A Comparative Study Of The New Women And The Old Women In Game Of Thrones From The Perspective Of Liberal Feminism

The TV series Game of Thrones is produced by HBO Entertainment,a famous company in US.Game of Thrones is based on the epic fantasy masterpiece A Song of Ice and Fire written by American writer George Raymond Richard Martin.The novel takes the European middle ages as the background.The story of Game of Thrones takes place in the context of a series of wars between the nine families in Westeros for the Iron Throne in the patriarchal society.Besides,it also involves the other wars between humans and white walkers.Most of characters in the story are male ones,but the female images are distinct in characters,rich in emotions,and different in fates and endings.Feminism is also known as women’s liberation and gender equality(equality between men and women).Feminism had an unprecedented development and great influence in the second half of the 20 th century,with the emergence of numerous and diverse schools.Among them,liberal feminism pioneered the women’s movement in the world,emphasized the inherent equality between men and women,and advocated the integration of men and women into society with equal abilities and values.From the perspective of culture,the research concentrates on a comparative study of six female characters in Game of Thrones based on liberal feminism.Three of them are traditional women,the Old Women.They are Catelyn Stark,Lysa Arryn,and Shae.The rest are non-traditional women,also called the New Women.They are Cersei Lannister,Arya Stark,and Brienne of Tarth.The research will be conducted from the four aspects,namely,values,personalities,lifestyles,and fates and endings.The results of the research suggest that in the context of patriarchal society at that time,the New Women and the Old Women have different values because of the influence of family education and social class.Therefore,in terms of personalities,the New Women are strong and brave while the Old Women are weak and incompetent;in terms of lifestyles,especially clothing style,the New Women have the courage to wear men’s clothing and military uniforms while the Old Women are conservatively dressed;in terms of fates and endings,two of the three New Women,Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth,realize their own dreams with happy endings.Cersei Lannister,also one of the New Women,ends in tragedy,so do the three Old Women.Based on the qualitative analysis the author,through a serious study,concludes that the significant difference between the New Women and the Old Women lies in whether they pursue independence,freedom and equality or not;in the patriarchal society,women should have a strong sense of self-consciousness,rely on themselves,have their own unique actions and ideas and become independent in economy in order to realize their own values;nowadays,women should be more liberal,more confident,more independent than before,like the New Women,to live a happy and meaningful life of their own.Therefore,in modern society,women should strive to heighten their self-consciousness and behave as bravely and strong-mindedly as Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth,the two New Women who dare to fight against unfairness,and stick to their aims and morality.Besides,they should be dependent on themselves instead of men,and strive to realize their values.Besides,modern women should take the ignorance of the Old Women as a warning,shun themselves away from following the crowd,establish the correct values,and then treat their own lives rationally.