WARNING: this post is all about a spoiler re the April 20th
episode of Game of Thrones.
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I really should stay out of it, instead of offering my face to be (metaphorically, I hope) punched. But I'm startled and disturbed by
how many viewers seem to find Jaime's rape of Cersei substantially more
offensive, despite its context, than the innumerable slaughters of innocents in
preceding episodes.
The week before, for example, not for the first time, we had
people burned alive. All the various burnings and throat-slicings and
torturings apparently pale by comparison to Jaime raping Cersei beside her
son's body.
Don't (PLEASE) get me wrong. I am not saying that in a court
of law, or in any moral judgment, Jaime isn't guilty of rape. That's so in
spite of Cersei having, moments before, kissed Jaime as part of her attempt to
get Jaime to kill their brother Tyrion. It's rape despite the fact that we all
know Cersei is capable of a much more emphatic and angry resistance than what
she offers. It's rape, and it occurs when Cersei is at her most emotionally
vulnerable. But is it really more shocking and culpable than murder by fire, or
murder of children, or murder of a pregnant woman?
Not by me.
