Thoughts on Game of Thrones...

Okay, let's do this...

First, here's a quick reminder of my relationship with Game of Thrones. I have read the first three books of George R.R. Martin's series, but not seen the first five seasons of the show in their entirety. Partly because of the show's sexual violence, and partly because back in 2011 I had no way of getting hold of full episodes, my knowledge of the story was garnered through YouTube clips and popculture osmosis.

For the most part I entertained myself with on-line discussion (which I often find more interesting than actual shows - if you're a long-time reader of this blog, you probably already know that) and all the essential clips (which helpfully left out most of the gratuitous violence and rape).

But by the time season six rolled around, the show had overtaken the unfinished book series and I admit to being fascinated by the idea of a show continuing to tell a story beyond the reach of its source material. As they said frequently in the promotional material for that year: "you have no idea what's coming next." To my knowledge, a show outpacing the material it's based on had never happened before (at least not till The Handmaid's Tale), and that whole concept intrigued me.

I wanted to see how things would be handled - so ironically, I hopped on the bandwagon at about the same time everyone else began to sour on the show.

Meta: What Do We Want When We Say "More Female Friendships"?

In no less than three of my fandoms, an interesting discussion on a particular subject has emerged. The fandoms are Stranger Things, Star Wars and Game of Thrones, and the subject is that of friendships between women.

In recent promotional materials and trailers released for all three franchises, there's been an interesting emphasis on female characters, and specifically the relationships they have with each other. The trailer for season three of Stranger Things involved several shots of Eleven and Max hanging out with each other, which is notable considering their only interaction in the second season was Eleven rebuffing Max's offer of a handshake.

On a similar note, there were several still images released for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which included one of Rey and Rose together. This is notable for two reasons: firstly because the two have never interacted together on-screen, and secondly because there's no image of Rey with either Finn or Poe, two characters she would have greater reason to be pictured with.

Yes, the trailer was very heavy on shots of the official trio, but it still strikes me as significant that of the entire collection of stills, the only one that features Rey interacting with someone is the same one that features Rose (who appears in no other bit of promotion).

Finally, the very first footage we saw of Game of Thrones's season eight was of Daenerys being introduced to Sansa at Winterfell, and the rather cool reception she received. Of all the material they could have selected - the dragons flying overhead, the money-shots of the Unsullied entering the gates, any one of the myriad reunions that take place within its walls, they chose to go with the meeting between two of its female characters, in which even Jon Snow is more of a bystander than a participant.

So it's not just me, right? In all three of these fairly massive franchises, there has been an emphasis - to one degree or another - on the relationships between women. And that interests me.

Game of Thrones: Predictions

I should probably wait until the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones is about to air before posting this, but hey – I'm still hyped up on the fumes of the seventh season finale. Here are my predictions on who will live and who will die...