Sans Everything
Spoilers & Triggers
So, Sansa and Ramsey.
Well, it was totally necessary because it shows rape is bad, which we didn’t already know…
Oh, hang on, we did.
Well, some people don’t understand how bad rape is, and this’ll make them see that they were wrong…
Oh no, hang on, it proably won’t.
Well, it was necessary for the plot.
Er… no. And even if it had been, plots are things people make, not things that grow by themselves.
But it was in the book, wasn’t it?
Um… no, it wasn’t. In fact they had to rewrite the storyline from the books quite extensively to make it possible. And even if it had been in the book, that wouldn’t bind them to include it.
But at least it was germaine to the text, like the rape scene in, say, The Accused…
Umm… except that this is a show about dragons and magic in a fairytale kingdom.
But at least it shows the horrors of the treatment of women in the middle ages…
Except that this show isn’t set in the middle ages in the real world…
But, being set in a fictionalised version of the middle ages, the show has a mandate to cover medieval misogyny…
Um, no. Not necessarily.
Well, at least it’s broaching a topic it’s been silent about up until now?
Except that it hasn’t been. In fact, it’s looked at violence against women, sexual or otherwise, in what some might say is pitilessly and cynically unnecessary depth and detail.
But it handled it tastefully and unsensationally and in a way that nobody could possibly get off on watching in any kind of creepy, woman-hating way…
Um…
But it at least advanced the characters’ progress towards… er…
Well, at least it told us stuff we didn’t know about the characters, like Ramsey’s a sadist and a misogynist, and Sansa can put up with cruel treatment.
Um…
Well, it’s good for headlines and ratings, so that justifies it. I guess.
Er…
Well, it was edgy. ZOMG, they are so hardcore and dark, man. Yay for them.…