All the words bc I have ALL THE FEELS for these ladies!
When I was clipping I think I found sufficient footage of Ros. But regardless, the second paragraph you wrote in your response to me up there, it sort of conflicts with what I think you're trying to say initially with the vid. Like you seem to have started it with a FUCK YOU, SHOW! but it sort of ended up being kinda like OH. I GUESS THEY WERE DOING A THING. Because as an original character, she really did serve a purpose. And she really did have quite a climb. They may have started her off as a sexposition device but ended up maneuvering her to an interesting place where her demise was felt on a much greater level than "gdi Joffrey is sooo eviiil!" And from my viewpoint, the fact that she died in the same season as Talisa (also an original character) is absolutely not a coincidence. It is crucial in fact. So for me the "fuck you" theme applies to the world this woman lived in, not the show (which didn't have to give her ANY character traits at all but it did, it gave her enough to make this vid possible).
Anyway, I seem to not be able to control myself on this topic. Sorry for throwing more words at you. Maybe bc on tumblr all I see is everyone complaining about how terrible the show is in regards to the women, and it's just so easy to nod and agree. But having spent so much time with the women while making my vid, I found it mostly not true. For the most part, everything is done for a reason.
I think the main difference between our two interpretations is I don't think D&D actually *intentionally* gave Ros agency. She wasn't even planned past her sex scene with Tyrion, and when they realized they needed a character in King's Landing to do sexposition and stuff, they called Esmé back because they were like "oh, remember that girl? Yeah, we could reuse her". So to me it feels like much of her storyline was just "we need her there" and her climb was basically a result of her character being needed at certain points of another character's stories. When you take all those pieces and put it together, which is what I tried to do, then she does have a story, and she does have agency, but I can't credit D&D for that because I don't think they really intentionally were like "we'll tell Ros's story". I mean, the moment they started putting more emphasis on her, she lost a big part of her autonomy, and then she was killed.
ETA: I don't think GoT treats its women characters terribly as a general rule, I think people easily confuse how Westeros treats women and how the show treats its women characters, but this is a case where I feel that they definitely dropped the ball.
ETA2: I agree though that the vid itself is not a criticism of the show and just a straight-up character study of Ros, but my motivation for making the vid/my anger at how I feel the character was mistreated is where the "fuck you" to the show lies, not in the vid itself.
Oh totally. I think no one's denying the straight up facts that she was never supposed to be a character, but the more she appeared as sexposition stand-in the more she became present in the show and it sort of organically went from there. In S2 she wasn't even used for sexposition anymore. She's the only character who literally went from 100% naked to 0% naked in every scene. That's HUGE. That's something, you know? It's in S2 where she gained more scenes that were her own and that moved her character forward. So that's where my head's at when I say I think at that point it was part of the plan and not so happenstance anymore. For instance in 3x01 when there's the pier scene with Shae and Ros talking about Littlefinger and Sansa, that's as much a Ros scene as it is a Sansa scene. It's just a great, powerful moment.
I think you're absolutely right that people heavily confuse how Westeros treats women with the how the show does. But I suppose as one of the ones who was completely baffled by Ros's existence (shh...this was back in the day ok!) I really appreciated where her character ultimately went. Bc at that point it felt complete to me. And she had enough emotional impact on the audience that we were emotional for her beyond just the visual. We knew her!
When I was clipping I think I found sufficient footage of Ros. But regardless, the second paragraph you wrote in your response to me up there, it sort of conflicts with what I think you're trying to say initially with the vid. Like you seem to have started it with a FUCK YOU, SHOW! but it sort of ended up being kinda like OH. I GUESS THEY WERE DOING A THING. Because as an original character, she really did serve a purpose. And she really did have quite a climb. They may have started her off as a sexposition device but ended up maneuvering her to an interesting place where her demise was felt on a much greater level than "gdi Joffrey is sooo eviiil!" And from my viewpoint, the fact that she died in the same season as Talisa (also an original character) is absolutely not a coincidence. It is crucial in fact. So for me the "fuck you" theme applies to the world this woman lived in, not the show (which didn't have to give her ANY character traits at all but it did, it gave her enough to make this vid possible).
Anyway, I seem to not be able to control myself on this topic. Sorry for throwing more words at you. Maybe bc on tumblr all I see is everyone complaining about how terrible the show is in regards to the women, and it's just so easy to nod and agree. But having spent so much time with the women while making my vid, I found it mostly not true. For the most part, everything is done for a reason.
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ETA: I don't think GoT treats its women characters terribly as a general rule, I think people easily confuse how Westeros treats women and how the show treats its women characters, but this is a case where I feel that they definitely dropped the ball.
ETA2: I agree though that the vid itself is not a criticism of the show and just a straight-up character study of Ros, but my motivation for making the vid/my anger at how I feel the character was mistreated is where the "fuck you" to the show lies, not in the vid itself.
Reply
I think you're absolutely right that people heavily confuse how Westeros treats women with the how the show does. But I suppose as one of the ones who was completely baffled by Ros's existence (shh...this was back in the day ok!) I really appreciated where her character ultimately went. Bc at that point it felt complete to me. And she had enough emotional impact on the audience that we were emotional for her beyond just the visual. We knew her!
Reply
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