Representation of motherhood in Game of Thrones
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2020Author
Ruf, Ann-Kathrin
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Ruf, Ann-Kathrin. (2020). Representation of motherhood in Game of Thrones. Dearcadh: Graduate Journal of Gender, Globalisation and Rights, 1. doi: https://doi.org/10.13025/ebh9-bb04
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Abstract
The social and cultural construction of motherhood places countless rules
and regulations upon women for both those who have children and those who do not.
This article analyses how motherhood is portrayed in the popular TV series Game of
Thrones (GoT) (HBO, 2011-2019). Using the radical feminist texts Of Woman Born:
Motherhood as Experience and Institution (Rich, 1986) and Woman’s Work: The
Housewife, Past and Present (Oakley, 1974), the article identifies three themes in the
portrayal of motherhood: motherhood as duty, status, and ideal. GoT portrays
motherhood as a duty that cannot, and should not, be evaded, but that simultaneously
grants women unique power in the private sphere, all the while upholding the
dichotomy of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ mothers. Ultimately, the portrayal of motherhood in
GoT is multifaceted and at times critical of its social and cultural construction. But by
depicting the punitive consequences of resistance, the series does not go far enough to
challenge the construction itself.