Boo hoo.

{GoT Spoilers below…}

I finally read the newspaper that’s been sitting on my coffee table for almost a month. I’ve been meaning to read it and yesterday the cleaner moved it to the other side of the table. Was it a hint? I’m not a hoarder I promise. Not even a potential hoarder. If anything I am the opposite of a hoarder.

I bought the paper originally to read an article about the strong female characters in Game of Thrones. Spoiler alert 🚨- I’m not sad about Dany losing it. I don’t need my strong female characters to be perfect and victorious – they can be as messed up as any character – from Misery’s Annie Wilkes to Westworld’s Delores. What matters for me is that they are a complete character and not simply a plot device or a foil for the boys in the story. They need to pass the Bechdel Test with flying colours which the GoT characters did easily.

I never read the sports section but I noticed an article about booing at the football and I had to read it! I read the very long article and accompanying op-ed and from what I can gather we’re talking about grown men, professional athletes, moaning about getting booed by the crowd. I had to re-read a few sections because surely it had to be more than that. Come on guys…you footy players need to harden up! We artists learn very early to deal with criticism. I’ve never been booed to my face, to be fair, but I have had a 1-star review, I have had clients say they didn’t like the work I’ve painted, I have heard people in the bathrooms at a gig saying they didn’t like my voice…and that was a friend… it’s all par for the course and part of the process for creatives.

I hope the writers of Game of Thrones have broad shoulders because they’ve been copping more than their fair-share of criticism and booing over the last month. Most people are not happy with the way the series ended. I am keen for the books to come out as there are far more loose ends to tie up there than on the show.

I just hope that one day I will write something that people are eagerly awaiting, even if they do get mad about the ending. As long as it’s not Annie-Wilkes-mad…

Cover Photo by Sergei Akulich on Unsplash