Women and the world of Westeros : analyzing the role of the narrative of HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones in the lives of the series' Filipino female audience

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts major in Communication (Thesis Option)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Vaswani, Serena M.

Abstract

This qualitative research asserts that narratives in the media and popular culture can be used to grapple with real-life issues and experiences. In this regard, this study aims to explore the link between real-life and fiction by querying the role of the vast narrative of Home Box Office, Inc.s television series adaptation Game of Thrones in the lives of its female audience by investigating how the series facilitates a kind of discussion and understanding of women based on the stories that they tell. Operating within Fishers (1987) narrative paradigm and taking McClures (2009) claim that narratives can be critically analyzed via the symbolic processes of identification (p. 201) as the premise for this studys inquiry, the researcher conducted individual interviews with 12 Filipino female audience members and typologically analyzed their responses for the ways by which they identify with the narrative of HBOs GoT. Propelled by varied symbolic processes of identification, HBOs GoT serves as an immersive social experience for its Filipino female audience that facilitates a reflection on their own positions and situations in Philippine society with respect to the themes of family, leadership, idealized self, and morality that they associate as the resonant grand narratives of the series.

Comments

The C6.E449 2018

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