Names and faces
Last month, Game of Thrones faced a backlash after another sexual assault became a plot point. The fantasy controversy reached the actual government. “OA, I’m done Game of Thrones,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D- Mo., tweeted last month. “Gratuitous rape scene disgusting and unacceptable. It was a rocky ride that just ended.” The distaste wasn’t limited to sitting U. S. senators. One blog decided to stop covering the show entirely. “The show has creators,” the Mary Sue blog wrote. “They make the choices. They chose to use rape as a plot device. Again.” Now, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Thrones creator George R. R. Martin has tried to explain his penchant for personal violation as narrative. “I want to portray struggle,” he told the magazine. “Drama comes out of conflict. If you portray a utopia, then you probably wrote a pretty boring book.” Although the setting of Westeros is not a real place, Martin said, his creation is based on the patriarchal society of the Middle Ages. Moreover, Westeros is at war, and pretending war doesn’t bring rape is “fundamentally dishonest,” he said. “Rape, unfortunately, is still a part of war today,” he said. “It’s not a strong testament to the human race, but I don’t think we should pretend it doesn’t exist.”
The widow of a man who died when he was run over by a pickup driven by Marion “Suge” Knight filed a wrongful- death lawsuit Wednesday against the former rap music mogul and key figures involved in the forthcoming film Straight Outta Compton. Lilian Carter, the widow of Terry Carter, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles against Knight, Universal Studios Inc., and rappers Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. Straight Outta Compton chronicles the rise of the gangsta rap group N. W. A., which included Dr. Dre and Ice Cube as members. The suit alleges Universal was negligent by continuing filming in Compton after Dre warned the production to keep Knight away. Knight, the co- founder of Death Row Records, has quarreled with Dre for years. The complaint also alleges Universal negligently hired Cle “Bone” Sloan, whose fight with Knight led to Carter being run over. Sloan, who was seriously injured when hit by Knight’s truck, was working as an adviser on the film and helped broker deals with gang members so that it could shoot in Compton. Knight has pleaded innocent to a murder charge filed in Carter’s death.