A story we agree to tell each other over and over: gender and disability performance in ​Game of Thrones

Abstract

Game of Thrones​ presents us with a wealth of fascinating characters, many of whom do not fit neatly into the particular roles ascribed to them by binary systems. As a result of their nonconformity, they are often ridiculed, spurned, “othered.” In this thesis, I will focus on gender and ability as performances—social constructions—rather than as natural fact, and I will utilize the literary and film theory of Laura Mulvey, Lennard Davis, and Judith Butler to explore ​Game of Thrones t​hrough this lens. I intend to analyze how certain characters perform gender or dis/ability (or both), along with the ways in which they have changed the narrative and subverted traditional ideologies and systems of power.