Jessica Chastain Attacks 'Game of Thrones' for Its Depiction of Rape
by EG
Actress Jessica Chastain isn't happy with the way that Game of Thrones has handled the story of Sansa's survival of sexual assault, and she went public with her criticisms on social media this week. Read on for details.
Jessica Chastain and Ava DuVernay are taking HBO to task for what they say is the premium cabler’s insensitivity to rape and race on the blockbuster Game of Thrones.
Following Sunday’s “The Last of the Starks” episode, Chastain on Monday criticized the show for using the rape and torture that Sophie Turner’s character, Sansa Stark, endured throughout the series as the reasons for her strength.
Rape is not a tool to make a character stronger. A woman doesn’t need to be victimized in order to become a butterfly. The #littlebird was always a Phoenix. Her prevailing strength is solely because of her. And her alone.#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/TVIyt8LYxI
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) May 7, 2019
Throughout GoT‘s run, the Sansa character has gone through several transformations, from the princess of Winterfell asking to be wed to Prince Joffrey, to the strategic ruler of her family’s house.
In the fourth episode of the eighth and final season of the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss executive produced show, Sansa reunited at a victory banquet with the Hound Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann), the warrior who briefly protected her when she was trapped in King’s Landing with the evil Lannisters.
The Hound remarked that when he first met Sansa, she couldn’t look at him, and he had since heard she was “broken in rough” by Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton. After marrying Sansa, Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) raped her multiple times in Season 5, which at the time led to criticism of the show’s use of rape as a narrative tool.
“You’ve changed, little bird,” the Hound said to Sansa in “The Last of The Starks.”
“Without Littlefinger and Ramsay and the rest, I would’ve stayed a little bird all my life,” she replied.
There has been criticism that the lack of female writers and directors on GoT led to the unsatisfying depiction of Sansa as a survivor of sexual assault.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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