Please note that the following contains spoilers for Game of Thrones. If you didn't see last night's episode, stop reading now.
Last night's episode of Game of Thrones, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," proved shocking to many fans of the series, as well as fans of the books HBO based the series on.
One scene from that episode proved so controversial that it's still a major point of discussion on the Internet this morning.
Last night, we saw the unthinkable happen: we saw Sansa Stark get raped by her husband, the cruel Ramsay Bolton, while her childhood friend Theon Greyjoy, aka Reek, watches.
And although Game of Thrones is no stranger to plots involving rape, this scene was completely uncalled for. Here's why.
The Sansa/Ramsay union doesn't happen in the books
HBO has shown this season that it's straying away from the A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin, the basis for the series. In A Dance With Dragons, it's Jeyne Poole (disguised as Arya Stark) who marries Ramsay Bolton, not Sansa Stark. But for some reason, HBO felt that they didn't want to add that extra character and that Sansa belongs back at Winterfell.
Sansa should be at Winterfell, as it's her home, but ever since Littlefinger arranged her marriage to Ramsay Bolton, the story for her felt forced, as if HBO needed to make her more interesting.
Unfortunately, that marriage happened in last night's episode and the word "forced" takes on a whole new meaning now. The rape on her wedding night doesn't coincide with the Sansa we know from the books, who retains her virginity there.
Of course, Martin defends HBO's choices in a recent post on his blog.
Rape is not a way to strengthen a character
Why does HBO feel that rape is something that defines a female character? It seems that the series depends on rape to make women stronger, although the story of Arya shows that such a lazy storytelling device isn't needed. Women can become greater and stronger in a variety of ways without having been raped.
At this point, HBO has shown us so much rape that it's second nature to viewers of Game of Thrones, so even the brutality of what happened to Sansa becomes lessened because of that. We've already seen this storyline with Daenerys Targaryen, who was also raped on her wedding night.
Here's an idea, HBO: give Sansa a dagger and have her put it through Ramsay's heart. That will strengthen her character.
Sansa showed strength and resolve in the same episode
In last night's episode, before the scene in question, Sansa showed strength when questioned by one of Ramsay's lovers. We see a strength in her that reminds us a lot of her mother, who wouldn't have married Ramsay to begin with.
But in the next scene, Sansa agrees to the marriage, even after having done this twice already, even after learning about Ramsay's cruelty, and then does absolutely nothing to protect herself from the rape.
How does this even make sense? It seems the writers are on the fence about the character, but, again, they believed that having her raped will make her even stronger. There's a strange dichotomy here that makes the rape scene entirely unnecessary.
Wouldn't it make more sense to show more similarity between Arya and Sansa's journeys to womanhood?
HBO went for the shock value over storytelling
Let's face it, Game of Thrones has relied heavily upon the shock value, especially when it comes to violence against women. In fact, it's almost like a broken record: woman gets raped, woman overcomes it and becomes strong because that's apparently the only way the woman can find her inner strength.
We're discussing this scene today because of its shock value, and that guarantees viewers will watch again next week. And that's the sad reality of the situation: the shock value works.
But isn't the series good enough without all the rapey bits? We're not Ramsay Bolton: we don't get bored when women don't get raped in each episode.
[Photo Credit: HBO]
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
