First off, let me state that I have only read the first two
books (long ago) and have seen the first two seasons of the show. Also, there be spoilers below through book 2/season 2!!
The Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones is a commentary on
sexuality and sexual politics in the world and how a heterosexual monogamous
male dominated society is bad. Here are
the basic ideas of this theory with more detailed explanations for each below:
- Westeros represents standard patriarchal society where
male aggressiveness results in constant conflict and a tearing apart of society
(the kingdom).
- The Wall and the Night's Watch represent gay men with special nods to the
Catholic priesthood.
- Daenerys Targaryen represents feminism and a desire for
female dominated society.
The society of Westeros represents common western
patriarchal power structure. Men and
women marry into monogamous relationships and have children. The men pass on their power and holdings to
their sons. Meanwhile, the whole
structure of Westeros is crumbling due to male aggressiveness, competition for
power, and sexual repression. Wars have
broken out and there is civil and social unrest. There is backbiting, underhanded dealing,
betrayals, and sex outside of normal monogamy.
In fact, there is way more sex shown outside of monogamy than there is
ever shown within it. The entire society
is in turmoil because people just want sexual freedom. At the beginning of the story who is shown as
the Westeros ideal? The Starks. The word "stark" is defined as "unpleasantly or sharply clear;
impossible to avoid." They are shown
as the unpleasantly or sharply clear model of heterosexual monogamous happiness
and what happens to them? They are
killed, crippled, they are torn apart from one another, made into hostages, political
slaves, and turned into killers. And
most of them are still children! George
R.R. Martin is showing us that the ideal cannot be maintained.
George R.R. Martin's Wall Watchers are an analog for gay men
joining the Catholic church. When they
join they take the black and have no sex with women. They are there to fight "Wildlings"
who live north of the Wall. The
Wildlings refer to themselves as the "Free Folk" and live life free
of the social restrictions imposed by Westeros society. They engage in behaviors to fulfill their
base animalistic desires while the men in black are the line on a sexual
frontier and strive to hold back these wild "Free Folk" behind a
massive wall. Instead of exploring that
frontier they lock themselves, celibate, behind the wall which visually
represents the monolith of god fearing social values who keeps safe the
heterosexual monogamy of Westeros. The
Wall is made of ice, which is bitterly cold and refuses the heat of sexual energy. And who makes up these Wall Watchers? They are bastards and outlaws. Outcasts, much like homosexuals were in our
society until relatively recent times.
Due to the active hate and distrust for gays, decades ago homosexuals
had only one place to go to avoid heterosexual monogamy, which was the Catholic
church to become priests dressed in black.
There they stayed to create a community amongst themselves, isolated,
celibate, and outside the norm, in a effort to reinforce social and sexual
values while not participating in either.
And what is coming next over the Wall?
The White Walkers, a representation of out in the open gays. They are white (code for semen), they are
mindless and cannot be reasoned with (in closed-minded hetero society outwardly
gay men are seen as cock hungry beasts unable to control their desires), their
appearance is that of openly monstrous abominations, and they are unstoppable.
Now we get to Daenerys Targaryen. She represents a feminist, matriarchal run society, which
steps far outside the Westeros (as well as our world) norm. She is shown to be something special and
different from other humans due to her white hair and ability to control
dragons, which are creatures outside of normal nature (they are large flying
creatures who can breathe fire and whose bones are immune to fire). The sigil for House Targaryen is "Fire
and Blood". The fire is indicative
of the feminist movement of bra burning and the blood is a suggestion of
menstruation, a solely female body function.
What journey does Daenerys Targaryen take in this story? She goes from innocent virgin, to being sold
as basically a sexual slave to a man who takes her as his wife where she learns
how to be a woman from other women, and then becomes a widow. After this compressed harrowing journey
through the female life cycle it is then she finds her power. She becomes a queen, gaining a special power
thought to be extinct (three dragons), winning the affection of her subjects
with love, not through money or power (because she has neither), leads those
loving subjects through a desert wasteland where they do not give up hope, and takes
them into a city of power-and-wealth wielding men who attempt to confine her,
trick her, and betray her and her feminine ideal. She triumphs over them and sets her sights on
Westeros, the land of patriarchal heterosexual monogamy.
George R. R. Martin is telling us that the lack of sexual
freedom in a patriarchal heterosexual monogamy structure is destroying the very
society it is trying to uphold because humans just want to be free to indulge
in their desires. With the seemingly
inevitable waves of things from above the Wall and from beyond the sea he is
telling us that that change is coming.
We are meant to pay attention to these fronts so strongly that the
series is actually called "A Song of Ice and Fire".
Thoughts? Comments? Do it!
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