to his important role in the show’s chief area of conflict, King’s Landing, as well as his incestuous relationship with his sister and, because of this relationship, her strong influence on his character. What makes the dynamic of Jaime and Cersei’s relationship so compelling is the manner in which Cersei’s influence on Jaime seems to grow weaker or stronger depending on where he is travelling in Westeros, how far away he is from her, both physically and emotionally, and which characters he spends time with during these travels. An effective means of analyzing Jaime’s moral development in relation to his relationship with his sister is by way of affect theory—specifically the affect of proximity, which authors such as Sara Ahmed and Lauren Berlant discuss in The Promise of Happiness (2010) and Cruel Optimism (2011), respectively. By mapping out Jaime’s travels during the series, as well as through close reading of several key moments of his journey, I argue that Jaime’s ever-changing “affective proximity” to Cersei strongly affects his moral character, ultimately resulting in his heading to Winterfell to help fight the last war
Aesthetics · Affect (linguistics · Art · Character (mathematics · Happiness · Linguistics · Literature · Optimism · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process · Relation (database · Sister · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Interdisciplinary Cultural and Social Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |