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The Transformation
Game of Thrones is a book series written by George R.R. Martin, HBO has turned the books into one of the most widely followed television series on cable today. The book is set in a fantasy world that somewhat resembles what we know as the medieval era. The story follows around a vast cast of characters as they all fight to gain the “Iron Throne” in order to rule over the land. This paper will follow Daenerys Targaryen’s story during season one as she tries to get back her family’s throne. A she goes on her journey we will analyze how her story conforms and later on resists common themes of gender.
Daenerys Stormborn of the house Targaryen takes on many roles in the show. She ranges from a sex object to later on a powerful, ruthless Iron Maiden. All the transformations take place very quickly as she changes before the audiences eyes. The first time Daenerys appears on the screen people see a 18-20 year old with bleach blonde hair, not more than a minute later her dress is dropped to floor revealing her breasts to the viewer as she is getting into a bath. She is getting ready to see her to be husband for the first time, she’s anxious to see if he will accept her. Daenerys is being given as a gift to Khal Drogo in order to help her brother Viserys move closer to the crown. Daenerys is treated like a piece of property, the same as a clay pot or gold piece, instead of being her brothers property she would become Drogo’s. Viserys makes sure to tell Daenerys she better please Drogo, sexually, otherwise the “gift” would have been a bad one.
This was very common in medieval times in England, once married to a man, a woman and a man became a single person. (Crawford and Mendelson) What this really meant was the one p...
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...he Middle Ages. History Today, 61(8), 36-41. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/ehost/detail?vid=9&sid=f5b8ec3a-4871-49df-8323-35729994b4c1%40sessionmgr114&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=65064862
Ruby, J. (2005, November 1). Women in Combat Roles: Is That the Question?. Off Our Backs,35, 36.
Sara Mendelson and Patricia Crawford, Women in Early Modern England 1550-1720 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 37-9 Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/journals/parergon/v019/19.1.crawford.pdf
Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: communication, gender & and culture (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Zurbriggen, E. (). Rape, War, And The Socialization of Masculinity: Why Our Refusal To Give Up Was Ensures That Rape Cannot Be Eradicated. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 538-539
Women in the US Military - Civil War Era. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
"From Home Front to Front Line." Women in War. Ed. Cecilia Lee and Paul Edward Strong. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. The Churchill Centre. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Wood, J. T. (2011). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture. (9th ed ed., pp. 1-227). Boston,MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
"Update: Women in the Military." Issues and Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 29 May 2007. Web.
Woodbridge, Linda. Women and the English Renaissance: Literature and the Nature of Womankind, 1540-1620. Urbana and Chicago: U of Illinois, 1986.
Masculinities.” Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology. Ed. Estelle Disch. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. 120-137.
Men are seen as superior, while women are the inferior sex. The two are sorted into their specific gender roles as they were many years ago, and still are today. Jobs and duties are especially gendered in the show. For example, men are seen as warriors and are very strong. Women, on the other hand, are only meant to cook the food and clean the house, or in the case of highborn women, provide heirs for their husband. Noble women’s opinions are not completely trusted the way the men’s’ opinions are: “My mother wishes me to let Lord Eddard join the Night 's Watch. Stripped of all titles and powers, he would serve the realm in permanent exile. And my Lady Sansa has begged mercy for her father. But they have the soft hearts of women. So long as I am your king, treason shall never go unpunished. Sir Ilyn, bring me his head” (“Game of Thrones”). In this particular scene, Lord Eddard is to be shown mercy so long as he swear featly to King Joffrey. His mother, Queen Regent Cersei had previously advised him to not execute the prisoner, as it would start a war that he would not be able to win. Nevertheless, the King believes that the opinions of the women are not valid and executes Eddard, starting a war. In this society, gender roles are very divided, but not as much as they used to be: “We typically accept ‘masculine men’ and ‘feminine women’ as normal. That is, we expect
...before oldest over ounger sibling even though Dany becomes stronger than Viserys. When this s shown with the Dothraki culture it shows the same hierarchies do not show in certain cultures. When Khal dies, she loses everything that connects her to the men and her days of being superior over these men are done.
Cross-cultural research has shown that rape is most common in cultures that are dominated by males and violence. This means cultures in which males dominate the political decisions and cultures adhering to the male ideology of toughness, interpersonal violence and war (Groth 7). In a culture of people with more traditional or sexist gender role, attitudes are more tolerant of rape than are people with more nontraditional attitudes. Traditional men are more likely to report that they would commit rape if they knew they would not be caught; some researchers have found that a traditional man is much more likely to commit a rape than a nontraditional man is. Many attitudes in our culture perpetuate rape, for example: A husband is entitled to have sex with his wife," "A 'real man' never passes up a chance to have sex," and, "A women who 'leads a man on' deserves what she gets (Growth 7). “ Some media depictions may promote rape. Many movies make violence appear attractive and some movies convey myths about rape. Such as slasher films that make violence seem exciting, or movies suggesting that women like to be forced to have sex or that women's only value...
Hunt, Margaret R. The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and Family in England, 1680-1780. London: University of California Press, 1996
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. (Vogelman) This socialization process is changing, but slowly.
Wood, J.T. (1999). Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture, Third Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “women secretly enjoy rape,” from a historical perspective, can lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Much stems back to the idea that women are still seen as the property of men, and are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men a...
Kendal, Diana. "Sex and Gender." Sociology in Our Times 3.Ed. Joanna Cotton. Scarborough: Nelson Thomson, 2004. 339-367
Landers, Robert K. "Should women be allowed into combat?" Congressional Quarterly Inc. 13 Oct., Vol. 2, No. 14, pp. 570-582