Please note that the following contains spoilers for Sunday night's episode of Game of Thrones. If you haven't seen it yet, you've been warned.
Sunday night's episode of Game of Thrones left such a bad taste in some folks' mouths that they've completely given up on the series.
Now, pop and geek culture website The Mary Sue has announced that it, too, is giving up on Game of Thrones and will no longer cover or promote anything related to the HBO series.
This announcement comes after the most recent episode's shocking last scene that depicted Sansa Stark's rape by Ramsay Bolton, while Theon Greyjoy watched. It wasn't that the scene was brutal, but according to many, including The Mary Sue, it was an entirely unnecessary plot device.
Those who watch Game of Thrones know that rape and sexual assault are part of the show's setting: it's a brutal world for women within the series. But the rape of Sansa was perhaps a bit too much, according to The Mary Sue's writers and editors.
"The show has creators," writes Jill Pantozzi, The Mary Sue's editor in chief. "They make the choices. They chose to use rape as a plot device. Again."
Pantozzi also stated that "using rape as the impetus for character motivations is one of the most problematic tropes in fiction." When considering Game of Thrones and how often a plot involving rape comes up in strengthening or motivating a character, she's not entirely wrong. With Sansa, in particular, we have a character that's finally coming into her strength and power, but the writers not only "cut her off at the knees," but they decided to focus more on how the scene affected Theon than Sansa.
"There's only so many times you can be disgusted with something you love before you literally can't bring yourself to look at it anymore," writes Pantozzi. "That is where I currently find myself in relation to Game of Thrones. The staff of The Mary Sue feels the same. You may feel differently."
The Mary Sue has now chosen to not post anything related to the show, including photos, news, episode recaps or any other type of coverage that may come up. In her article, Pantozzi apologizes to the cast and crew of Game of Thrones, as well as to readers looking for news about the series. However, the site will no longer support a series "which no longer meets our needs as fans."
The Mary Sue isn't alone in their disgust. Many fans of the series have stated similar opinions and HBO will probably lose viewers over that scene. The show has always straddled a fine line in its depiction of violence against women, but it seems that this time, HBO finally crossed that line and went too far.
[Photo Credit: HBO]
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