Analysis of Game of Thrones and The Expanse

In the aftermath of the crisis of 2009, the 2010s became the decade of cynicism, blending awkwardly with the dark romanticism of the 2000s and 1990s, as became most apparent in the most popular series of our time, Game of Thrones. When I watched The Expanse, I saw the same pattern as in Game of Thrones and knew this could be no coincidence but had to be a manifestation from deep in our collective unconscious.
In both series, everyone is motivated by self-interest, the will to survive, except for one person who selflessly gives up everything for what she believes in and revolting against a selfish world: in Game of Thrones it's Daenerys Targaryen, in The Expanse it's Julie Mao. In both cases they're women, and in both cases there's a man who worships her: in Game of Thrones it's Ser Jorah Mormont, a knight, and in The Expanse it's Joe Miller, a private detective, the modern equivalent of a knight.
They don't just pursue these women as a suitor, but as a beacon of light in a dark world. The message is clear: politics (but not necessarily culture) has so long been dominated by the male that its excesses can only be balanced with the female.
Of course, they don't go so far as to make females superior: both Daenerys and Julie Mao make mistakes and destabilise their society, and both series have their share of of female villains. Women aren't necessarily selfless either — if anything they're probably more selfish, since they're the ones bearing offspring — but the point is that these women who are selfless are the only thing that keeps us hopeful that the series will get somewhere. But cynicism has outgrown romanticism over the past few years, and in The Expanse, that hope turns out quite differently.