The day before yesterday, I finished watching Game of Thrones again, this time from beginning to end. Spoilers below, so if you haven't seen it, be advised. How many characters does the author of the series have to be able to get so much out of himself? He describes them in such a way that you can actually relate to them. Even Joffrey. I think that's what I love most about this series, apart from the dragons flying to the music of Ramin Djawadi. I love it because it frees me from my personal mental shackles.
And thank you George R.R. Martin for being such an amazing woman too. My personal favorite is Arya, who is learning to let go of her identity, prejudices, and naivety. She accepts pain in order to understand who she really is and fulfill her destiny.
Cersei, who replaces her lack of love, respect, and fear of loss with a completely blinding lust for power, leading to the downfall of her family.
The unceremonious Olenna, who sees, speaks, and acts according to her will. A pillar of authenticity and self-confidence.
Sansa, who in perhaps the most brutal way wakes up from her dreams and illusions to be able to distinguish truth from lies and firmly express what she believes is right.
And then there is Daenerys, an idealist and ultimately a tyrant, whom I understand best, I think, because her will was twofold. Her claims were justified, her grievances and her path to reversing her fate were undeniable and spectacular, but her dream of absolutism was just as real. Again, she was full of anger and fear. I'm glad she was consumed by fury, that she burned that city of hypocrisy, and I know she had to die for her ideals to become reality.
She symbolized death and rebirth. With her death, magical projections and putting things on a knife's edge died too. I read somewhere that it was the throne that corrupted her, but it was in her. It had been building up for years, growing with what she saw in the world and with her power. And I identify with that. I felt joy at her unveiling, at the fact that her darkness could spill out. We so rarely see this in reality.
We are more likely to encounter male evil and violence (sorry, gentlemen with a conscience, but you know all too well what is happening in the world) and nothing balances it out, nothing brings relief and hope in a world full of violence, territorialism, and arrogance.
That's why we miss Daenerys' power. Her decision is a wonderful catharsis.
It reminds me of the final scene in Dogville, when Grace decides to sentence the town to death, seeing the irredeemable ingratitude, pettiness, and inner ugliness of its inhabitants. Fortunately, GOT adds more power, glory, and justice to the matter. Kings Landing is not such an obvious target for revenge, and after all, our world is not such a “flea-ridden hole” as von Trier portrayed it.
Finally, I would like to focus on the said revenge.
From idealism to annihilation. Two sides of the same coin. As a self-proclaimed idealist, I know how risky and destructive absolute faith in ideals can be. It is easy to confuse them with values, which by their very nature must be rooted in reality and proven in practice. They benefit not only the idealist, but also those around them. Although they are an obvious consequence of ideals, they require discipline and conscious, courageous, everyday decisions. And when things go wrong, you have to listen to Ramin, or do something good, create something, pat yourself on the head, and eat pizza. Unfortunately, we cannot save the world with a single wave of our hand, if it can be saved at all. With this post, I would like to wish all my friends and strangers, women and men, all the best on March 8! May your ideals turn into values and actions.
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz