Costober 2020 Day 19: Cersei Lannister

Today’s Wicked Girl is particularly wicked: Queen Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones as an analogue for Queen Susan Pevensie of The Chronicles of Narnia.

About the Look

Susan and Lucy were queens, and they ruled well and proudly.
They honored their land and their lord, rang the bells long and loudly.
They never once asked to return to their lives
To be children and chattel and mothers and wives,
But the land cast them out in a lesson that only one learned;
And one queen said 'I am not a toy', and she never returned.

I love Cersei Lannister. I’m on record that she should have survived the series. I wanted a queen for my Susan, and someone who understands the power and the trap of femininity, and Cersei fit the bill. She’s certainly wicked (this song is prominent on my Cersei playlist). And she’s defiantly proud.

Susan Pevensie is “a problem”. Within her canon, she doesn’t make it to the true Narnia with the whole rest of her family in The Last Battle. She’s left behind in the real London to pursue her love of lipstick, nylons, parties, and eternal young adulthood. Within the discourse™, she’s often seen as a maligned heroine. But then also as a stumbling block for having a discussion of feminism in Narina that isn’t entirely centered on Susan and her lipstick.

Cersei Lannister is also a problem. Like Susan, most of the essays written about her amount to “sexism screwed her”. And like Susan, sexism screws her within her canon, too. Cersei is ambitious and Cersei is angry, two things women are not meant to be.

In the few glimpses of young Cersei we see (mainly in the novels), she seems to be quite like Susan. Someone who dreams of a love affair with a prince, of being admired for her beauty and her cunning, of ruling well and proudly. Instead, she’s married off to a man who rejects and abuses her. Everyone in his court shuns her and her brother and blame her for it. Her father is dismissive, her children are taken away. She wants attention and security and Jaime is the only one who gives it to her, and that too is deemed wrong. Cersei says “I want” and the world says “no”.

So finally, she says to hell with all of you and takes what she wants.

Susan and Cersei are problems, and problematic. They are ambitious and angry and flighty and flawed. But they are people, not riddles and not toys. They are women who take up as much space as they want.

About My Look

I chose Cersei’s color palette in the latter seasons, when she’s basically in perpetual mourning and finally dressed like a chess set’s Black Queen come to life. But I wanted to be cheeky about it, to capture the affronted girl part of Cersei’s and Susan’s personality.

The dress and t-shirt were both purchased on Poshmark. The necklace I’ve had a few years, and was specifically purchased to reference the Lannisters. But I also love that with regards to Narnia and Aslan, wearing a lion is a bit like wearing a Christian cross.

Wearing a bright lipstick is of course important to this dialogue. This is NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in the shade “Cruella”. I styled my hair after the way Cersei wears it in the “Power is power” scene. She’s also wearing a larger version of my necklace there. The mask was purchased on Etsy.

or Commission a Look

Leave a Reply