From poison pen to fantasy ; we have gone from alternate facts to alternate reality . I enjoy GOT but it is just that ; a drama full of fantasy . Perhaps that is the problem , we are playing political drama full of fantasy that seems to permeate the American psyche ; falling into Donald Trump's alternate universe full of lies , chicanery , and bad actors with the rest of the characters playing supporting roles , too wrapped up in their parts to deal with the peasants .
7
Really? . . . with Netanyahu and Trump wrecking the world and destroying democracy, you are going to write about the Game of Thrones?
Come on Maureen, refocus on real life and go after Trump like you did the Clinton’s and Obama unless you are scared of him.
22
HERE BE THE CELEBRITY HYPE
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT CGI
George R.R. Martin thanks a big fat lot for distracting us from
our political and cultural nightmare.
7
How about getting your head out of the TV and into life...real life. I know it's currently fraught with problems but too many ignore the sinking ship of state and are engaged in rearranging the deck chairs. Too many escape reality and don't face the real dragons of our lives. Drugs, nightclubs, internet, all are distractors, and can be if kept in their place.
I don't have cable, don't want it, spend most the year away from any tv as I did while in college. Life is full of whatever you place your attention to.
8
We need more dragons...
14
Shows like GOT provide cheap gaudy entertainment -- making cruel psychologically misshapen "leaders" appear shiny and strong -- however they do more harm than good and portray bad behaviors as justified. They mirror rare people in our current world, but ultimately forge our society's future by deeming them acceptable. Because of such shows, our culture has been on a downward spiral.
Ancient Rome self-destructed due to its insatiable thirst for blood-games (the Roman Colosseum was vast entertainment, where humans were literally and brutally ripped apart) and for sexual indiscretions (the Roman bath-houses and orgies, where sex and child-rape of "slave" children was common and accepted). They raised rulers like Nero and Caligula, because social sense had eroded.
We are in a similar downward spiral, driven by the entertainment industry's lascivious offerings. Their "entertainment" make acceptable and comfortable such ruthless characters as Cersei. They mis-shape minds of young adults, to accept her crimes as justified and emulate-able. We see fewer & fewer positive role-models, yet many wanton negative role-models.
I am against such shows. With glitz, they showcase a facet of people we ought not flaunt under the guise of "social edutainment".
Such shows distort and misshape our moral compass. They make corrupt power-hungry selfish leaders seem acceptable. They justify their crimes.
Ergo ivanka trump.
Ergo jared kushner.
Ergo unemotional mitch mcconnell.
Ergo donnie trump.
17
I prefer Dowd's writing about Game of Thrones to her writing about Hillary Clinton.
20
And in an exciting turn of events, several conservative Republican women emerge to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican party's 2020 nomination. They allege that Trump's incompetence and his childish, abusive, misogynistic, bullying behavior makes him unfit for the office of president!
Well, if what you are saying about powerful women is true....
4
I haven’t been watching GOT, but after reading this rather good article and some of the more screechy responses, I think I’ll make a point of it.
Honestly, some people act like their fine art were as prissy as they are, and they’d never even heard of “Oedipus Rex,” or “Macbeth,” or, “Buried Child,” or, “A Very Very Very Dark Matter,” let alone “Huck Finn,” and “Gravity’s Rainbow,” and “Ariel,” and “Book of Nightmares,” and all the rest. I ain’t even mentioning, say, Francis Bacon or Roualt or “Guernica.”
Ahura-mazda knows what’d happen if they hadda sit down and watch, say, Julie Taymor’s “Titus Andronicus.”
High art, schmigh art.
And then there’s the yelling at women, Dowd included, by the very people who sat on their hands while Hillary Clinton was running, cheerfully promoting the same stereotypes they’re now retreating into, and desperately trying to get their hands scrubbed clean.
18
"Cersei is narcissistic, sociopathic and driven by her obsessions."
Sounds like she is fit to run for high office. Very high office.
9
Are our dragons Nancy Pelosi, AOC and Katie Porter? And which of the women running for the White House has the grit of Emilia Clarke to lead them?
7
Thank you Ms. Clarke and Ms. Dowd: you made my day with the picture you planted in my poor, aggrieved brain of Khaleesi's dragons torching our own mad king. Of course I'd never want actual harm to come to anyone, but that picture did put a smile on my face.
6
If our Donald was like King Joffrey we would be in real trouble. Thank goodness he is more like Don(ald) Quixote battling the cancerous effects of windmills...
There is some consolation in that, I suppose...
5
I have a love and hate relationship with GOT. It is show with compelling storylines but I find its gratuitous use of rape, violence and gore troubling. Particularly troubling is its demeaning treatment of women who are repeatedly brutalised, raped and pillaged in graphic details. Yes, the show does eventually show a few strong women emerging triumphant from misery but did we really have to endure the graphic details for that to happen.
As for the issue of wardrobe choices of Nancy Pelosi, Jacinda Ardern and AOC, it is false equivalence to suggest that they have been in any way treated like the women on GOT. When people question Nancy Pelosi (or any other politico) parading around in $10k designer coats, they are questioning a ‘public servant’s’ poor judgment in ostentatious display. And, Jacinda Ardern’s use of head scarf is questioned for her pandering to identity and racial politics because there is no reason why she can’t express her sympathy and feelings without resorting to use of head scarf which is a symbol of repression that many women in Islamic societies have long fought against. There have been plenty of strong women leaders throughout history from Golda Meir to Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher who didn’t have to resort to these cheap gimmicks to show their strength. Compared to them, likes of Nancy Pelosi, AOC and Jacinda Ardern are pygmies.
7
Jeez. Who really cares for this idiotic series. It has gone overboard with CGI dragons, (severely gratuitous violence, and just about anything else these moronic writers have come up with.
I could care less what happens in their last (thank god) season...
Watch something a little more, well, intelligent okay? For example, look at the film "Arrival" (2016), by the truly brilliant director, Denis Villeneuve (pronounced Den-ee Vill-nuu), or "Deni", as his friends call him. It is the best film I have seen in 3 years, bar none.
4
Spin it however you want, but the NYT's op-ed columnist has been sucked into another Hollywood promotion.
6
Maureen, you have written some great columns recently. Thank you for using your wonderful writing skills to compare GOT (Game of Thrones) with our new GOT (Game of Trump). He'll be taken down, soon, I hope, by dragons or White Walkers, or just plain fed up humans!
5
Don't write off Yara Greyjoy.
5
Having never watched this show, none of the commentary is meaningful to me. I don't understand the references or the parallels or anything else. Moreover, I don't really care.
Sadly, I fear that my reaction to this piece is all too often the general public's reaction to true political reporting and opinion writing. Too many are divorced from reality and have no clue of what is happening all around them. Comprehending intellectual discussion of our situation is not possible when a basic background is lacking. Just like I have no concept of or interest in the Seven Kingdoms or Daenerys.
3
Oh good lord (and lady, whatever)! I already liked Emilia Clarke enough already before I read this piece.
And now I like and respect her even more. It's just not fair! There are indeed few to whom I would bend the knee, but I'd consider it for her.
(And when I say "few," there has been in fact only one that I have met in my long life, and he may come as a bit of a surprise -- Jimmy Carter. His only flaw was that he had a depth of kindness in his soul that prevented him from ever being cruel, even in his own interests.)
3
Gemli, I take it, by your comment, that you are a Democrat. All right, I understand that you do not like Mr. Trump and perhaps hate him. All well and good. However, please note that the American economy continues to soar with record low unemployment and record employment.
The Democrats, in order to have a chance in the election leading to 2020, are going to have to abandon identity politics, pie-in-the-sky platforms, and general hatred of Mr. Trump and convince the US population that they can perform as well as has MAGA. However, I must say that watching you consume each other is quite a show.
3
Stock characters and stereotypes aplenty. Wooden dialogue. Suffered through the first season and did a Threxit. Sounds, though, like the 'empowered' women on the show continue to use the same path to that power as men have long done.
Yawn.
7
Not a mention of evil Queen Hillary in a real Game of Thrones mortal combat. Why not? Is it because the hard working, intelligent, loyal spouse of a panderer just did not measure up to her immoral, tv watching Fox tv, golf cheating liar, spinner of tall tales, rival. Just maybe the Evil Queen had too much decency to overcome an encyclopedia of rumor* pizzagate horror fiction for one *, shibboleths and Dowdian media attacks from Fox and others. No, Queen Hillary did not match the cruelty, lack of morality, bombastic claims, Comey and foreign allies tipping the scales( so what if she got more votes). The Evil Queen had neither fate, luck or mendacity on her side demanded to win in the Throne Game and thus not a mention by Maureen
Hmmmm another contender on the scene? Nancy. Not a presidential candidate but a slayer of evil? We'll see.
3
Does Dowd believe no one follows the links in her pieces? I found one about AOC "lancing hordes of Twitter trolls" hard to believe, and all I found was Dowd referencing a previous op ed with little about AOC and whatever trolls she was supposed to be "lancing".
Generally when I here about AOC and Twitter, it's about some ignorant tweet of hers that gets roasted. See her tweet about the 22nd amendment for a recent example.
As for Ardern's trigger happy ban on semi-auto rifles, the best analysis of that is that terrorism works. As an example of the tyranny of the majority it's hard to top.
As for GOT, unless you subscribe to HBO or share someone's password or pay $3/episode elsewhere, you don't watch it.
5
We can’t all afford HBO, Ms Dowd.
1
I get it that people get wrapped up in stories. It's a deep human instinct.
But this mismash of cultural and political commentary seems like a huge waste of highly coveted opinion space at the NY Times.
Don't we already have more than enough confusion between reality and fantasy with the current terrible excuse for a 'president'?? Enough already!
6
In the last two seasons, it seems like every time the good guys got into a battle, they were overwhelmed and just about to lose until unexpected help arrives. This happened at Westeros, the Wall, and Winterfell.
Those dumb guys can't seem to get anything right. They don't realize it, but they always need a buddy to bail them out.
I predict that it will happen again. There will be an epic battle against the White Walkers. However, remember the dragon that was killed and turned into a flying version of a White Walker? Just as the good guys are about to lose, Daenerys will face that dragon and cause it to turn on the White Walkers. This action will save them, and therefore and save the world.
In the end, the men will need the women to use their powers of love and compassion to save them. However, there's a catch; some sin of Cersei's (hesitation or double dealing) will probably be the reason that they were losing in the first place.
i blame Game of Thrones for portending, if not causing, Trump.
i couldnt get past the first episode - from 2011 - just after the Great Recession - in which beheadings and graphic incestuous sex, in front of children, were normalized.
if you thought the world of 'No Drama' Obama, of Merkel was studied, careful, boring place, heck , you got to escape to a dystopian fantasy, filled with ,gratuitous sex, violence and intrigue, Game of Groans, where everyone was out for themselves, for survival in wicked, brutal world .
Little surprise then, that few years later, a reality show star, a narcissist, with a thuggish family and associates, exemplifying the lowest common demoninator of sex, money and power suddenly became the Father of Dragons. He just gave what the people wanted, even if they said they didnt.
2
It isn't Maureen Dowd's fault that I don't know what she's talking about because I didn't watch enough tv and she isn't the only columnist to explain the world using tv shows as examples. It seems that tv and movies have become the shared experience that rises above partisanship. Democrats and Republicans both watch the same tv shows so if the human understanding is lacking in other areas of existence at least we can all agree on the plots of mass entertainment shows.
Bring your dragons, Ms. Clarke!
There are dragons in our world as well. They live in the ocean of populism and they can be conjured up by any who know the proper words and who have the media magic. These dragons have overwhelming power but they have no wisdom, they are creatures of our uncontrolled impulses and they can surprise us with their power. Sometimes they are good dragons such as when they handed over a corrupt capitalist plutocracy to FDR's democratic vision in 1932. Sometimes they are bad dragons as when they burned Hillary's dreams into ashes in 2016 and installed a mad king to wreck the country for generations.
The real lesson of Game of Thrones is that the good can die and the bad can live and the fate of countries is never what we wish; that we struggle together in a game we can not understand or control. And while good dragons may be out there it is better to make plans to survive without them and prepare for the cold that is soon to arrive. It is not worth taking the time to be afraid, it is better to plan on living and getting ready for the fight. Winter is coming.
2
Shameless Game of Thrones afficiando here and consumer of fantasy fiction. Martin’s books are vast in scope and sometimes meandering but the show reigns them in, I think in a compelling and gorgeously rendered way. The cast is artfully chosen and Emilia Clarke has embodied Daenerys. It was a shock to learn what she had to face in her young life and her determination to hold on to her cognitive and verbal skills. Huge credit also to be given to the producers for standing by her recovery. That being said, so long as Daenerys is fighting the villainous Night King her Dragon Power is acceptable, yet turning it to dominate the domestic struggle against armies in Westeros, it is suggested she may be crossing the line into abuse of power, even though countless pointless slaughter has occurred between armies of men. Daenerys has admitted without their dragons, Targaryens are nothing. Now that she has lost one to the dark side, her evolution will be fascinating to learn. Is Westeros even capable of peace? In the meantime: “DRACARYS!”
3
Can we just leave politics out of something anything. It’s a fun show just let it be that. Good woman evil woman good men evil men nothing here. Season 8 I can’t wait
Interesting how many people who don’t or won’t watch GoT read and commented on this article, probably peering down their noses!
6
We should aim to view people on their merits as people, not as women or black or gay, but as people. Why the continued fascination with how everyone measures up to white, heterosexual men? That constant measurement is demeaning and promotes inequality. That said, isn’t it a bit of a reach to seek meaning in a fantasy TV program that was, not so long ago, criticized for its frequent depictions of rape?
My mother who birthed, nurtured and raised eight dragons pretty much on her own would have one word for this article and the subject it's based on.
"Tripe"
2
Based on this article by Maureen Dowd, it does not sound like I have missed anything by not having seen a single episode of this program called "Game of Thrones."
Life does not revolve around the inanities of television.
3
Oh right, GOT season 8 is coming soon.
oh, Daenerys Stromborn, mother of dragons, if I didn't love you before I sure do now!!
1
'She says that when she gets asked by feminists, “Why did you take off your clothes for television?” she can’t help but think, what the hell? “I just killed all the dudes!”'
I'm sorry, but this doesn't make sense to me.
The writers wrote the script so that your character kills male characters. How does that make it okay for you to take off your clothes for the audience?
5
Two women will determine the fate of Westeros and the rest of the GOT world. Here's how I predict that will happen:
Remember the dragon that was killed and turned into a flying white walker? There will be an epic battle between the men and the white walkers. The men will be weakened by the self-serving actions of Cersei, but Daenerys confront the the zombie dragon and convince it to commit one last act of loyalty to her. However she will have to sacrifice something she holds dear, and the dragon will be destroyed, possibly taking the ice king and his army with it.
Will Daenerys' sacrifice overcome the effects of Cersei's lust for power, thus allowing that humans to survive the harsh winter to come? We'll have to wait for the final episode to find out.
1
@mlbex: "... will confront the zombie dragon..."
Game of Thrones?
Seems like Mo has finally run out of subjects to write about!
5
@JG
You mean besides the Clinton's?
5
@JG But at least she didn't tear the women of GOT apart as she is wont to do in real life.
2
Fantasy has finally overtaken reality. From "You Lie" to "Build the Wall", it doesn't matter what actually is happening, or what we actually need. The fantasy of hoards of invaders, takers, welfare queens and wind power generators must be fought off with the full armor of lies and a broadsword of a bully. There are no dragons or heroes coming to save us from those who would enslave us in inequality and a barren economy. There is only us.
149
@Zeke27
"The Wall" has taken on several meanings, right? I don't care how many people watch this; it's still pablum and very poorly written.
Also, who truly cares about Emelia Clarke? Really. She is so tiny, she could be a jockey; in fact, she is a jockey, of a mechanical "head" with a CGI body of a "dragon".
There are millions of people starving to death, and homeless refugees in Syria, Nigeria and Somalia; just to name a few.
Lena Headey, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Nicolai Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage and Jason Momoa. They are all very talented actors; some of them truly excellent, like Dillane, Dance and Headey.
The other thousand or so actors in this series are fair to good; most are not. Sean Bean is very good, with along resume; however, he was only in the first season.
Jason Momoa is actually not just some big lug. He is quite talented, and like Sean Bean, hardly appeared in the series.
My point? As Ms. Clarke is well known, fans of this show sympathize with her; much more than the tens of millions of other people on the planet who have died, and will continue to die of AIDS, cancer, heart, lung and kidney diseases.
Drug overdoses, liver disease (primarily from alcoholism and Hepatitis C) plus lung cancer from smoking have also killed and will continue to kill tens of millions more.
Lastly, obesity or morbid obesity is insanely high in the US.
Once you lose your family, and virtually all of your friends to these or other diseases, you will understand.
4
Yeah, the abuse and rape of women is so empowering!
7
Love Emilia Clarke and have always rooted for the Mother of Dragons. Only wish that among Kirsten, Kamala, Amy, and Elizabeth there was her equal. Elizabeth is more dragon than Mother; Amy more Arya, especially with her aides; Kamala more Cersei with her cruel criminal justice record; and Kirsten more Samsa with her fierce feminine. So far the real Mother of Dragons seems to be Nancy and her band of AOC, Rashida and Ihlan, and maybe she's all we really need finally to GOT (Get Out Trump).
82
@Paul Wortman
Grow up, please. GOT, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Transformers etc. are (for the most part) tired and weak films. The first episode or film may be interesting or good; however, they have gone beyond ridiculous with so many subsequent films.
The worst is the Fast and Furious series. I mean, 8 (or is it 9?) films of clueless, dumb, no acting ability films; however, the studios have made hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars in profits on this woeful series of films. They should have stopped when Paul Walker died while riding in a car that was travelling over 100 mph just prior to the crash. Whatever; it was tragic.
That noted, did the series end out of respect? Of course not. I don't care how or what any of the cast, crew or studio executives rationalized it, they absolutely should have stopped.
Instead, here comes Jay Vincent/I mean Vin Diesel, invariably wearing a t shirt to expose big biceps. Listen to me: he wouldn't make a patch on Steve McQueen's trousers.
I do think Michelle Rodriguez is very talented; ever since I saw her in "Girlfight" (2000). Now Gal Gadot is "Wonder Woman". I would like to see Ms. Gadot and Mr. "Diesel" in a REAL fight with Gina Carano; An MMA superstar. Veteran director Steven Soderbergh saw her fighting. She had not acted before. He built a film around her: "Haywire" (2011), casting Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas. She was brilliant; and the film was very good.
3
The women’s movement is in bad shape if you have to rely on this TV show.
How can anyone that went to college watch this stuff?
6
"Game of Thrones" is thrilling fantasy..enthralling escapism..intoxicating entertainment. 'Game of Trump' is terrifying reality..a nightmare to escape..the sadistic revel of unleashed demons.
The "Game of Thrones" reveals the power of the powerful, 'Game of Trump' reveals the power of the powerless.
"Game of Thrones" reminds us that the age old lesson, "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," applies to women as well as men. History is replete with the abuses of tyrannical rulers who gained power through ruthlessness.
The 'Game of Trump' reveals the dangers of democracy to choose tyrannical rulers. Responsible, considerate people sharing power to govern themselves is a noble ideal, but not all people are responsible or considerate (and by considerate we mean thoughtful, careful, mindful).
'Game of Trump' unveils a bitter truth about America: too many Americans are oppressed, angry, biased, fearful, vengeful, easily misled, misinformed, poorly educated, ignorant of civics, unprincipled, irresponsible, lacking a moral compass. Democracy empowers these people to choose who to give power to.
Trump was corrupted by the power of money and fame before gaining the power of the presidency. He abuses presidential powers. He is corrupted absolutely. Most of us know that without needing to see the Mueller report but we must be mindful of the many Americans who refuse truth or are incapable of recognizing truth. That is the existential danger of democracy.
102
@JABarry
You have accurately capsulized the paradox of self government. No need to spend ones life reading political philosophers from Plato to Pogo. With few exceptions, they reached the same conclusion as you.
9
Things have gotten so bad that we have a columnist for the New York Times basing her thinking and analysis on a television show. Game of Thrones is not real. It’s not even about anything recognizably real. It’s about a pretend place, with pretend characters. The one Dowd admires most gives birth to dragons. God help us all.
2
A platform like this to write profiles of television celebrities? Has Vanity Fair gone out of business?
4
It's a TV Show.
4
An apt comparison from Ms. Dowd regarding the rise of women in the fantasy worlds of television and politics. It is not hard to imagine Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stepping in for Ms. Clarke to play Daenerys or Nancy Pelosi to play Cersei or the Red Queen. But where in the GoT series is a counterpart for such as Elizabeth Warren, someone who wields power stemming from the value of her ideas?
56
"She says that the cunning women of “Game of Thrones” have been shunted aside by fathers, husbands and brothers, "
That applies to Cersei and Danny, but not to the Stark women, whose male relatives were murdered or sent into exile. And Ramsey was scarcely a typical husband. Clarke is trying to twist the story around to fit her political thesis.
1
Please remember that it is men who are deciding how aggressive these women are. Because, after all, it's a T.V. show. The men, a.k.a. Producers, Writers, and Directors actually make the show and decide how the characters act. So actually Game of Thrones is an analogy of how men let women act. By the way, on a personal note, I hope that when I actually do see an episode, it isn't as big a let down as the first time I saw a Sopranos episode. After a decade of pure hype I watched the first episode, and it stunk.
4
Raises the serious question; is having a female head of state who is as egotistical, power hungry, and brutal any male really a step forward? Or is the fact that she is a woman "trump" any character issue?
3
The " Mother of Dragons" is merely Jane playing Tarzan. An all to familiar American canard and trope.
Tarzan is white European American Judeo-Christian male America's all time favorite hero. Tarzan, Jane and Boy are all white and closer to the animals than the black Africans. Instead of a human black sidekick they have a baby chimpanzee named Cheetah.
Whatever the subject or the identity of the star they keep remaking Tarzan. From John Wayne and Erroll Flynn in Clint Eastwood, Charles Bromson and Sylvester Stallone to Robert Redford and Kevin Costmer to Brad Pitt and Bradley Cooper white men are better than any and everyone all of the time eveywhere in every thing.
And the history of white European Judeo- Christian males as told from their perspective is one where the superiority and supremacy is proven by American history.
After all who was enslaved and made separate and unequal in America?
And who invaded and occupied and killed and stole from who in America?
In Game of Thrones black people are sent to the ghetto of the castrated Unsullied warrior caste or the black maid helper slave of the Mother of Dragons. The blackest people in GOT are the barbarian raiders played by Polynesians.
Wonder Woman is played by a bigoted former Israeli Zionist Jewish terrorist aka Israel Defense Force. No role for Lupita Nyong'o. The Dahomey Amazons were as real as Queen Nzinga of Congo. If black people want their own heroes they will have to create them.
4
@Blackmamba, I always like reading your comments, you always bring a fresh perspective. I'd like to mention that Mahershala Ali, is perhaps the finest actor working today, either in TV or Big screen. The characters he portraits are fleshed out, real and easy to empathize with, he inhabits each role with such style, he makes it look easy. Which we all know that acting is anything but easy. Also, thanks for the tip on Henry O. Tanner, excellent reference, and exceptional painter! Sincerely, DPK
2
I’d point out that GOT is about a world that isn’t like ours, one in which race is constructed differently, but I’d rather ask if you’ve ever seen a “Tarzan” movie that was remotely as popular as this show or “Black Panther,” and also ask if you’ve ever actually sat down and WATCHED “The Searchers,” or “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” or “A Perfect World,” or, “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” or any of the rest.
Here’s a thought: taking the same only binary opposition that’s half the ideological problem in the first place, flipping it over, installing yourself on top, and hurling adjectives at your new-found inferiors, changes precisely jack that’s worth changing.
In fact, it’s emblematic of the réssentiment that accompanies what Nietszche correctly called, “slave mentality,” and very little different from what animates Trumpism.
Maybe just watch the show and try to see what’s really just there.
4
Game of Thrones is, by far, the best and most complex series ever made for TV. Looking forward to the final season. And, once Khalessi has wrapped things up - she can release the dragons on Washington. It’s time a woman was in the White House, I’ll take Daenerys Targaryen over Donald Trump any day. As far as I know, the Mother Of Dragons is not on Twitter. Nor does she wear a Make Kings Landing Great Again attire. Plus, let’s face it, she has never had a bad hair day. Targaryen / Snow in 2020!
3
More of this sort of focus on real women and what they do with power. Not women who imitate males, or smart charming actresses.
1
Maureen Dowd’s insistence on interpreting the contemporary American political scene through the lens of popular culture is rather puzzling. Game of Thrones may entertain, but it is revenue-generating fantasy claptrap. Emilia Clarke, however, comes across as an intelligent, courageous woman.
Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, and Benazir Bhutto were formidable women who led their nations during periods of tremendous sectarian violence—without much fanfare about their gender. Ghandi and Bhutto hailed from political dynasties and were assassinated, as was Indira’s son Rajiv. Ghandi and Meir were referred to as “Iron Ladies,” while David Ben-Gurion called Meir “the best man in the government.”
The United Kingdom’s Margaret Thatcher, too, was an Iron Lady. Embattled Theresa May is stuck between Corbyn’s watchful opportunism and the willful mulishness of her own Party’s reactionaries, but Mrs. May and the British media do not cast her opponents as condescending sexists.
The world’s innumerable female leaders did not expect to be chosen because of their gender. New Zealand’s youthful Jacinda Ardern, who has forged a uniquely charismatic womanly style, is prominent among them.
The Americans most capable of carrying this torch are Nikki Haley and Tulsi Gabbard, young women at least as articulate and charismatic as Pete Buttigieg.
“Now it’s time for Clarke to slip into a Valentino gray tulle.” We all know by now this is what truly bewitches Ms. Dowd.
Solidarity, not “intersectionality.”
14
@Andrew Shin All good points about real, powerful women. However, you too easily dismiss the power of fiction/literature to speak to issues in ways that history and reality may not.
Yes, Game of Thrones is entertainment. Yes, it's "revenue-generating fantasy." But how many people who are entertained by it and drawn into its popularity, and who might never pick up a newspaper or realize how real women in powerful positions operate, WILL start to make the connection through fictional worlds?
True, not all of them will move beyond the fiction to make connections to reality, but some will. Sometimes fiction is the way in to making sense of our reality.
10
Can this show just go away?
7
Thinking about this administration in relation to GOT I’ve been trying to decide who has taken the role of Little Finger. Plenty of possibilities, just not the obvious one who’s not smart enough.
2
A lot of fantasy and traumatized people here, including Dowd, who tends to forget that she despised Hillary more than the Donald before the election. Great judgment call. Too late now for imaginary dragons.
Democracy is not about heroes. Justice is not about killing abusive humans in your imagination. Just vote.
6
@Funky Irishman. How many women have ever started a WAR?????
1
GOT has a mad king, Aerys Targaryen, who is dead before the series begins. Jaime Lannister killed the mad king because he was such a terrible ruler, and not because Lannister himself was seeking to ascend the throne. Nearly every other killing in the series is in pursuit of power. Throughout the series, the mad king's reign is treated as illegitimate because of the manner in which the mad king ruled, and not because of any suggestion that the mad king acquired the throne wrongfully. GOT premiered in 2011, and so the analogy is coincidental.
11
“And then I’d come along with my dragons.”
Ahhhh, if only ...
1
Game of Thrones is lushly boring; it is a really dumbed down, ‘R’ rated version of Shakespeare and Lord of the Rings that plays for the cheap seats. I think this column was reaching to make a feminist empowerment statement.
But at least she didn’t mention the Clintons.
7
Yes! We needs the dragons to rid of us this pestilence!
2
“parallels the heady whoosh of women leaders rising around the globe in the last couple of years.”
Oh yeah? Like, where?
4
@Gurbie
Actually read the article, she provided several examples.
1
Winter has most certainly come in the US (global warming aside). We could use Daenerys and her dragons!
4
And you , Maureen, there on the sad heights, —-do no not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, at the dying of the light.
1
Dirt, grit, and violence. Run by powerful women. Dragons?
At the time, I found it interesting that adults were reading Harry Potter. And a generation or two before, I guess they read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.
I watched - vicariously - some of the stuff my grandson was watching on his smart phone (a boy whose politically-correct parents abhor violence and decry even the image of a gun). It was sort of a grand-theft-auto animated fantasy where a loner haute bourgeois hero - in his one-person family suburban villa - drove around recklessly in fast cars and committed not-very-interesting atrocities. But, my grandson loved it.
Raymond Chandler observed that Dashiell Hammett drug murder from the drawing room, back down into the gutter where it belonged. And, I don't member any dragons peeking their heads out of the sewer grates there. It was a real gutter with real blood and guts. And there were powerful women in spades (Brigid O'Shaughnessy - Miss Wonderly). They carved you up and had you on toast for breakfast. And you didn't even notice it was happening - until it was too late.
Is our Game of Thrones retreat into fantasy a constructive attempt to resolve central conflicts? Or is it just a reflection of our trite, lowest-common-denominator, intellectually-bankrupt American culture that is epitomized by our great white leader, Senor Trump, who would have lasted "Annoying, probably quite a long time," in our new adult-child digitized reality?
15
I, for at least one, think two women on the Democratic ticket is the only way to beat Trump. My vote, Kamala Harris with Warren as VP. No white guy is going to win against Trump. Trump's got white guys sewed up.
@Jay Sonoma
Not this "white guy"!
And if Dems want to win, they will choose candidates from red states because they've already got the vote locked up in the blue states!
Abrams/Buttigieg?
1
Bring those dragons to Washington please. Fly fast!
4
Do serious people watch these shows?
4
@dbl06
Well, Obama was a huge Thrones fan.
1
@dbl06
Absolutely. You really have no need for well-written and amazingly produced escapism, ever?
2
After reading this article, I was left wondering if Ms Dowd is running out of inspiration.
3
Adults watch this show? Really?
5
There was one mad Targareon it was not a dynasty of madmen
1
Yes, dragons. Please. Soonest possible.
2
Thinking about @gemli's powerfully penned wish for a dragon: I see our vote as our own personal dragon. It seems small, just one vote, but it's the most powerful weapon we have.
Our vote is the only way we can take back the presidency to restore voting rights - protect the free press - defend the integrity of the Supreme Court and federal judicial system - protect our air, land and water from Trump's deregulated poisons and the devastation of climate change he denies - safeguard and expand access to healthcare for all in need - stop the threat to women's choice - restore public school funding - protect the right to marry who we love - stop the lethal dictator worship - bury white nationalism back under its rock - and take the Oval Office stamp of approval away from conspiracy terrorists like Alex Jones.
It's a lot to fight. It seems completely insurmountable. But your vote is ready to be the fighting dragon to save children caged with only tinfoil blankets at the border, and it's ready to restore dignity in Washington and respect around the world. It's ready. The question is: are we all ready?
Fight cleanly and enthusiastically by volunteering, donating, and canvassing for your candidate through the primaries - and then, after the Democratic nomination, do your duty to save our country:
Vote Blue, No Matter Who.
Our country depends on you.
4
Powerful women, yes, and for that, at least, we should be thankful. But they're all white. GoT missed an opportunity by keeping Missandei subservient to the Mother of Dragons.
3
We’ve haven’t seen what happens in the final season yet. Maybe you wish will be fulfilled. I predict Missandei and Grey Worm will win the Game of Thrones!
1
@Christine
It's not over yet.
1
Of course it's good that talented women are finding work in movies and TV, but let's not pretend they are engaging in something artistic, or participating in some kind of gender "empowerment."
It's just show biz fluff.
7
Maureen Dowd should have the Hollywood beat.
1
The NYT saw fit to include three glamour shots of Ms. Clarke's lovely face to accompany her thoughts. While women are struggling to "throw off hidebound expectations"; the NYT seems inclined to reinforce the status quo that a young woman looks are what counts.
6
@The Poet McTeagle
It’s hard to find an unglamorous picture of Emilia Clarke’s “lovely face.”
Give us your tired, your huddled dragons, yearning to breathe fire!
4
Given what I have learned about women in history, when we get a chance to rule, at first, we tend to be blood-thirstier than the men and then we settle down and rule quite magnificently.
18
@Jackie
I guess you forgot about Thatcher!
3
@Jackie
Fine if you want to be ruled.
2
Maybe we have this reversed? Maybe since Trump descended his escalator in June 2015 bullying that Mexicans were rapists, he was so rich and successful, and he was smarter than the generals, we Americans have been in a fantasy world. As abysmal and disgusting as Trumpism has washed our shores, maybe the Game of Thrones was the real thing we aspire for. Oh, just remorseful how our beloved America has descended into Hades itself.
6
This world has become so topsy-turvy, in so many ways, that I think it’s worth asking - can you please get trump with your dragons (and your steely self)? Or at least lend your fine beasts to Mayor Pete? I think we can bring down the monster, yes, we can.
3
Fantasy is fun. Life is serious.
I don't care about the gender of the Democrat who can restore the Republic... Klobuchar, Ryan, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper...
Of the Game of Thrones characters, Trump is most reminiscent of Littlefinger. He survived for quite a while, but his time will be up next year... I'm speaking of his reign, not anything else.
Dan Kravitz
1
it's true, maureen, once they killed off the preternaturally ripe esmé blanco and carice van houten got a full clothing contract, the dragons really are the only watchable things left on GoT.
those dragons! the crepitating scales and the fiery mayhem. although that green stuff the dwarf used to blow up ships in season two was pretty all right. hard to choose.
anyway, if emilia clarke only gets noticed when she's on the back of dragons -- i'm sorry, i'm still just looking at the dragons. now, if it was esmé blanco on those dragons i'd buy the whole season in two sets, because you *know* i'm going to wear one out with replays!
how can you be robbed of your good taste in men when you watch movies to learn how to "play a man's game" (whatever that is)? but hush now, this is a #MeToo burble about how women can dress in orange coats, write tweets and give speeches? man, those women have accomplished A lot ... way more than any ecdysiast.
wait -- am i wrong, or is the British politician who has thoroughly bodgered the Brexit deal a ... a ... woman? well, isn't mucking it up what men do best? that's what women have always told me, anyway, and i trust them!
so i guess women really have come a long way -- earth shaking power, in an exquisite and glowing orange Valentino tulle -- couture to the stars!
but somehow i still yearn for esmé on a dragon. a big dragon with fire snorts. it can swoop down on Parliament and crisp them all to cinders. Brexit solved -- and men will cheer.
Have not watched Game of Thornes but one previous actor Leslie Rose is on Good Fight.
What a delightful series that is for trump disliking folks. It follows the real shenanigans of trump and acts on them.
I suggest Ms. Dowd catch on to that show.
2
“...the show has offered a primer in how a female leader must act differently than a male leader in a world run predominantly by men — the double standards, the way an action can be perceived in very different ways depending on whether it’s a man or a woman undertaking it.”
Life isn’t supposed to imitate art. It’s the other way around.
Also, art isn’t high fantasy remixed to the theme of snuff porn.
“Better than x group of people.” is the essence of racism, sexism, and bigotry in general.
2
We’re all just human, after all.
1
Maureen,
You've lost me right there. I watched one episode of this "masterpiece" and could not believe all the hoopla. Is this what brainy American people watch? No wonder you've elect DJT in 2016.
Claude (Montreal)
3
GOT is popular worldwide. Even in Canada. DJT’s election was a result of many factors. One of which was a reaction against dismissive, pseudo-intellectuals looking down their noses at the rabble, such as.........
2
Double standards?
Hmm. Robert? Dead. Ned? Dead. Littlefinger? Dead. Stannis? Dead. Rob? Dead. I could continue, but your latest whine – implying that in Westeros, men have it better because of ‘double standards’ – is, like the whine about the real world, just plain nonsense.
So, you think Pelosi is all that much different from Schumer? Nonsense. That the PM of NZ is much different from the PM of Canada? (Note: still waiting for the NYT to devote as much ink to the slaughter of innocents in Africa as is it did to the slaughter of innocents in NZ. One wonders if the race/religion of the perps in each case has something to do with the disparity of coverage?) And AOC is a Froot Loop; any man who pulled the stunts she has pulled would be instantly dismissed as a loon. (Still waiting for her to release her taxes to show that she declared all her tips as a bartender.)
(Incidentally, perhaps the reason that so many of the GoT players have “Targaryen moments” is that they’re all Targaryans: Jon, Danni, Cersei, Jamie, and Tyrion. Every. Single. One.)
And dragons are over-rated, once you realize their vulnerable to AAA – as is the rider, who has proven herself a fool to take them within easy range of such weapons without necessity.
Anyway, maybe, perhaps, we could check identity politics at the door and enjoy the rest of the show? It would serve you right if Jon or Tyrion ended up on the iron thrown. (Although it appears that no one will...)
13
As to how long Trump would last in Westeros, Trump is (was) Little Finger (an apt name here and there).
1
As I usually note, Game of Thrones is semi-pornographic, male adolescent fantasy at its worst.
31
@Wendell Murray And yet my very feminist wife is one of its most dedicated fans. She sees Daenerys as the epitome of female strength, who uses all of her feminine strength, including her sexuality, to further her goals, and can see the weakness in others such as Cersei. I guess you see it through your lens and she sees it through an entirely different one.
15
@Kjensen - It depends on what your definition of feminism is. Sadly, over the years, women wanting equality of opportunity have frequently been overtaken in defining "feminism" by the enemies of feminism. Many, now equate feminism with the aggressive, male-style, top-down, power-over aggression of the alpha male.
That's not what it was at the dawn of second-wave feminism. It used to be that feminism stood for equality of opportunity for all. Quite simple, that.
Unfortunately, now it's been interwoven with the dominance theory of adversarialism. Dialectic is supposed to result in synthesis, not in beating aggression at it's own game.
10
Wow...Emilia Clarke is clearly adept at taming all sorts of dragons.
"We need to read all the report, don't we?"
That's a big 10-4 Sister.
3
It is reported that President Obama is worried about liberal Dems being too rigid. My fear too. Maybe this is the era of MeToo but matriarchic tyranny a la Queen Cersi is no better than patriarchic tyranny.
Call me a romantic I'd like Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow as a unity, neither male or female centric. The dragons should be set free after they are tamed. Why, the GoT dragons are a perfect metaphor for our technologies. We hailed social media the great tool of liberation during Arab Spring but they came back to burn us a thousand times harder in the 2016 elections manipulations, from Brexit to the American Presidency.
Anything, any moment, can be weaponized. Just because there is an effective weapon against someone or something doesn't mean one should unleash it. Maybe that is what Mr Obama meant. I hope he is not the last president who would embrace middle of the road pragmatism instead of win at all cost extremism
16
Perhaps a more appropriate line across the bodice for this show would be "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
I wish the Mother of Dragons (and all of us) could say “Dracarys” to Donald Trump!
3
Time to cut the cord, Ms. Dowd.
Damon Winter’s lead photo is spectacular.
(I’m not about to joke about how he was announced when he arrived for the shoot.)
Can’t wait...only 8 days to S8 E1
Power is a corrupting influence for men & women
equally and alike- with no exception
1
We can only hope that GOT (Game of Thrones) has some lesson as we deal with our own life-or-death GOT (Game of Trumps). Is there a Daenerys out there with her own dragons to seize the iron throne? And, if so, is it Kamala with her Cersei-like criminal justice background? Is it Amy who brutalizes and humiliates her staff? Is it the golden-haired fierce defender of women Kirsten from upstate who'll finally unseat Dastardly Donald? Or is the stern law professor, Elizabeth, who will finally rule all? Well tune in. Maybe the media will reveal all with a GOT (Glimmer of Truth).
1
Nice article - excellent way to say good bye to GOT and Mother of Dragons.
what a waste of time. so much of importance is happening
and she wastes time on TV Trivia
genug
1
But who's the real dragon ?
Trump may be the temporary head of the dragon, but the real dragon is Grand Old Power, the radical right 0.1% that decided a few decades ago that feudalism was a finer model than shared prosperity, that Grand Old Propaganda was much better than education, facts, science and academics, that political hijacking by any means was superior to democracy and representative government, and that lying for a living was much more profitable than ever telling the truth.
Trump, and the award-winning cast of billionaires representatives he and his Robber Baron Republicans have appointed and confirmed to government and the courts are a medieval 0.1% Grand Old Power scheme to ensure that no consumer, environmental, worker, citizen or legal protection ever sees the light of day if the Reverse Robin Hoods can help it.
2019 America, with its crumbling infrastructure, its declining public schools, its abomination of a healthcare system, and its gerrymandered-vote-suppressed fake democracy remains a right-wing Shangri-La of insidious 0.1% corruption and fakery where a craven, cretinous, criminal Cheeto-in-Chief reigns supreme....and Republicans quietly cheer his right-wing proficiency as he and his creepy brethren try to Make Forced Pregnancies Great Again.
Let's hope that Americans have the mental stamina to stand up, turn off the TV, and register and vote in supermajority numbers in 2020.
Time to slay the Republican dragon before it fully digests America.
59
Trump in Westerns would go whining away on his hands and knees from a dragon, a direwolf, or definitely from Arya.
3
@LBH
That should be "Westeros". Auto correct.
Does this columnist recall how she treated Hillary Clinton? The viciousness with which she mocked the female candidate as a she-monster, an opportunist and a fake? Any regrets now?
4
"she, and the other women in the show, had more nude scenes than the men"
Female nudity? So who knew? (I've never watched the show.)
Can anybody advise which seasons/espisodes? Any chance I can stream them?
Oh me and my assumptions that a show as popular and talked-about as thrones couldn't possibly be worth watching.
1
I see another similarity with the Game of Thrones: the Walk of Shame, with a twist. In our world, it’s Trump who throws feces at the rest of us in the form of cruel policies, humiliation while abroad, and sabotaging our system of government. In other words, collectively, we are Cersei and the tormentor along the Walk of Shame is Trump.
2
We have our own Three Dragons. They’re named Pelosi, Warren and Harris. Breathe FIRE, Ladies.
90
Also, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib!
13
What’s good about Emilia Clarke’s portrayal of Daenerys is that her ultimate power comes from within. Being the Khaleesi isn’t what makes her a force and what gets her respect and fear. It’s her inner strength, coupled with own sense of justice. Despite her sometimes ruthless actions, she commands a moral authority that others don’t have.
It’s inevitable today that we cannot leave our President out of a discussion of political power. If there is a character in GOT that compares to Trump, it’s King Joffrey, the whining teenager suddenly invested with kingly power that he wields—well, like a teenager. In him we see Trump’s sense of privilege, vindictiveness, lying, and lack of empathy. He’s the best match to our President, except that I noticed that Lord Tyrion’s fingers looked just like Trump’s.
20
It's always encouraging to see actors who have the same strong character in real life as they do on the screen. Emilia is a remarkable human being.
19
I have never seen GOT, but I was interested in reading this article because I had a stroke when I was 34. I read the linked New Yorker account of Ms. Clarke's ordeal and surgeries with a sense of recognition. She and I and many other survivors are so lucky to have come out the other side of a brain injury. I do have some weakness on my right side and walk with a limp, but what a small deficit considering the alternative. My best wishes to Ms. Clarke. She is so, so fortunate. And, thanks to her for starting her foundation to help other survivors.
29
I was a consultant on the three-month movie shoot in isolated eastern Kentucky of the adaptation of my book "Above Suspicion," and I was mightily impressed by how hard Emilia Clarks, the star, worked -- morning to often late night. The other cast and crew loved and admired her for her craft, kindness and good humor. The movie comes out in late summer.
26
It is the nature of great literature to allow multiple interpretations regarding the intent of the author and the messages contained within the narrative. Long before GOT was made popular by HBO, there were those of us in the F&SF world who read the books, and enjoyed them as complex stories of “people,” not a purposeful allegory of modern politics, which obviously postdated the books. Martin has done what many thought impossible after the “Rings,” and that is showing that great story-telling is not confined to standard literature. And to be clear, the most serious omission among the female characters from the books is the disappearance of “Lady Stoneheart.”
20
@LTJ
Sorry, typo: Clarke
1
My interest peaks when Daenerys Stormborn, etc, appears on screen.
I too tried Game of Thrones ages ago and passed. Then recently I needed a serious diversion and I tried it again. I binged on the whole seven seasons. The joy, excitement, thrills, blood, horror and lots of sex (in the early seasons) plus male and female nudity, all delivered in the service of a real story, acted by classically trained actors on spectacular outdoor settings is extraordinary. And the costumes!
Then I read the books, all 5,000 or so pages and they joined Harry Potter and the Hobbits on my shelves.
Some of you sound a little smug that you wouldn’t watch, like I sounded, but the series is so satisfying in so many ways. The story makes clear that no civilization lasts forever.
I was recently looking at photos of the Missouri River flooding and I was reminded of Game of Thrones. The night is long and full of terrors.
59
@DKhatt
The television series is far superior to Martin's meandering and never-to-be-completed trek for perpetual profits that a greedy author embarked upon sometime in the midst of writing the second book in the collection.
It was too much to expect.
This otherwise interesting column became, in the end, another anti-Trump platform.
A more pertinent question might have been "How long would Joe Biden last among the strong women in Game of Thrones?"
17
@Maurice Gatien Since Trump is the most powerful person in the world, it seems appropriate to me. Joe Biden isn't even in the game yet, so strange you would make this point.
2
@Maurice Gatien Joe is not President he is auditioning along with a large group of others. Mr Trump is President and the fof me and me alone part and doing very well with that role. How can any reasonable person who writes anything about our current political condition not write an anti Trump piece? He, unfortunately is truly evil.
3
@Maurice Gatien
Trump deserves, always, to be anti'd.
3
A key difference between Daenerys and Cercie is that the former actually cares about her subjects and has taken decisions that put her at risk in order for their betterment. Daenerys seeks power and at least in part to do good with it. Warren, Harris, Gillibrand, Klobuchar and AOC are seeking power. If you look at their policies, votes and communications they seek to do a lot of good for all Americans. Several of them do not seek compromise on issues of misogyny. Remember Gillibrand “beheading” Al Franken and woe to enemies of AOC. Much different than Hilary not only playing the supportive wife but enabling the castigation of his accusers.
Trump sought and gained power despite his atrocious record of misogyny. He uses it to help himself and his supporters. If one of these women win the nomination I am sure you will see them all throw their full weight behind the candidate. Much different than 2016 when many women did not support Hilary for her track record in supporting her husband. 2020 may be the year the glass ceiling is shattered much like the Great Wall came down. Never to return.
36
Not being a fan of the show this article is mostly lost on me. But I am a huge fan of Pelosi, AOC and other women who have demonstrated bravery and courage especially in the political environment 'we' all have to endure under dump.
Yes, have another Brexit vote and watch the film about it on Showtime. It has the real story behind who's really responsible for this tragic move on Britons part.
31
@kilika AOC is just dumb. How can you possibly admire someone who "pretends" to be from the Bronx and not Westchester, someone who pretends to be proud of being a bartender without saying how she squandered a college degree, and someone who changes accents with each audience?
2
Game of Thrones at its best is fine, gripping, meaningful story-telling. The violence is horrifying in the way violence should be: a disturbing confrontation with human cruelty, and especially with the pursuit of power.
Emilia Clarke has beautifully inhabited the role of Daenerys, with her ambition, tenderness and fury. I’m amazed at her tenacity in the face of her medical ordeal. The definition of grit. Intelligence, too.
Good luck to her in the rest of her career, and best wishes for her taste in men. She deserves someone’s devoted admiration.
94
GOT. Never really interested me. Fantasy books, movies, TV.....none of it. I have difficulty viewing this HBO production as a metaphor for reality and a way to gauge empowerment of women. These days reality seems like fantasy.
32
@BCY123
Annoying when people imply superiority because the "Don't watch that claptrap." I don't watch "America's got Talent" but I don't imply that that makes me a superior person with more discriminating taste.
3
I like powerful self willed woman. I was raised in a house with 3 generations of them. They were tough but they all really were great to me (most of the time LOL).
18
@doc williamson
Among men, I would say you are a minority.
There are still women who will vote for trump because they accept, for a myriad of reasons, the patriarchal society that still is trying to hang on.
I hope women vote in 2020 to throw trump and his people out of office and save our Democracy from itself.
180
@Allen82
My hope and my prayers reflect yours. Anybody but Trump and anybody but a Republican enabler of Trump.
5
@Allen82. You are over-reacting. Polling shows 92% of people have no problem with a female president.
1
@Allen82
A majority of white women voted for Trump. What must they have seen in Hillary to go so far?
3
Most of us men quiver when we face such women. I remember that I couldn't carry on in interesting conversation with a pretty, powerful woman until I got into my mid-twenties, and even then I stuttered. Thank God for old age.
46
@Jim Dwyer
Apparently women too fail to speak up to powerful men until years have passed.
@Jim Dwyer
I married one of them and 40 years later remain just as terrified.
1
When you see the real Emilia Clarke in interviews she is a lot different from the post-produced superhero she plays in "Game of Thrones." Very relatable. I was surprised to find out she privately dated Seth MacFarlane (yeah the "Family Guy" one) for a year without tabloids finding out.
18
Thank you for the energy and empowerment. I teach undergrad students — and male or female, they see right through the baloney.
28
Maureen Dowd, This is such a nice article. You captured the inner beauty of Emilia Clarke. When Clarke was a guest on Stephen Colbert's show, she was reminiscent of Cate Blanchett so it was interesting to read here that Blanchett's portrayal of Elizabeth I inspired Clarke portrayal of Daenerys. Hopefully these two actors will work together one day.
For those interested in reading about how GOT explains modern military strategy, "Winning Westeros: How Game of Thrones Explains Modern Military Conflict" by Max Brooks and ML Cavanaugh is due out on September 1. Brooks and Cavanaugh are now on tour promoting their book.
34
“And then I’d come along with my dragons.”
That... is the best line of this article.
I had never watched even a minute of GoT before I read Emilia's New Yorker Essay. I've since found myself watching youtube clips of the program. Never one to sit in front of the TV, I am oddly compelled to watch just to see the whole story of Daenerys's character and mettle.
It sounds as though Emilia is quite like her character.
...and something tells me she shouldn't worry in the long term about her "taste in men". She'll get along just fine in time.
84
@j s
If you enjoy reading books, I cannot recommend these highly enough. Of course, with the 8th season starting a week from today, it would be difficult enough to binge-watch all 7 seasons of the show in a week, let alone plow through the thousands of pages in the books. But if you ever get the time, consider it!
6
@j s
'...with my dragons' is wishful thinking.
'what are you, children?'
is observational truth.
Much better in my opinion.
1
@j s
If you do end up watching....the last scene of the last episode of season 1 will give you the chills.
And if you tell me it didn't, I won't believe you.
1
I have immense respect for this brave young woman, particularly after reading in the New Yorker how she coped with the pain and fear of her aneurysm operations. Knowing that she took the time to demonstrate against Brexit and also wants to see the whole Mueller Report (before sending in her dragons,) makes me like and admire her even more. You go girl!!
383
@Susan: If this is what we see as heroic, we are in trouble.
• "Brave" people fear a pending surgical operation.
• "Admirable" is standing against obviously illogical insane "Brexit".
• "You go girl!" - for demanding to see the full report from a corruption investigation of an obvious corrupt person.
Let's expect our heroes to be actually heroic. Let's demand they do more than what average people do.
Let's raise our bar a little.
2
I tried Game of Thrones a few times. Good visuals.
As for the rest of it, am I the only one who is totally bored by every episode? The cool poses, gratuitous gore, trite plots, and unbelievable story lines seem more suited to a 14 year old watching the show in his halfway house common room.
89
@Mike Roddy
I agree. It appears that negative commentary on the television series has been suppressed. I watched the first episode for 10 minutes. More than enough for me.
As is likely to not otherwise appear as comment:a television show that can only appeal to some subset of adolescent males. Nudity bordering on p'graphy and gratuitously violent fantasies.
35
@Mike Roddy
Yes
It’s like Harry Potter
A world apart.
Not for everyone, but I am so glad I took the time to experience both.
25
@Mike Roddy
To each his own. Those of us who read the books and can follow the convoluted plots more easily (if not entirely) it's great fun. And let's acknowledge that fantasy fiction isn't for everyone.
60
I wonder whether we might lease those dragons for a short period of clean-up in our nation -- and send a certain message to those who would aspire to lead in the future.
Would that we had a clicker to turn off the Game of Absurdities that we are enduring daily.
In the absence thereof, bring on the new season of Thrones for a brief diversion of our attention.
145
@Larry:
Like we're not already diverted and distracted enough?
We need less 'diversion' not more.
7
Let's face it, the world needs more strong women of character in government leadership roles. What the
fictional character of Daenerys Targaryen consistently demonstrated throughout the entire series of Game of Thrones is courage, grit, integrity and compassion for those less fortunate. All qualities that are sorely lacking in most of our male elected leaders.
Bravo to Emilia Clarke for bringing " The Mother of Dragons"
role alive with such quiet dignity, courage and skill despite having to deal with her own difficult health issues. Bows also to Lena Heady aka Cersei Lannister, Maise Williams aka Arya Stark, and Sophie Turner aka Sansa Stark for delivering their own powerful performances as strong women in a brutal male dominated mythical world.
If anything else all these GOT Women should be a reminder that women have the ability to compete and lead in a real world that often cedes power and leadership to the loudest male voice regardless of an often apparent lack of intelligence, ability and judgment.
193
@Stephen Encarnacao —“lead in a real world”? And here all this time I thought it was fictional!
2
@Larry D
Check the ancient books that gave men all their power, that justify their domination in the modern world. They're all fictional, but the effects of their stories are not. Stories matter. They influence.
7
@Stephen Encarnacao
Most of the women leaders in GOT are ruthless and conniving monsters who will destroy women or men who get in their way. In that way they measure up to the worst in men as if that is something that history has not shown to be all too common. The story is about the game of power and how power tests and corrupts all who have it. The only thing that can save the worlds of GOT are the peasants who have no power and who live at the bottom of the power hierarchies and who keep everything going. The story warns us that the gamesters can make mistakes so big that they can unleash powers beyond all control and sweep away all of society. That the survival of the weak as well as the strong depend on ancient understandings and promises that must be kept. That we must all unite against the unpitying forces of death that respect no cause but their own.
2
It is true that women have been held back and have not exercised as much power as men have until recent times; and even then the playing field has not become even remotely even. So I get it that men have blundered a lot more, a whole lot more than women have.
But given enough chances, "women can match men when it comes to bollixing things up."
Just saying.
23
I'm an old woman who still has teeth. Go for it, use them whenever needed.
@chickenlover
1
Art is not only imitating life, it is, as Shakespeare says, "...chronicles and abstracts the time."We have entered the era of "Me Too," and we are quickly moving on to an epoch of "why not." As Trump has pushed nearly every button to explode our political, social, and cultural norms--he being the representative of angry white men, he and his toadies will be faced with an angry group of highly intelligent and well prepared women who will ask of us, "why not." Why not two women on the presidential ballot, why not a majority of women running for office from the Democratic party, why not vying for the most powerful corporate offices in the land and finally demanding, not just a fractional percentage of power, but why not the majority of those powerful positions.
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@James Landi I applaud your sentiments. In an earlier reply I posed the question, "How many women have ever started a war?" All if not most old "white men" have been holding humanity back since the beginning of recorded history. I am a man but would give up my claim if women ruled at least half of the world. Someday I believe they will.
31
And old yellow men, old brown me and old black men. Male domination, and it’s regrettable consequences, is color-blind.
4
@leo LaBranche
Quite a few have voted for one, including Hillary Clinton in 2002.
1
I read the first three books in the series and stopped. I liked the women but I didn't like the constant warfare. I don't have cable and I don't miss it. I am glad however that there are a few series giving women their due as powerful human beings in their own right.
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Leonard Shlain’s book, “The Alphabet Versus the Goddess” is a must read for a very plausible explanation for the recent rise of heroines in Western Culture. Actually within my life time. In the 1600s women were slaughterd in the hundreds of thousands as witches and as evil descendents of Eve. It is about time that women are finally being recognized that they may be better than we men, who have really made a mess of it.
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@Zeke
Self deprecate if you must but that hundreds of thousands thing sounds as fictional as Game of Thrones.
1
A strong, brave and amazing human being.
44
I gave it two seasons until I saw that it was going to be nothing but kings and queens and wannabes scrambling for power, with all the sordidness that entails. Meanwhile the ordinary folk--the 99.99%--wait mutely for someone to wave a banner they can follow to their deaths.
It's the Wars of the Roses translated into a D&D scenario. Shakespeare tackled the same subject; see those plays and see what GoT has left out. (That recent TV travesty cut the heart out of it; the one to watch is the BBC 1982-3 production of all four plays by a rep company, directed by Jane Howell.)
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@Steve Paradis Yet you are reading this article.
2
I have never watched episode one
of Game of Thrones or any other
series on television (yes, I have
HBO) nor do I intend to. I watch
sports and politics exclusively.
however I am amazed at the
level of violence on these shows.
hitmen,bloody kings and queens,
murderous spies,unending
mayhem all appealing to the
lowest common denominator
of our spirits. television has
taken us, at least the so called
entertainment section, to the
place where Newton Minnow ,
fifty years ago, warned us it
would,to an intellectual
wasteland.welcome all.
103
@Frank Have you read the books? George R.R. Martin's vision was that his story would depict a fantasy world through the lens of "real life" - all the dirt, gore, and violence that war brings to people of all classes as the antithesis to the "clean" fantasy of the past (namely Tolkien) where the good guys always win and everyone is happy.
The show is quite true to the books (at least in the earlier seasons). Simply shown using a different medium - the screen vs. the page. If that's not what you're interested in then neither the books or the television show will be to your taste.
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@K
If you believe "the good guys always win and everyone is happy" either you have never read Tolkien, or you somehow missed the very soul of the world (Middle Earth) that he created.
Dwarves, Elves, Men, (and most definitely women) and even Wizards, are all faced with choices that define them; often those choices are limited to selecting one form of loss over another.
For the nominal hero in Lord of the Rings, his "win" results in the loss of the only world and society he has ever known, sending him on a journey into an unforeseeable future that can be truly measured only after it has become the past.
All that aside, I'm ready for Season 8.
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@Frank I almost gave up on the show after the first season but am glad I stuck with it. To me what makes violence lowest common denominator is if you are supposed to feel glee. That is not the case in Game of Thrones which is wonderfully well written and makes sure you feel the appropriate emotions when horror is shown. While I was in about the second or third season, the paintings from the Prado in Madrid were brought to Houston. It was astonishing how many of the stories behind them were right out of Game of Thrones which shows the horror of the Spanish Inquisition and Middle Ages without flinching. The show now gives you longer breaks between the violence so you can be fascinated with the fleshed out characters and intrigue. I have been hooked since the second season and find it more and more amazing as it goes along.
72
Bravo Maureen! Finally, an interesting and fun opinion piece to read and I have never seen even one episode of GOT.
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@Sally Coffee Cup And she didn't mention Obama or Hillary once!
4
What’s afoot in the White House is a game of porcelain thrones. Rather than logical, it’s scatological. And while I can’t get of enough of Daenerys Targaryen riding dragons, I sometimes regret that it’s not real. It’s frustrating that there is no earthly power that can undo the lying, the cheating, the vulgarity and the disdain of this ruler for his people.
Game of Thrones is a cathartic romp with terrific writers, plots and evils, along with comeuppances by dragon fire that are truly heartwarming. Sadly, all we’ve got are voting booths, and those have been shown to be unreliable guides to good leadership.
Every Democratic woman who is running for the presidency could not do worse that the guy who is currently squatting in the Oval Office. Merely being a decent and honorable human being would be a vast improvement. Being smart and capable would be lagniappe.
We can buy into the magical world of Game of Thrones with no problem. It’s internally consistent, and people behave in ways that are familiar to ordinary humans, although the circumstances are rooted in fantasy. But a future story about the actual behavior of this presidency would be dismissed as so unreal as to be absurd.
The president embodies more character flaws than could possibly be crammed into one mortal man. He exists in his own reality, and it’s unfortunate that we’ve been drawn into it. If only Hodor could have protected the voting booths, we wouldn’t be saddled with this scourge.
630
I absolutely LOVE your comment! Kudos for a well thought out and articulated response.
97
@gemli
Confession: I have never seen Game of Thrones. But I knew you'd have a comment about the present occupant of our (porcelain!) throne so I dropped in to savor it. You didn't disappoint.
66
@gemli
The NY Times needs to hire you to write a weekly column.
31
“And then I’d come along with my dragons.”
Be wary. Impeachment, the 25th Amendment, tax returns, and the Mueller report appear to have come and gone.
Trump will find a way to ally with the Night King and turn one or more of your dragons against you (again).
It will take keen wit, perseverance, persuasion, and patience to beat Trump. And we are only in Season 3.
190
@Blue Moon
Please! The Mueller report has not gone, and it won't stay hidden forever.
10
@Blue Moon
Try reality, not another HRC, Bobby/Beto, or Kamala. It will help. Good luck.
1
@Blue Moon
Trump *is* the Night King ... and he has turned the GOP into a bunch of White Walkers.
19
Hopefully, when we all get to read that report, draw our OWN conclusions and see the evidence from current investigations, then a bit of "dragon justice" will provide closure.
Are we, at last, ready for a female president in the US? Well, most women are really adept at cleaning up others' messes and righting the ship while pulling everyone together.
So, let us hope so.
PS Emilia Clarke has a wonderful interview on NPR.
248
@lechrist
I can't understand the bizarre tendency nowadays to pretend that women as a class are more moral or better than men. That and the current acceptability of saying hostile things about white male fitness to hold political positions relative to women seem quite frightening to me, because they are both incredibly stupid. Judge people as individuals, and don't respect racial prejudice or gender prejudice. Look at the individual person you are dealing with. I am frightened about where this foolish mass hostility will lead. It ought to be socially unacceptable to accuse entire groups like this, and unacceptable in political debate too. Judge people by their deeds, not their demographics.
6
@lechrist
We should vote for the best candidate to run the country. Not because of their sex, race, age or sexual orientation. Clamoring for a woman candidate is just as bad as clamoring for a male one.
4
@LW. Its going to lead to a second trump term leaving the gop coffers full of lucre they didnt have to spend to beat the dems.
2
It's fun to try and extrapolate anything from a fantasy televisions show set about 700 years ago, but really there are few comparisons.
OF COURSE women can lead and be just as ruthless, but I am of the opinion that if women were represented but a fraction of their true numbers in society (more than 50%) then the world would be a much better and MORE peaceful place.
Having said that, society has progressed so much further than the world of GOT (at least as far as a modicum of Democracy) and present leaders probably wouldn't fare too well.
I am speaking of the men of course.
92
@FunkyIrishman
In response to the notion that any prospective candidates will do any better than those that preceded them, I invoke Daenerys Targaryan herself, "Break the Wheel".
17
@FunkyIrishman
Thanks for your take on leadership styles by men and women. I think that women would be more compassionate in their priorities and less bloodthirsty - if they didn’t have to prove their mettle against men. But, as long as the stereotypically masculine ideals of power set the norm, females are in a ‘no man’s land’ (no pun intended).
Thanks, as always, for writing.
6
@FunkyIrishman
Boudica!
2