George R.R. Martin's acclaimed seven-book fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire is unique for its strong and multi-faceted female protagonists, from teen queen Daenerys, scheming Queen Cersei, child avenger Arya, knight Brienne, Red Witch Melisandre, and many more. The Game of Thrones universe challenges, exploits, yet also changes how we think of women and gender, not only in fantasy, but in Western culture in general.

Divided into three sections addressing questions of adaptation from novel to television, female characters, and politics and female audience...

George R.R. Martin's acclaimed seven-book fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire is unique for its strong and multi-faceted female protagonists, from teen queen Daenerys, scheming Queen Cersei, child avenger Arya, knight Brienne, Red Witch Melisandre, and many more. The Game of Thrones universe challenges, exploits, yet also changes how we think of women and gender, not only in fantasy, but in Western culture in general.

Divided into three sections addressing questions of adaptation from novel to television, female characters, and politics and female audience...

Mastering Fear analyzes horror as play and examines what functions horror has and why it is adaptive and beneficial for audiences, including women. It takes a biocultural approach, and focusing on emotions, gender, and play, it argues that the audience plays with fiction horror. In horror we engage not only with the negative emotions of fear and disgust, but with a wide range of emotions, both positive and negative, and the aim for us is to master these emotions. The book lays out a new theory of horror and analyzes female protagonists in contemporary horror from child to teen,...