Winter is Here

As most of you should know, HBO’s Game of Thrones returned on Sunday for season 2.

I have a love/hate relationship with this series. On the one hand, there are some pretty rad characters and plots. On the other hand, there is a lot of unnecessary rape and sex. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned Medieval violence? Part of me wanted to continue watching the series because of certain characters, and the other part of me wanted to have nothing to do with their stupid over-sexualization of everything. I can say over-sexualization because I did read the first book. Sex in the book was handled much differently, but the show completely played it to the male gaze. I am sick of this shit. How about last season we got to see a full-on lipstick lesbian sex scene but the camera cut out when two guys started going at it. (Also turning Drogo and Danny’s first night into a rape was not cool HBO.)

Anyway, so when season 2 started I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but felt compelled to watch. Do my duty to the blog and all nerddom.

I was pumped for THE DRAGON! Danny is perhaps my favorite character. Although she wasn’t in the first episode of season two very much, I still danced around every time she was on-screen. Also, there is something I noticed: The wild woman who is with the Starks mentions that falling stars don’t fall for men, but for dragons. Also the red-headed oracle lady mentions that: “The night is dark and full of terror but fire burns them all away.” I have reason to believe that both these women are alluding to the rise of the dragon. The red-head was portrayed as evil because she is going against the pre-established religion, but for once I don’t think she can be placed in the typical ‘women who do magic are evil’ category. I say this because the system is already so fucked up and evil, that the Dragon coming would actually be amazing.

The Imp was another character I looked forward to seeing again for all his witty one-liners. He told off that little prick of a king, told the dumbass queen she was useless, and was totally appalled that they ‘lost’ the little Stark girl. “One? One! How? Did she disappear in a puff of smoke!” Even though he is a Lanister, I don’t think he is a bad person.

What made me the most happy about this first episode was that there were not sex scenes every three seconds. In fact, the only time they showed stuff happening was in the brothel which was then shut down by the Queen (Little Finger tried to threaten her and she was like: Ha! Bring it).

A couple other things I noticed:

The wolves are finally getting huge! They are a much bigger deal in the books than in the show, but I hope we see more from them.

When Rob needed to send someone as an ambassador, he chose his mommy! Aw. He said she was more capable and trust worthy than all the men who were with them.

Although season one was terrible for women, I hope this season is much better. The lack of boobs in the first episode are promising- but we shall see.

-BatCat

Musings on Fantasy’s “Brown People”

Here at geekalitarian, the question about fantasy that most perplexes us is: why, when you can create absolutely anything you want to, would you simply reinforce the inequities in race and gender we see in real life? Especially in high fantasy, where many simply stick a few magical things in the Dark Ages and call it a fantasy world?

In grappling with this question, I have begun to write a story based in the world Bat Cat here and I created. The two countries present in the story are not white; they were not based on medieval European cultures. I’m having a hard time conveying this without saying things like, “half-circle headdress that looks like a sun — it’s like an Incan headdress, get it?” Apparently, I’m not doing the best job.

I presented this story to my fiction-writing workshop. No one seemed to realize none of these characters were supposed to be white, despite all the brown skin I mention. Someone suggested I not simply stick to old Eurocentric fantasy tropes (though not quite in those words), particularly in the way that characters talk. I find the idea of changing dialects to reflect different regions to be an interesting idea, but I don’t really know how to accomplish that without making up a language or using ethnic stereotypes. Part of that problem probably has to do with the fact that there aren’t really examples of that for me to follow. Rarely are “brown people” given a large enough speaking part in high fantasy to warrant the genuine creation of a dialect.

Most of my classmates admitted they don’t read much, or any, fantasy. So their assumption that, “it’s a fantasy world, obviously everyone is white, even when their skin is brown” can be forgiven to some degree. Fantasy is definitely painted as a white man’s genre in the mainstream consciousness. It’s a real challenge for fantasy writers to break these stereotypes, not only because it’s so easy to fall back into the old Eurocentric modes, but also because of the necessary cultural sensitivity. How do you describe a fictional people based loosely on a real-life culture without becoming stereotypical, yet while making sure everyone knows it isn’t just more and more whitey?

One way to avoid racism and caricature is by not making the generic “brown people” that appear in HBO’s adaptation of A Game of Thrones. This isn’t, of course, the only place “brown people” like this exist, but it is the most relevant right now, in part because of the crossover popularity of both the TV show and book series. Amidst all the other things to be offended about while watching GOT, Bat Cat and I couldn’t get over the barbarian treatment the Dothraki people were given. Think of any stereotype of “brown fantasy people” (nomadic, libidinous, half-naked, violent, etc.) and you have the Dothraki. Some cite Tolkien himself as the father of fantasy’s “brown people.” Sure, they were evil, and on the periphery. And he introduced the amalgamation of Persian, Hun, and general African that defines “brown people” in fantasy to this day. But Tolkien helped to invent modern fantasy, in the early twentieth century. That doesn’t mean we have to continue his outmoded tropes into the twenty-first century.

A typical fantasy racial breakdown, as seen through Game of Thrones:

“Brown people” look like this:

They’re sorta dirty looking, live in tents and have mustered up enough technology to weave baskets.

White people look like this:

They ride horses, make real metal armor, and seem to be going somewhere important, rather than mucking around in the dirt.

One of the most striking things about HBO’s Dothrakis is that they stripped from them the palace and mosaics (hints of civilization) the book’s Dothraki have. When Bat Cat began to read the book, we were stunned at the (rather offensive) changes HBO’s series makes to the novel. Khal Drogo and The Dragon’s marriage consummation was consensual, for one. For some reason, HBO decided to take a decent (though far from equitable) portrayal of non-whites in fantasy and make it offensive. (This was probably the same board meeting where they realized there weren’t enough breasts or prostitutes, and people didn’t say the word “whore” nearly enough.) I would hardly consider HBO to be a progressive, egalitarian channel, but it would have been nice if they hadn’t downgraded the Dothraki people the way they did.

It’s difficult to think of a portrayal of “brown people” in fantasy that’s not of an uncivilized, “less-than” nation. Only Tamora Pierce’s worlds come to mind, where the non-whites weren’t all confined vaguely to one group of people. She actually bothered to create separate nations for different kinds of “brown people,” like she did for the white people. Pierce has even written books that focus mainly on non-white people! Crazy, I know! I can’t imagine what fantasy would be without racism and sexism! A little better, a little more welcoming? …No, of course not. Everyone knows only white guys read fantasy books.

-Joanna