Fantasy TV shows are always a huge hit. Think of Game of Thrones, or the new Netflix show, The Witcher. Even if you don’t watch these shows, I guarantee you’ve at least heard of them. They have huge fan bases, and oftentimes huge controversies, so it would be hard to have not heard of them.
Fantasy is a huge genre. It can be anywhere from dragons, to space. There is, however, a connection between almost every fantasy show: their treatment of female characters.
Women in fantasy TV is something I’ve always been passionate about. Maybe not always, but definitely since I got into fantasy TV around 7 years ago. I’m passionate about it because, yes I am a feminist. It would be hard to ignore how fantasy TV shows present their female characters.
The way these shows present their female characters, is similar in most cases. They try and make their characters seem strong and independent, but in the process, take away their emotions. As a female viewer, I want to see all kinds of women. Eventually, the “strong independent woman” trope gets overused, and that is what tends to happen in a lot of these shows.
Obviously, I get a lot of information on this topic from the actual TV shows themselves. Game of Thrones is always one I turn to when talking or thinking about this topic. The Magicians is another one of my favorite TV shows to use as an example when talking about women in fantasy TV.
However, I don’t just watch the shows to get the information. TV news sources such as IndieWire or Screen Rant, for example, will often have articles about this specific topic.
I also follow this topic on social media. I will see it talked about a lot on places like Tumblr and Twitter. On social media, I’m an active participant in conversations about women in fantasy shows.
We talk about all sorts of things on these sites. One big thing we talk about is the sexual harassment a lot of female characters face in fantasy TV shows. Out of any other genre I’ve watched (and it’s a lot), fantasy is the genre with the most sexual harassment.
However, different media sources speak out against this. Game of Thrones is a huge example of this. After repeated rape, and general mistreatment, on the show, people started to speak out.
This just goes to show how this topic is treated. In TV shows, women are mistreated a lot. However, on social media and in the news, people are speaking out against it.
