The Power of Hegemony over Sexuality: An Analysis of Game of Thrones and True Blood

     I admire Antonio Gramsci. Why, you ask. His work on cultural hegemony was ground-breaking. After spending four years studying history, literature, religion, and international development, my view towards the world has become largely pessimistic. My feminism has been strengthened. My passion to change the status quo has grown. I admit that I feel frustrated at times. I am disgusted by the news media, and the hegemonic power it exercises. We have become so influenced, and so brainwashed into accepting what the media presents us with that our abilities to question, analyze and critique have evaporated. The violence depicted on television on a daily basis has resulted in all of us becoming desensitized. We don’t care anymore that the Hazaras are subject to a mass genocidal campaign in Quetta. We don’t care that civil war rages on in Syria, and that women are beaten up by brutal Assad forces. It doesn’t matter that gang rapes take place in India every minute of the day, nor do we consider what the hell is happening in Mali. Life goes on. Let’s live in our tiny bubbles, and thrive in this neoliberal anarchist individualism that permeates our souls (thanks a lot, capitalism). In fact, hegemonic forces have become so invasive in our lives that we don’t even know that every single one of us is oppressed by them.

     Neoliberalism and capitalism have actually created a society driven by greed and consumerism. And of course, it has also resulted in the creation of gargantuan inequalities as Marx had predicted. Capitalism thrives on the concept of hegemony. Hegemony involves the clever exercise of power by a dominant force in such a way that the oppressed force or group does not realize that they are being exploited. Moreover, the oppressed group accepts the exploitation and even enjoys it in some ways. An excellent example of a powerful hegemonic force is the United States. The US exercises cultural hegemony globally. Canadians are dominated by US culture and obsessed with Hollywood and American television shows. South Asia consumes and enjoys US culture regularly. And so does the rest of the world. Patriarchy is founded on the premise of hegemony. The male strives to exercise hegemonic control of the female. Media perpetuates and helps to brainwash our minds on a daily basis.

     Have you ever stopped to consider the powerful and hegemonic influence that television shows exercise on our minds? We just consume them mindlessly, bathing in the pleasure of pure entertainment, without stopping to think what ideas we are unconsciously absorbing into our heads. Breaking Bad, for example, is one of the top rated American television shows. However, its popularity is based upon our instinctive craving for violence and blood. HBO shows, such as True Blood and Game of Thrones are two of my favourite shows. But the impact they exercise on one’s mind is astounding.  These television shows dictate sexuality, and gender identities. True Blood, and Game of Thrones help to perpetuate the idea that sexuality is subject to hegemonic forces.

     Take a look at how gender is portrayed in the shows. Cersei Lannister is the Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones, which is set in the medieval era (Game of Thrones, Season 1). However, despite being a powerful Queen in a position of great authority, she is still subject to the patriarchal hegemony of her husband who is the King. Thus, the show plays on how the male hegemonic influence shapes the behavior and structure of Cercei’s identity and gender. The male dictates norms for her to follow and adhere to while he is free to do whatever he wants to without being judged by the hegemonic gaze of society. Cercei’s husband treats her as if she is a sexual commodity who is not supposed to enjoy sexual pleasure; her body is merely a site for reproduction (Game of Thrones, Season 1). Muvley encapsulates this idea perfectly when she asserts, “Traditional Hollywood cinema perpetuates these roles, through the production of films that enable the audience to identify with an active male and a passive heroine (Szeman, 91).” So while the King is active and engages in sexual pleasure and promiscuity, Cercei is trapped under his authoritarian and hegemonic rule and as a woman in the medieval times, she is expected to conform to the role of a modest woman if she is to remain in the position of a royal and respectable Queen. Here, we also see how gender is overlapping with sexuality to a point where it is almost impossible to discern the difference between the two. Cercei, as a woman, becomes the very epitome of sexuality; her beauty makes her the object of sexual desire as Vance says, “women as a marked gender group constitute the locus of sexuality…gender and sexuality are seamlessly knit together (Vance, 46).” Thus, Game of Thrones perfectly depicts how hegemonic forces not only define gender but also dictate sexual behavior and identity. Weeks, in his article, asserts that many prominent researchers have equated sexual difference with the subordination and subservience of women as it is a way for men to exercise their hegemonic power over women (Weeks, 38).

      

     Another hegemonic influence operating in television shows is race. Race is commonly used as a concept that draws differences between groups based on power denominations on the basis of biological, physical and genetic differences; race is not a natural state but it is socially constructed by hegemonic influences (Szeman, 242). It is mainly the white man that exercises hegemonic power over the black man as the history of colonialism and slavery depict and Weeks asserts that in the nineteenth century, black people were considered as crude and wild beasts with uncontrolled sexual energies (Weeks, 39). This idea is shown in True Blood through the characters of Tara and Lafayette, both of African American descent. Tara, in True Blood, is a black female who experiments with her sexuality by not only having sex with a vampire, a shape-shifter, heterosexual males but also with women (True Blood, Season 4). Her aggressive nature further shows her as a sexually deviant woman who cannot seem to suppress her sexual energy. Lafayette, another African American in the show, is a gay prostitute and also operates a porn website illegally (True Blood, Season 1). His open homosexual identity and erotic relationships with men, shown vividly and explicitly in all seasons, as well as his aggressive sexual language, show him as sexually promiscuous. This is an arena where race, sexuality and gender are all intertwined. It is also noteworthy to observe that two of the lead characters depicted as engaging in homosexual acts are both black while none of the white lead characters are homosexual. This shows how the media, as a hegemonic institution, uses its hegemonic power to depict the idea of blacks as more prone to homosexuality and sexual deviance.

         

     A further way through which these sex television shows show hegemonic power being exercised to mould, administer and control sexuality and its construction, is through the traditional hegemonic institutions of marriage and family. This idea is also pointed out by Gagnon and Simon as they assert that for sexuality, “there are governing rules, hierarchies structuring mobility and standards of evaluation (Kimmel, 64).” In Game of Thrones, we see the institution of marriage functioning as the hegemonic system through which Cercei’s sexuality is controlled. As a woman, she is not allowed to have multiple sexual partners although her husband freely engages in sex with prostitutes and with many other women. However, the interesting thing to note here is how some of the hegemonic work is being undone here; Cercei secretly rebels against the institution of marriage by having sex with other men and also by having sex with her brother, thus defying the barriers imposed on her by the traditional institutions of both marriage and family (Game of Thrones, Season 1). Cercei is however, one of the villains of the story, which shows that even if females in popular culture try to rebel against the hegemonic powers, they are shown as ruthlessly power hungry and treacherous.

          

     The institution of religion is another powerful, hegemonic force that seeks to constantly regulate and control sexuality as Kimmel asserts in the article that, “One had to speak of sex as of a thing to be not simply condemned or tolerated but managed insteadninto systems of utility, regulated for the greater good of all…it was a thing one administered (Kimmel, 64).” This idea of religion being used as a hegemonic and authoritarian force to control and regulate sexual energies and limit sexual deviance is illustrated in True Blood through the characters of Steve Newlin and Maxine. Steve Newlin is the organizer of the Fellowship of the Sun, which is a Christian organization that abhors vampires as un-godly creatures that wreak havoc, and sexual relations with them must be explicitly condemned; vampires in the show may be used as an allegory for homosexual peoples (True Blood, Season 2). Thus, the idea of religion trying to stop people from adhering to homosexual identities comes across in True Blood. Maxine is another character who is depicted as a God fearing Christian who always attends church and reads the bible; she is shocked and scandalized when her son wants to puruse sexual relations with a vampire (True Blood, Season 2). Maxine does everything in her power to convince her son that Jessica, the vampire he is in love with, is a demon that God abhors and Christianity hates (True Blood, Season 2). Religion is shown as a very dominant and powerful force in society that can be used to regulate sexual behavior.

          

     The construction of bodies in the show is also heavily sexualized and bodies are often depicted in the show as the site of hegemonic control, whether they are male or female. In True Blood, all of the males and especially the vampires, are shown as the active agents with highly muscular bodies which dazzle all the females. The body is thus depicted as a sexualized site which controls the other gender and draws it under the hegemonic influence of the male. It is also interesting to note that the opposite is also true; the sexualized female body is also shown as a site of power that dominates the male as the female vampires in the show, such as Jessica, control the sexual desires of male characters such as Jason and Hoyte (True Blood, Seasons 3 and 4). Here, we see how the construction of bodies intersects with sexuality.

          

     Popular culture is a powerful medium that can shape one’s perceptions of sexuality, help perpetuate traditional stereotypes, and reaffirm traditional power structures, allowing them to continue doing their hegemonic work. While sex shows such as True Blood and Game of Thrones, help the authoritarian power structures to stay intact through their depiction of sexuality, gender, race and the construction of bodies, some of that work is also being undone. This is illustrated through the rebellious character of the vindictive and villainous Cercei and also through the powerful female vampire characters in True Blood, such as Pam and Jessica, who use their sexual prowess to assert their dominance over many of the male characters. Thus, there is some hope that a conscious effort to break the exploitative grip of hegemonic forces may be undertaken by the subordinate groups in order for societies and individuals to freely assert their identities.

Sources

-Game of Thrones (Seasons 1 and 2). Created by David Benioff and D.B Weiss. HBO, 2011, DVD.

-Kimmel, Michael S and Rebecca Plante. “Sexulaities.” Contexts 6, no. 2 (2007): 63-65.

-O’Brien, Susie and Imre Szeman. Popular Culture: A User’s Guide. Toronto: Nelson, 2004.

-True Blood (Seasons 1-4). Created by Alan Bell. HBO, 2008, DVD.

-Vance, Carole. “Social Construction Theory and Sexuality.” Constructing Masculinity. Eds. Maurice --- Berger, Brian Wallis and Simon Watson. New York: Routledge, 1995. 37-48.

Weeks, Jeffrey. “The Invention of Sexuality.”  Sexuality. New York: Routledge, 1989. 19-37.

Confessions of a Writer

She stared at the faces. The faces full of life, vitality, vigour and of determination. They all had the same things in common. The passion for what they wanted. The determination and hunger to achieve their goals and the perseverance to strive and struggle in order to achieve their aims. They knew what they wanted. She looked at her face in the mirror, desperately trying to search for that same passion, that same vigour and determination in her face. But her face looked empty and hollow, devoid of any emotion. She did not know what she wanted. The only thing she felt was this sense of aimlessness, isolation and the sense of not being understood by those around her. The only things that could ease this pain and this ache were pen and paper. Writing was a channel through which she could speak out to the world and try to make it understand what she wanted, what she strived to achieve…what she wanted from life. It was the only means through which she could actually find herself and understand herself. It was the friend that she longed for, the friend that provided her comfort in times of sorrow, the friend that enabled her to pour out her feelings and all her anger. She wrote angrily…passionately…she did not know what she was trying to say, the words just flowed out effortlessly…almost magically…as if the pen in her hand had a power of its own…it just magically made her hand move and made it produce words that she did not even know she was capable of producing….the ink flowed and flowed on the paper...it represented the outflow of all her emotions, of all her feelings. As she looked at what she had written, she tried to scrutinize and fathom the meaning of her words. They seemed dull, prosaic and insipid to her. But when she read them again, a feeling of comfort and imperturbable calm enveloped her serene soul. In her own darkened gloom of thought, she had finally found the answer. The search for what she was looking for was over. The answer was in front of her and suddenly her life was full of meaning and full of hope. She looked at her pen and paper and smiled. This was what she wanted. It was not only a channel of communication with the outside world. It was also something that she loved. It was something that made her feel content and satisfied. She had finally found herself.

Henry R. Luce, an American Publisher and Editor once said, “I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.”

When I read this quotation, I immediately felt that Luce was trying to define exactly what I felt and what I wanted and that immediately told me that journalism was indeed the right career for me. The above italicized extract is not a story taken from any magazine or newspaper. It is written by me and the lost girl in the story represents me.  I realized when I began writing this essay that no particular work of art inspired me to study journalism. Writing has always been a passion for me ever since I was a child and I used to write all the time. The hunger to write was always inside me and it used to gnaw at my insides until I finally grabbed a pen and paper and wrote passionately. With the passage of time, I realized the power of the written word and how sharp it was; the wound of it could hurt a person more than the wound from a sharp sword.

I still remember the day when I was eleven years old and my home computer was out of order. It was the computer on which I constantly used to type and send articles to local magazines in Pakistan. The excruciating pain I felt during those days because I wasn't able to write or express myself is hard to put into words.  It was perhaps at that moment that I felt that I wanted to become a journalist. Not being able to type on the computer made me feel cut off from myself and from the outside world. I felt lost and isolated.

I remember the first poem and short story that I wrote when I was ten years old. I sent it to a local magazine and it was rejected. I felt so discouraged that I vowed never to write again. However, the separation from writing lasted for only a few days. It was something that was a part of me, something that I was born with and the gnawing hunger to write soon encompassed me again until I was incapable of feeling or thinking and the only comfort from the pain was to vent out all my feelings on paper. When I was twelve years old, my first article was published in a local magazine. The uncontrollable joy, enthusiasm, exuberance and vivid effervescence that I felt upon seeing my name in print is indescribable. I felt as if I was floating in the sky and I felt that I had won the Nobel Prize. From that day on-wards,  I wrote about everything and anything that I came across. I searched for some sort of inspiration in the white empty walls of my room, in the cloudy sky outside, among the birds that ate the leftover food lying in the garden, in the faces of the people around me and in the destruction and havoc that the outside world was going through.  I wrote and wrote and I constantly looked at the world from a completely different perspective. When people saw a tree outside the window, I saw something else entirely. I noticed the hunched reverence of the branches. I saw the tiny lines on the soft, brown leaves. I noticed the sparrows that were nesting in the tree and I saw how beautiful the tree was. It wasn't a tree. It was home to some living creatures. It was a symbol of comfort and beauty.  I wrote and almost all my work was published in the local magazines. I even expanded my horizons and I started writing to a magazine in the United Arab Emirates. Seeing my name in print was a constant source of pleasure to me.

When I turned sixteen, I noticed the attitude people had towards journalists in Pakistan. They were viewed as good for nothing people who only made a living out of writing worthless material on scraps of paper. Everywhere around me, all people wanted to become were doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects and businessmen. No one seemed to appreciate the art and beauty of the written word. I thus changed my mind and decided that I wanted to study business. However, when I turned eighteen I realized that I would never be happy or content unless I became what I wanted to become and unless I pursued a career that I was passionate about. And despite criticism from my family members, I decided that I would pursue journalism as a career. I knew that it was something that I had always wanted. I still strive to go to a university in a world where there would be like-minded people like me who can understand my hunger and passion for writing, and who may have gone through a similar experience as I did, and so that I can study in an environment where people do not have a condescending and narrow minded view about journalism. It is a channel through which I hope to reach out to the outside world and make them understand the power of the written word.

It would have been wrong if I had written about how a specific work of journalism inspired me because no particular work of journalism inspired me to study journalism. I believe it was a feeling that I was born with. The desire and passion to write came effortlessly and magically. It was something I loved, and something I believe that I was born with. Henry Anatole Grunwald once said:

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”