Author: Alexandra Stamson (Johnson), Department of Philosophy and Critical Thought, SUNY Purchase College - Academia.edu

Abstract: »The push for diversity in media and literature has resulted in an increase in representation, at least on the surface. While the range of representation may have broadened in terms of subject identity – gender, sexuality, race, ability, etc. – the way this diversity has occurred has not necessarily encouraged ethical or allied development. The aim of my thesis is to develop and deploy five methods of feminist critique and analysis of representation in popular media. I begin by laying out the five methodologies, in a manner that allows for the use of these methods on other examples. Then, I display these methods in five arguments, each examining the widely read and viewed (and thus impactful) Game of Thrones franchise. First, I use the MBTI personality test to chart representation in the franchise, noting the impact of the under- or over-represented personality types on the constituted subject. Second, I use a Butlerian-concept of asymmetrical language to argue the loss of social critique in female hero roles. Third, I construct an epistemological category of queer experience to examine the detriment of queer narratives when developed by non-queer writers. Fourth, I argue the situation of the feminine as either 'place' or 'prize' in relation to the male hero, and the detrimental modern inclusion of rape to remove her from that cycle. And, finally, I engage with Serene Khader's seven commitments of missionary feminism to trace perpetuated narratives of white saviorism in fantasy worlds. I conclude with the argument that the ways that certain identity groups have been represented, in the midst of a push for diversity, have actually created detrimental representations that impact reader/viewer subject development.« (Source: Thesis)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. iv)
	Introduction (p. 1)
	Methodology: Literature Through a Feminist Lens (p. 2)
		Method One: MBTI as Stereotype Marker (p. 3)
		Method Two: Heroines in Asymmetrical Language (p. 5)
		Method Three: The Q-Experiential (p. 7)
		Method Four: Place, Prize, and "Agency" (p. 7)
		Method Five: Missionary Feminist Commitments (p. 9)
	Representational Gaps in Popular Media: Using the MBTI to Examine Gender Stereotypes (p. 11)
		Introduction (p. 10)
		Personality Representation (p. 13)
		Social Imaginative Impact (p. 15)
		Conclusion (p. 17)
	The Heroine's Journey: Erasure, Sacrifice, and Vulnerability (p. 18)
		Section Two: Arya Stark and Self-Erasure (p. 20)
		Section Three: Daenerys Targaryen and Self-Sacrifice (p. 27)
		Conclusion (p. 31)
	The Fiction of a Q-Experiential: Arguing the Detriment of Queer ‘Representation’ in Popular Media (p. 32)
		Introduction (p. 32)
		Epistemology and the Q-Experiential (p. 33)
		Credibility Excess and Appropriation (p. 35)
		Violence in Representation (p. 38)
		Intelligible Queerness and Queer Selfness (p. 44)
		Conclusion (p. 46)
	Place, Prize, and Agency Through Rape: Chaucer's Lady Constance and Martin's Sansa Stark (p. 48)
		The Parallels of Lady Constance and Sansa Stark (p. 49)
		Morality & Agency (p. 58)
		Conclusion (p. 61)
	The Fictional West: Examining the Perpetuation of White Missionary Feminism in Game of Thrones (p. 62)
		Section One: An Absent Moral Vernacular in Dothraki 'Savagery' (p. 63)
		Section Two: Misplaced Prioritization Around Unsullied Freedoms (p. 65)
		Section Three: Western Endpoints and Interventions for Eastern Women (p. 66)
		Section Four: Narratives of Enlightenment, Salvation, and Culture in Slaver's Bay (p. 69)
		Conclusion (p. 73)
	Conclusion (p.74)
	Appendix (p. 77)
	Bibliography (p. 80)

Lecture: Johnson, Alexandra. »Place, Prize, and Agency through Rape: Chaucer’s Lady Constance and Martin’s Sansa Stark.« 53^rd Annual Convention of the Northeast Modern Language Association. Baltimore 2022. - Bibliographic Entry: Info

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of England | History of the Americas: History of the United States | Literature: American literature / George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire | Literature: English literature / Geoffrey Chaucer, The Man of Law's Tale | Fiction: Fictional victims of sexual assault / Sansa Stark | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape