Spoiler warning: This article contains information about Game of Thrones S05E06
Producers of hit HBO show Game of Thrones are defending a rape scene in the latest episode that has caused outrage online.
In the sixth episode of the fifth season, Sansa Stark is raped by Ramsay Bolton on the night of their wedding. Although the rape mostly occurs off-screen, the camera lingers on the anguished face of Sansa's childhood friend Theon Greyjoy, who is forced to watch.
This is not the first time Game of Thrones has faced criticism over its scenes of extreme violence, torture and rape. Like some previous complaints about the show, this latest controversy is in part due to the TV show differing from the A Song of Ice and Fire novels it is adapted from.
Producer Bryan Cogman says the scene is not as horrific as the written version.
"It's still a shared form of abuse that they have to endure, Sansa and Theon, but it's not the extreme torture and humiliation that scene in the book is," Cogman told Entertainment Weekly.
"This isn't a timid little girl walking into a wedding night with Joffrey. This is a hardened woman making a choice and she sees this as the way to get back her homeland."
After the article was published, Cogman took to Twitter to add:
Hi all. Not going to comment further but I do want to clarify something from the @EW interview that was conducted on set a few months ago:
— Bryan Cogman (@b_cogman) May 18, 2015
The "choice" I was referring to was Sansa's choice to marry Ramsay and walk into that room with him. She feels marrying him is a vital
— Bryan Cogman (@b_cogman) May 18, 2015
step in reclaiming her homeland. Not trying to change anyone's opinion of the scene (negative or otherwise) but that it what I was
— Bryan Cogman (@b_cogman) May 18, 2015
referring to. Again, that's my last comment on the scene. Thx.
— Bryan Cogman (@b_cogman) May 18, 2015
Ok, LAST last word. In NO WAY... NO WAY was that comment an attempt to "blame the victim". If it seemed that way I'm deeply sorry.
— Bryan Cogman (@b_cogman) May 18, 2015
A Song of Ice and Fire author George RR Martin also wrote a blog following reactions to the episode.
"There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes," says Martin.
"HBO is more than forty hours into the impossible and demanding task of adapting my lengthy (extremely) and complex (exceedingly) novels, with their layers of plots and subplots, their twists and contradictions and unreliable narrators, viewpoint shifts and ambiguities, and a cast of characters in the hundreds.
"We have reached the point where the beat of butterfly wings is stirring up storms, like the one presently engulfing my email."
There are four episodes of Game of Thrones left scheduled for season five, with the next being broadcast on Monday afternoon in New Zealand.
3 News
source: newshub archive
