Game of Thrones, the phenomenon the world is still obsessed with (while trying to erase that finale from memory). The series has spawned countless sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, with no signs of stopping, all thanks to the rich, fantastical world George R.R. Martin created.
While fans everywhere celebrated when the HBO show first premiered, The New York Times once boldly claimed that “no woman alive would watch it.” As one would expect, Martin had something to say about that.
The New York Times’ scathing remark on Game of Thrones!
When Game of Thrones first premiered, reviews from prestigious outlets flooded in, analyzing everything from breaking it down piece by piece from its storytelling to its production value.
However, The New York Times stood out with a particularly bold remark, questioning the show’s appeal to female audiences.
The publication suggested that without its explicit content, no woman would watch the series, claiming that Game of Thrones was essentially “boy fiction” repackaged to attract a wider audience. It said,
The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to “The Hobbit” first. “Game of Thrones” is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.
According to the article written in 2011, American TV usually avoids explicit content, but Game of Thrones takes full advantage of its medieval fantasy setting to go all in, incest and all.
The piece further questions whether women genuinely enjoy fantasy books like George R.R. Martin‘s, arguing that most would rather stick to literary fiction than swap Lorrie Moore for The Hobbit. In short, the article implied that the show’s racy content isn’t just for shock value, it’s there to keep essentially female viewers hooked.
How fans and George R.R. Martin responded to The New York Times’ critique!
While some agreed with The New York Times’ claim that Game of Thrones was just “boy fiction” dressed up for women, many strongly disagreed, especially female fantasy fans who were quick to defend their love for the series beyond its so-called “illicitness.”
Speculative fiction writer and professor Kat Howard took to the microblogging platform one does, in any crisis, now known as X.com (god given name Twitter), praising the many “smart, literate women (and men)” calling out the review as “wrongheaded and offensive.”
Meanwhile, Brian J. White on Medium questioned the logic of the argument, pointing out that s-x scenes are typically seen as catering to men, not women. He also pushed back against the claim that “no woman alive would watch otherwise,” sharing that his wife, along with many other women he knows, loves the Game of Thrones books and fantasy in general.
White also noted that the novels themselves contain plenty of s-x, meaning the show’s explicit content wasn’t just thrown in for effect, it was already part of George R.R. Martin’s world. And ultimately, he dismissed the idea that women would only watch fantasy because of the s-xual content, calling it an argument that simply doesn’t hold up.
Martin himself had a snarky comeback to the review. During a panel discussion called “An Evening with Game of Thrones,” moderated by Rob McElhenney, the topic came up. As McElhenney read out a string of glowing reviews, David Benioff jumped in and exclaimed, “And The New York Times called it a piece of sh-t.”
Martin thus responded saying,
They didn’t quite say that. What they actually said was that no woman would ever want to watch it. That is why we have an entirely male audience, [pointing towards the audience which packed the TCL Chinese Theatre ].
Well, the debate over Game of Thrones, both its praise and its criticism, continues to this day. And will likely never be over, with all that the universe has in store for its fans, the conversation isn’t ending anytime soon. Watch the full panel discussion here:
Game of Thrones is streaming on Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
