On Tuesday, 2020 Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) continued her cringe-inducing appeal to millennials with a tag-team video about Game of Thrones. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined her, to bash the show for not being feminist enough. Their pop culture analysis mimics the gender pay gap complaints by focusing on equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity and character development.
Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 6 below.
“I feel like we were getting so close to having this ending with just women running the world and then the last two episodes … it’s like, ‘Oh, they’re too emotional. The end.’ It’s like, ugh, this was written by men!” Ocasio-Cortez says, exasperated.
“Exactly, and then one goes crazy,” Warren says between AOC’s declarations. “Yeah, exactly. Can’t do that.”
Indeed, Game of Thrones had a strong feminist undercurrent, with powerful women (and under-developed characters) taking power in Dorne, followed by the rise of Olenna Tyrell (the very well-developed character) taking control of the Reach, Yara Greyjoy taking control of the Iron Islands, Cersei Lannister becoming queen in King’s Landing, and Daenerys Targaryen invading from the East. The penultimate victory — the forces of the living killing the Army of the Dead — came at the hands of Arya Stark, and Sansa Stark plays a strong kingmaker role throughout the last seasons.
Yet a man, Bran Stark, ended up becoming King of the Seven Kingdoms. It seems according to Ocasio-Cortez and Warren, this victory of a man is enough to outweigh the fact that Arya Stark remains unmarried and goes off on an adventure, Sansa Stark becomes Queen in the North, and Yara Greyjoy remains in control of the Iron Islands.
Instead, the Democrats complained that Daenerys Targaryen — who always had somewhat of a mad streak — goes crazy and commits genocide in the capital city of King’s Landing. In the end, Jon Snow has to kill her to stop her totalitarian quest to “liberate” the world.
“I was even willing at the end to make a quick allegiance shift when Dany went nuts,” Warren adds. “So I was over to Sansa. I was like Team Sansa. I will re-do my shirts, the whole thing. And yet Sansa, who already is queen of the North, thank you very much, she walks away saying: ‘And I’ll still be Queen in the North.’ Come on, Sansa! Go for the big one!”
“I was disappointed,” Ocasio-Cortez says. “We need to get some feminist analysis up in HBO.”
“They need some help on this,” Warren concludes.
It’s been over 24 hours. No more spoiler alerts. Here’s why @AOC and I are officially on #TeamSansa now. pic.twitter.com/WKKHDbFz1M
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) May 21, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez shared the video, telling voters that they should elect an official who can focus on both “working family-focused policies + Game of Thrones gender convos.” She also teased another video collaboration with Warren — could it be a presidential endorsement?
Working family-focused policies + Game of Thrones gender convos
Elect you an official that can do both 😉
(+ keep an eye out this week for another vid on something we’re working on!) https://t.co/JCJaURahO6
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 21, 2019
The final season of Game of Thrones did rush major plot points, and the story needed more time to develop. That said, the story already had significant feminist themes, which should be no surprise because George R.R. Martin — the author of the books on which the show was based — has identified himself as a feminist.
In fact, the feminist themes seemed quite remarkable considering Martin’s focus on telling a story in a medieval setting with a strong patriarchal tradition. Yet Warren and Ocasio-Cortez dismiss these themes on the ridiculous basis that they don’t really matter if the ultimate ruler ends up being a man.
Yet these Democrats’ shallow interpretation of Game of Thrones belies the truth behind this video — Warren and AOC are merely pandering to millennials, and their pandering is shallow. Millennials should be able to see this and laugh at them. After all, this is the same Elizabeth Warren who released a cringe-inducing beer video in a weak attempt to appeal to working Americans.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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