Sansa Stark – The Baddest Girl of Game of Thrones
Sansa Stark – The Baddest Girl of Game of Thrones
Sansa
Stark, a girl, I say a girl because she is only 13 years old. A girl that
started off as mine and many others least favorite female character. Least
favorite for many reasons. One, she is entitled. Two, she shows women as weak.
Three, she thinks men are superior. These are all examples of how I think women
should never act. Sansa started off to be someone I hated and turned into
someone I admired. Sansa Stark may be a lady, but she proves that ladies can
still be independent. This will not only discuss how strong and independent
Sansa is but show how Sansa is not the only female that rebels this way. But
how Sansa is a savage to Joffery. I will compare Elle Woods to Sansa Stark.
Lastly, I will compare how Sansa is different from her sister, Arya.
Let’s start with why? Why did
Sansa Stark start off acting the way she did? As Mekishana Pierre expressed in
her article, Listen Up, Fives: Sansa
Starke Is a 10 and You Better Recognize, “We first meet Sansa when she’s a
preteen girl – not just any preteen girl, but one that has been raised as the
eldest daughter of a great House and had her head filled with pretty songs and
romantic stories.” Sansa grew up thinking life was about roses and love but
then quickly realized it is about thorns and hate.
Sansa
admired Joffery to the point where she would lick the ground he walked on. That
feeling changed the day Joffery not only beheaded her father but shoved it in
her face that he did. On top of Joffery killing her father, he had the Frye’s
kill her brother. In figure 1, is how I feel and looks Sansa looks at Joffery
after all the crappy stuff he has done to her. Sansa over a short period of
time had the walls of life is a fairytale crumble down. Now to the part where
she picks up her pieces and shows the world of Game of Thornes what Sansa Stark
is made of.
Now
to the conversation why Sansa is a female character that stats her opinion in
her own way. When Joffery forces her to look at her father’s head she does not
go to violence, even though I am pretty sure that is exactly what she wanted to
do. I think that is what everyone wanted to do. Sansa instead did not let
Joffery get the satisfaction of seeing her hurt. You could tell she wanted to
cry but she held back her tears and angrier. Instead, she came back me a smart
remark “Maybe he will take your head,” after Joffery said that he was going to
take Sansa’s brothers. Sansa does not go against a lady’s way that they
“should” act, she goes against it by proving that women deserve just as much
respect as men. Sansa still believes that there are men roles and women, but
both are as equally respected. Sansa stands up for being treated like a lady
and nothing less. Another way that Sansa stands up for what she believes in butstill acting like a “lady” is at Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn, Sansa showsaffection to Little Robin even though he’s every babysitter’s worst nightmare. Some may say being kind is showing weakness, but Sansa showed
kindness as a strength. There are different types of ways one may show they are
upset but Sansa showed hers with being strong to herself. Rather than Sansa
showing rebellion like Mulan, Katniss Everdeen or Leia Organa; Sansa showed
rebellion like Elle Woods. 
Elle
Woods, from Legally Blonde showed the world that you can act like a lady and
still prove that women are equal to men. A tad bit of information about Elle
Woods, she is a spoiled sorority sister, who believes her boyfriend is the one
for her. So, Elle Woods does whatever it takes to get his attention after he
breaks off the engagement. Against all odds, Elle Woods gets into Harvard Law
where her ex-boyfriend attends. Elle Woods does not prove that she is more than
just a spoiled sorority girl by presenting male ways but instead acting just
like herself. She ends up being first in her class and winning a large law
case. As said by Ella Alexander in her article, 5 ways Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods is a feminist hero for 2018,
“Having an interest in frivolous things doesn’t make you stupid.” Elle Woods
did “girly” things like only wearing pink and putting perfume on her essays. This
relates to Sansa having “girly” interests but still believing the way that Joffery
is treating her and others is not the way he should be treating others. This is
a way that Elle Woods and Sansa are similar strong independent women who don’t
need a man.
Now,
comparing Sansa to her sister Arya. Arya is clearly the rebellious child by
fighting her way through everything. What makes Arya’s situation different from
Sansa’s is the main fact Sansa is stuck in King’s Landing most of her life, by
herself. Arya is needing to fight for her life by running. Sansa has nowhere to
go besides playing the role others want around her, to stay alive. Sansa has to
play mind games when she is in King’s Landing. As said by Melissa Leon, in her
article How Sansa Stark Becasme the
Savviest Person in Westeros, “… Sansa’s life has depended on making sure
that enemies underestimated her.” Arya has to fight in a different way by
making the enemies fear her. Sansa and Arya might be sisters, but they are two
different people.
Sansa
had to learn how to understand everyone’s thinking around her, to help her
understand what information was missing. She listened to everyone
carefully, to help her understand how the politics worked. Who was loyal to
who, who would kill who and who would kill her. This is how Sansa Stark
survived living under the enemies’ noses for so long. She survived by
out smarting everyone around her in believing she was not smart enough to
outsmart them. Sansa Stark is the baddest girl of Game of Thrones.
I love the comparison of Sansa to Elle Woods. It is perfect. Elle Woods represents every entire inch of femininity. From the way she walks to all the pink she wears, she is Sansa. I do not understand the showing rebellion part in Mulan. Even though it is not a focus, I just do not see it. Are there other ways Sansa realtes to Elle Woods? I do not think that the perfume and the color pink are the only examples of a correlation to Sansa, but I cannot think of any new ones at the moment. When you say “Sansa does not go against a lady’s way that they “should” act, she goes against it by proving that women deserve just as much respect as men”, it is completely correct. Period!!!!! Sansa stays a lady for the entire show, she does not break character or turn on her values. She literally proves that women deserve respect. Sansa’s comments after realizing what and who Joffery really changes the way Sansa reacts to everything. You are right though. Sansa is the baddest girl in Game of Thrones.
ReplyDelete- Okay well, the first couple of sentences took me by surprise only because I am a Sansa fan and I never really hated her as much as you did when you first started watching GoT. I don’t think Sansa was “weak” Do you think she was just trying to do what she was taught as a young girl? Just like you said she is 13 years old, but reading further into your post I also admire how bad ass she is towards Joffrey so we can for sure agree on that. Also, YES GIRL, I wanted her to throw Joffrey off that bridge so baddddd. At first I thought you weren’t going to back up my girl but we are definitely on the same page with my Sansa, I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe question of whether or not Sansa is "weak" is interesting. She certainly is dominated by the Lannisters in the early seasons, part of which is situational. They have all the power, whereas she has been stripped of everything. I think it is also important to consider, though, the fact that Sansa up until this point has been raised to adhere exactly to what society's expectations of women are. And society expected women to be weak, to be totally reliant on their husbands. However, I think the women of GoT (especially Catelyn) show that this was never actually possible. Ladies always had to look out for themselves.
DeleteI am so glad we are now on the same page on Sansa but I do want to answer your question. Yes, I sure do think she was weak. I think she could not think for herself and only looked to others for what she should be doing with her life. I guess if everyone to listen only to what their family taught them, we would not have individuals, we would have groups.
DeleteI agree with you Dr. Schoppe, I do think society sees women as “weak”. I guess my only concern is not once did Sansa take a step back and wonder if she is more than just a piece of meat who’s only job was to be married and have children. Somewhere, the norm of women’s role in life needed to change.
DeleteI love the movie "Legally Blonde" and Elle Woods. Her and Sansa are the true definition of a girly girl. I love the fact that both are independent women and don't need a man to survive. Sansa is only a girl is having a lot to learn and when I say a lot, I mean a lot. I am pretty sure she is going to grow out of thinking that men are superior, and women are inferior to men real soon. After Joffrey killed her father and rubbed it in, I knew that Sansa was becoming a whole new person that was not going to take BULLSH%T from no one!!!
ReplyDelete