Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has criticised the way female characters are written in television and film, calling on the industry to create better roles than “the girlfriend” or “the hot piece”, and for women to “stop playing those characters”.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, the 18-year old actor also praised her Game of Thrones character Arya Stark, whom she described as “a great female character” and “a fantastic role model for girls”.
“There are a lot of roles that come in that are ‘the girlfriend’ or ‘the hot piece’ in a movie or TV series,” she said. “That’s something I’ve seen first-hand and read all the time.”
Williams illustrated her point by comparing the character synopses for men and women. “It will say ‘Derek: intelligent, good with kids, funny, really good at this’ and then it will say ‘Sandra: hot in a sort of cute way’ – and that’s all you get. That’s the way your character is described, so going into an audition you are channelling ‘hot’, which isn’t like a person, that’s not who a person is.”
Williams expressed her hope that women would stop playing those characters, so that “they’ll stop being written”.
While Williams may feel that too many female roles are underwritten in film and TV, she has no such criticisms for the character she portrays on Game of Thrones, Arya Stark. The character has been widely praised for providing a positive influence on young women. “I’ve been lucky enough to play a very great female character from a young age, who is a fantastic role model for girls,” she said
Williams is growing a reputation for politicised statements. In January she took part in a protest against the mistreatment of dolphins by Japanese fishermen. Meanwhile, in an interview with Dazed and Confused earlier this year, she argued against the notion that young people don’t care about politics. “I picked up my voice at a young age and I wanna use it”, Williams said. “People think we’re fucking stupid and we don’t know anything about anything. It’s really degrading.”
