Just as George R.R. Martin and Amanda Peet did before her, Emilia Clarke has waded into the murky rhetorical waters of discussing the violence against women on Game of Thrones in an interview with Entertainment Weekly Radio. It’s a tricky line to walk — you can’t trash the show that employs you, but you also don’t want to say anything that makes feminists mad. Let’s see how she did!
It’s never nice hearing criticism about something that you, and you know everybody else, puts their heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into. But in the same breath, it’s a shocking show, so it’s going to invite commentary that everybody is free to have about the show.
Solid start, if slightly rambling; you can tell she’s trying to get her bearings. Clarke admits that the show is “shocking†but says that everyone is free to have their own opinions. Fair and balanced.
As an actor, it’s bizarre, because you’ll relish those dark moments that allow you to get your teeth into a character and really kind of explore the darker depths to the reality of life and things that happen every day.
Another fine point. Clarke’s talking about her own experience here, which is pretty solid ground.
But I think the thing that’s important to remember is that, sadly, first and foremost, it’s a story that we’re telling that is make-believe — that is based in a fantastical world.
Uh-oh. This is the pivotal moment. She can either segue into the “We’re depicting a realistically horrible patriarchal world†argument that Martin and Peet deployed, or keep on going down the “It’s not real†road, which has historically been a nonstarter as far as internet arguments about pop culture go.
So, whilst there is a political commentary that people can take from the show because that is everyone’s right to do so, I think not taking it too seriously is kind of the key here.
Oof. As Jerry Seinfeld can tell you, if there’s any point you don’t want to make on the internet in 2015, it’s “Stop taking things too seriously.†Emilia Clarke, not the best, but we guess it could’ve been worse; you could’ve said there should be more of it. Better luck, every other Game of Thrones cast member who will be asked this same question in the off season!