Mean Girls of Westeros
8:56 PMAlthough I am unsure whether I have ever mentioned this in any of the House Lorch blog posts that came before this one, a couple of my larger areas of academic interests are children's and young adult literature & media and women's & girls' studies. As a result, I have found that I tend to gravitate toward explorations of the way in which literature and media construct and depict interpersonal relationships between women (or girls...or women AND girls).
More often than not, women's relationships, especially those with rivals (or frenemies), are centered on social, rather than physical, aggression. When girls are young, they are often socialized in a way that discourages physical aggression and, as a result, girls often seek out other avenues to express frustration (Lipkin 92). Instead, girls are more likely to partake in relational aggression (i.e. "being emotionally hurtful through rejection, sending rumors around, gossiping strategically, and withholding or denying friendship in order to reinforce or foster a social pecking order") which allows girls to be aggressive in ways that are more covert (97). This is not the same for boys, who are less apt to be punished for displaying aggressive behavior. This kind of relational aggression is something I have been tracking between Cersei and Margaery.
Interestingly Elline Lipkin points out that these relationships often come to a head as a result of disputes over relationships with men. This is particularly true when a romantic relationship exists at the center of the relationship between one of the women and the male in question. Of course, the struggle between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is nothing really new. I am interested, however, in the way in which Margaery and Cersei go about making one another miserable. As much as some feel that this series depicts strong female figures, the use of relational aggression between these two characters is fairly stereo-typical and demonstrates women sticking to their usual cattiness toward one another.
To make things even worse, in their relational aggression towards one another, these characters tear one another apart using female oriented insecurities related to age and beauty. Naomi Wolf once wrote about the way in which beauty culture tends to divide women of different generations even if it might be in their best interest to come together to move women forward (Wolf 283). She writes: "the links between generations of women must always be newly broken...older women fear young ones, young women fear old..." (Wolf 14). I do not mean to argue that the beauty myth is a sole driver of the divide between Margery and Cersei but the tension related to the beauty myth is certainly central to their relational assaults. For example, Margaery's "sister or mother," or later "queen mother or queen regent" question that she has posed to Cersei are clearly a jab at their age difference. In Cersei's flashback earlier this season we also know that Cersei fears a younger beauty that will take her place as queen.
Going back to the relational agression, we have seen in these last episodes (S5.E3-S5.E6) that Cersei is spreading rumors and exercising power to remove Margaery from her support system (sending her father to Braavos, having Ser Loras arrested, etc.). Clearly, Cersei has the kind of power that comes with age and Margaery the power that stems from beauty. It will be interesting to continue watching the way in which these two characters navigate their relationship (both with one another and Tommen) in the coming episodes. In the mean time, I will continue to think of these two as "the mean girls of Westeros."
Works Cited:
Lipkin, Elline. Girls' Studies. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2009. Print.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: Anchor Books, 1991. Print
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11 comments
House Lorch, this was brilliant! Thank you for citing Lipkin. Your analyses of 'frenemies' in GOT provided support for the theoretical framework.
ReplyDeleteSorry for talking about myself but I must share this. I have encountered a great deal of social aggression (e.g., the spreading of false rumors, strategic gossip, and denials) in recent months.
This aggression is in no way related to my personal life because I only have to deal with these "mean 'girls' " in one social setting.
Just when I was feeling like I was in high school again, I (luckily) read your blog. Your discussion of social aggression aggression addressed all of my concerns.
Your blog was an informative and cathartic read.
Sorry for the typo: in te 3rd paragraph, I typed the word "aggression" two times instead of one
DeleteAwesome post! I love the dive into mean girl like tendencies. (And LOVE the "You can't sit with us!" reference.) This is a really interesting analysis and really brings to light Cersei and Margaery's interactions.
ReplyDeleteUgh -- social aggression is the worst. It's so passive-aggressive and, as you said, catty. And yes - that's exactly what this Cersei/Margaery stuff is. In narratives, beauty is so often deceptive and deceitful and age so often powerful in its twisting of wisdom and knowledge. Both end up operating out of their fear of their own weakness: the elder, working from the fear of loss of beauty and the younger working from lack of actual power and worldly experience. It's both fascinating and depressing that this is how so much of the world works. So much aggression is an overcompensation based on feeling powerless or, at the very least, less powerful than one desires to be.
ReplyDeleteI was mostly socialized male, but that scene where Cersei comes up to Margaery sitting at a table with four young, pretty confederates just set off all kinds of alarm bells for me. Much as I hate Cersei, when she walks away and hears that tittering laughter behind her, I wanted her to recruit a dragon to flame them. Generally I tend to think of Margaery as equally bad with Cersei, but we should note that Margaery does cross generations with her grandmother Olenna in a way that would make Naomi Wolf happy. Ramsey Bolton also has a way of bringing out terrible female behavior, doesn't he?
ReplyDeleteThis was such an interesting analysis of how we have seen "mean girls" in the scenes with Cersei and Margaery. This is definitely applicable with these scenes especially because of the distaste towards Margaery for where she is in her position. I think Cersei appears to be like a Regina George, and Margaery is like Cady. Overall, I found this to be very applicable especially because Mean Girls was such a popular film growing up.
ReplyDeleteThe rack focus shot of the wedding kiss with Cersei between them was brilliantly done. I always wonder if Cersei have an inkling that the Tyrell's were somehow involved in Joffrey's murder and that is she is trying so hard to get Tommen away from her grasp.
ReplyDeleteAs a viewer we know that Tommen really isn't in danger because he's not a cruel, shithead like Joffrey. Cersei's inability to grasp how terrible Joffrey was leaves her in the dark in this respect I think.
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DeleteI would have to disagree. I think that because Tommen isnt a cruel, shithead life Joffrey it puts him in more danger. Everyone is going to be fighting over him. Having the kind king at your side improves your chances for survival and furthering ones own interests. I think that Cersei and Margaery are going to put him in a dangerous position.
DeleteMarilyn, Your site and blog is looking great. So clean and fresh. This is a great post. As always, great memes. I’ve been trying to step up my game. Great analysis of mean girls.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED this post! The theory behind relational aggression pretty much sums up my experience as a teenage girl in high school. While the depiction may be stereotypical, I would argue that the two characters here are more upfront about their hatred for each other than say in "Mean Girls" or the TV show "Pretty Little Liars." There was a scene in which Cersei actually threatens Margaery, leaving no question as to how she feels about her new daughter-in-law. Most of my experience involved girls getting other girls to do their dirty work, denying that "they were mad at you" and so forth.
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