FUCK GAME OF THRONES
While I much prefer reading and/or viewing books and films/TV series before trashing them, there does come a point where I call bullshit and just save myself the suffering.
Some of my thoughts and opinions however, based on the (many) discussions and summaries I have read, are as follows.
WARNING: VENTING BELOW THE CUT. ABOUT RACISM AND SEXISM AND ASSORTED BULLSHIT.
(1) On the widely shared and discussed petition to have the last few episodes of the series re-done. All I can say in response to this is: FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, PEOPLE.
Honestly, perhaps we could actually... give a shit about the fact that the planet is dying?
...Give a shit about the tragic fact that people in Democratic Republic of Congo are suffering a terrible ebola epidemic?
...Give a shit about the rise of nationalism and the far right around the world?
...Give a shit about global wealth inequality?
...Give a shit about racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, which give rise to events like this one? (Trigger warning for extreme violence, racism, transphobia, and misogyny in that particular link.)
(2) Game of Thrones has been accused of being horribly racist.
-Yeah, racist: among other issues, the incredible lack of characters of color on this show was incredibly glaring.
(From this link): "Game of Thrones doesn’t just have a “diversity problem,” it has a racism problem. The casting and the lack of well-developed characters of colour that attract most critical attention are the visible tip of the iceberg of racism that lies under the surface of the show. That iceberg doesn’t just reflect the race problems of modern-day America, it reflects white privilege and a racist Eurocentric way of thinking about the world that goes back to the Middle Ages."
...I really recommend reading the text at the link above (here it is again). It really details how the entire vision of the show was really, really, really racist.
Here, have some more: "The Dothraki are dark, with long hair they wear in dreadlocks or in matted braids. They sport very little clothing, bedeck themselves in blue paint, and, as depicted in the premiere episode, their weddings are riotous affairs full of thumping drums, ululations, orgiastic public sex, passionate throat-slitting, and fly-ridden baskets full of delicious, bloody animal hearts. A man in a turban presents the new khaleesi with an inlaid box full of hissing snakes. After their nuptials, the immense Khal Drogo takes Daenerys to a seaside cliff at twilight and then, against her muted pleas, takes her doggie-style. They are, in short, barbarians of the most stereotypical, un-PC sort. As I watched, I kept thinking, "Are they still allowed to do that?""
My point here is also that it is not just the series which is racist. Indeed, that series is based on a series of books, which have the very same racism problem.
"The Dothraki have always been a hodgepodge creation: George R.R. Martin has written, "I have tried to mix and match ethnic and cultural traits in creating my imaginary fantasy peoples, so there are no direct one-for-one correspodences [sic]. The Dothraki, for example, are based in part on the Mongols, the Alans, and the Huns, but their skin coloring is Amerindian." Would it be better if the Dothraki had a specific antecedent in our world? Or if they were portrayed by actors from a more uniform racial group, rather than by "miscellaneous brown people" - which, as Adam Serwer argues, "reinforces" the problematic ‘noble savage' stereotype"?" (From this link)
(3) On the misogyny of Game of Thrones (which is also very present in the book series).
-Much has been written about just how much sexual violence against women is a constant theme on this show.
I'd like to quote this text, which discusses just why so-called 'historical accuracy' is a bullshit excuse for this:
"[GRR] Martin stated to the New York Times in 2014 that “rape and sexual violence have been a part of every war ever fought, from the ancient Sumerians to our present day.” Know what else was? Dysentery, a gruesome intestinal infection that tended spread among soldiers on campaign as well as anyone who lived in a place where their water may become affected by human waste. Afflicted men would spread the disease around due to lack of hygiene, such as relieving themselves on the ground around the tents in which they slept, or from drinking contaminated water. Dysentery, along with other war-time scourges like cholera and plague, don’t show up nearly as often to offer “historical accuracy” to fictional narratives. Childbirth was also a grisly, unhygienic experience in which both mother and child would often die-far from the hazy, romanticized flashback last season of Jon Snow’s (Kit Harrington) mother dying through a sepia-toned flashback in a Rapunzel-like tower. Blood infections, rotten teeth, bent limbs from broken bones poorly set-all historically accurate, but not as titillating as yet another scene of a nude sex worker being brutalized by this season’s villain. Or, if the showrunners don’t feel like investing in a budget of prop diarrhea, they could always leave things to nature, i.e. showing any of the show’s frequently nude female characters to be in possession of visible body hair. For a show known for its willingness to go the distance to offer increasingly graphic scenes of violence and rape to be squeamish against these sorts of plotlines highlights the reason underlying all of this. Diarrhea and sepsis are too gross, too upsetting, too distasteful to air on HBO on a Sunday night. Sexual assault, apparently, is OK."
-Much has also been written on the disparity between male and female nudity on the show.
"This isn’t a celebration for the female form, instead it feels like the same old lecherous, leering male gaze we see far too often on screens. The amount of nudity between men and women in Game of Thrones is massively disproportionate with around 70 breast appearances throughout the course of the series. This means that at least 97 percent of nudity in the show is female going by just breast versus penis appearances alone." (From here.)
-Some have tried to argue that the nature of the arcs involving female characters in the show imply that it cannot be misogynistic/sexist.
Yeah, I call bullshit. First of all, how does this negate all the sexual violence on the show, as well as the disparity in sexual content/male gaze of the show?
...This also brings me to another thing I'd like to point out about the show (I wouldn't be surprised if it applies to the books, as well). There is another toxic form of misogyny which no one seems to have discussed regarding this show (although, in all fairness, it is hardly unique in this). This misogyny lies in its treatment of OLDER FEMALE CHARACTERS and/or NOT ATTRACTIVE FEMALE CHARACTERS. In other words, in Game of Thrones, the only female characters who survive and thrive, in general, are the 'fuckable' ones, or the ones which the male gaze deems to be of interest. (The lone exception may perhaps be the character of Brienne of Tarth, but she gets screwed over in the end in the show, since the man she loves goes back to the hot woman he REALLY loves, so... But what the hell, right? She should just be grateful SOMEONE was willing to screw her!! Ugh.)
What I notice in particular in Game of Thrones, as in so much of popular media today, is the mix of misogyny and ageism which renders the sexuality of older women something to gawk at, laugh at, or otherwise deny and ridicule. (While ageism also affects men, the combination of misogyny and ageism in popular culture is really something to behold.)
Anyways, these are my (admittedly somewhat uninformed, since I have read many spoilers and summaries for the show but couldn't stomach putting myself through the pain of watching this shit) thoughts.
(5) Being on Goodreads, I looked at the reviews for the books there. Another writer posted a five star review of the first of the book series, with the following comment: "(...) Here's my long overdue review of A Game of Thrones. I was looking at the current reviews. Here you have a book with a ridiculously high average rating, vast sales, and … the most liked reviews are three 1*s and an unrated comedy piece. Do we love to hate *that* much? Apparently we do. Not only is knocking down easier than building, it’s also more fun to watch."
...God forbid anyone not love the book, I guess. And feel pretty shitty about misogyny and racism being so highly praised. /rant
PS: I don't have followers, and I'm not anyone famous. (Nobody reads this blog, honestly. And I mean NO ONE.)
...But if anyone reads this and is annoyed by the above comment... please don't harass anyone on my account or anyone else's. Thank you. (But do feel free to like the one star reviews for the book, if you are on Goodreads and you agree with me.)
Some of my thoughts and opinions however, based on the (many) discussions and summaries I have read, are as follows.
WARNING: VENTING BELOW THE CUT. ABOUT RACISM AND SEXISM AND ASSORTED BULLSHIT.
(1) On the widely shared and discussed petition to have the last few episodes of the series re-done. All I can say in response to this is: FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, PEOPLE.
Honestly, perhaps we could actually... give a shit about the fact that the planet is dying?
...Give a shit about the tragic fact that people in Democratic Republic of Congo are suffering a terrible ebola epidemic?
...Give a shit about the rise of nationalism and the far right around the world?
...Give a shit about global wealth inequality?
...Give a shit about racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, which give rise to events like this one? (Trigger warning for extreme violence, racism, transphobia, and misogyny in that particular link.)
(2) Game of Thrones has been accused of being horribly racist.
-Yeah, racist: among other issues, the incredible lack of characters of color on this show was incredibly glaring.
(From this link): "Game of Thrones doesn’t just have a “diversity problem,” it has a racism problem. The casting and the lack of well-developed characters of colour that attract most critical attention are the visible tip of the iceberg of racism that lies under the surface of the show. That iceberg doesn’t just reflect the race problems of modern-day America, it reflects white privilege and a racist Eurocentric way of thinking about the world that goes back to the Middle Ages."
...I really recommend reading the text at the link above (here it is again). It really details how the entire vision of the show was really, really, really racist.
Here, have some more: "The Dothraki are dark, with long hair they wear in dreadlocks or in matted braids. They sport very little clothing, bedeck themselves in blue paint, and, as depicted in the premiere episode, their weddings are riotous affairs full of thumping drums, ululations, orgiastic public sex, passionate throat-slitting, and fly-ridden baskets full of delicious, bloody animal hearts. A man in a turban presents the new khaleesi with an inlaid box full of hissing snakes. After their nuptials, the immense Khal Drogo takes Daenerys to a seaside cliff at twilight and then, against her muted pleas, takes her doggie-style. They are, in short, barbarians of the most stereotypical, un-PC sort. As I watched, I kept thinking, "Are they still allowed to do that?""
My point here is also that it is not just the series which is racist. Indeed, that series is based on a series of books, which have the very same racism problem.
"The Dothraki have always been a hodgepodge creation: George R.R. Martin has written, "I have tried to mix and match ethnic and cultural traits in creating my imaginary fantasy peoples, so there are no direct one-for-one correspodences [sic]. The Dothraki, for example, are based in part on the Mongols, the Alans, and the Huns, but their skin coloring is Amerindian." Would it be better if the Dothraki had a specific antecedent in our world? Or if they were portrayed by actors from a more uniform racial group, rather than by "miscellaneous brown people" - which, as Adam Serwer argues, "reinforces" the problematic ‘noble savage' stereotype"?" (From this link)
(3) On the misogyny of Game of Thrones (which is also very present in the book series).
-Much has been written about just how much sexual violence against women is a constant theme on this show.
I'd like to quote this text, which discusses just why so-called 'historical accuracy' is a bullshit excuse for this:
"[GRR] Martin stated to the New York Times in 2014 that “rape and sexual violence have been a part of every war ever fought, from the ancient Sumerians to our present day.” Know what else was? Dysentery, a gruesome intestinal infection that tended spread among soldiers on campaign as well as anyone who lived in a place where their water may become affected by human waste. Afflicted men would spread the disease around due to lack of hygiene, such as relieving themselves on the ground around the tents in which they slept, or from drinking contaminated water. Dysentery, along with other war-time scourges like cholera and plague, don’t show up nearly as often to offer “historical accuracy” to fictional narratives. Childbirth was also a grisly, unhygienic experience in which both mother and child would often die-far from the hazy, romanticized flashback last season of Jon Snow’s (Kit Harrington) mother dying through a sepia-toned flashback in a Rapunzel-like tower. Blood infections, rotten teeth, bent limbs from broken bones poorly set-all historically accurate, but not as titillating as yet another scene of a nude sex worker being brutalized by this season’s villain. Or, if the showrunners don’t feel like investing in a budget of prop diarrhea, they could always leave things to nature, i.e. showing any of the show’s frequently nude female characters to be in possession of visible body hair. For a show known for its willingness to go the distance to offer increasingly graphic scenes of violence and rape to be squeamish against these sorts of plotlines highlights the reason underlying all of this. Diarrhea and sepsis are too gross, too upsetting, too distasteful to air on HBO on a Sunday night. Sexual assault, apparently, is OK."
-Much has also been written on the disparity between male and female nudity on the show.
"This isn’t a celebration for the female form, instead it feels like the same old lecherous, leering male gaze we see far too often on screens. The amount of nudity between men and women in Game of Thrones is massively disproportionate with around 70 breast appearances throughout the course of the series. This means that at least 97 percent of nudity in the show is female going by just breast versus penis appearances alone." (From here.)
-Some have tried to argue that the nature of the arcs involving female characters in the show imply that it cannot be misogynistic/sexist.
Yeah, I call bullshit. First of all, how does this negate all the sexual violence on the show, as well as the disparity in sexual content/male gaze of the show?
...This also brings me to another thing I'd like to point out about the show (I wouldn't be surprised if it applies to the books, as well). There is another toxic form of misogyny which no one seems to have discussed regarding this show (although, in all fairness, it is hardly unique in this). This misogyny lies in its treatment of OLDER FEMALE CHARACTERS and/or NOT ATTRACTIVE FEMALE CHARACTERS. In other words, in Game of Thrones, the only female characters who survive and thrive, in general, are the 'fuckable' ones, or the ones which the male gaze deems to be of interest. (The lone exception may perhaps be the character of Brienne of Tarth, but she gets screwed over in the end in the show, since the man she loves goes back to the hot woman he REALLY loves, so... But what the hell, right? She should just be grateful SOMEONE was willing to screw her!! Ugh.)
What I notice in particular in Game of Thrones, as in so much of popular media today, is the mix of misogyny and ageism which renders the sexuality of older women something to gawk at, laugh at, or otherwise deny and ridicule. (While ageism also affects men, the combination of misogyny and ageism in popular culture is really something to behold.)
Anyways, these are my (admittedly somewhat uninformed, since I have read many spoilers and summaries for the show but couldn't stomach putting myself through the pain of watching this shit) thoughts.
(5) Being on Goodreads, I looked at the reviews for the books there. Another writer posted a five star review of the first of the book series, with the following comment: "(...) Here's my long overdue review of A Game of Thrones. I was looking at the current reviews. Here you have a book with a ridiculously high average rating, vast sales, and … the most liked reviews are three 1*s and an unrated comedy piece. Do we love to hate *that* much? Apparently we do. Not only is knocking down easier than building, it’s also more fun to watch."
...God forbid anyone not love the book, I guess. And feel pretty shitty about misogyny and racism being so highly praised. /rant
PS: I don't have followers, and I'm not anyone famous. (Nobody reads this blog, honestly. And I mean NO ONE.)
...But if anyone reads this and is annoyed by the above comment... please don't harass anyone on my account or anyone else's. Thank you. (But do feel free to like the one star reviews for the book, if you are on Goodreads and you agree with me.)