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Does HBO's "Game of Thrones" have a race problem?
By James Brady RyanApril 18th, 2011, 2:19 pmComments (98)
HBO's Game of Thrones, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, finally premiered last night after months and months of anticipation on many people's parts, including my own. And yet, as I gleefully lapped up the internecine political maneuverings of grave people wearing a lot of fur, a question started to poke at my mind, at first gently, but eventually with all the force of a Don Draper fingerbang: does Game of Thrones have a race problem?
My short answer? Yeah, kinda.
But here's my long answer, and I should start it by stating two things: I very much enjoyed the first episode otherwise, and I've never read the books. So know that I'm strictly talking about the HBO adaptation, and even more specifically about the first episode. Hopefully, the problem I had last night will get ironed out as the show goes on. Because there I was cooing at direwolf pups when BAM: enter Khal Drogo and the Dothraki. We meet them via Daenyres Targaryen, a young women who will wed Drogo to strengthen a political alliance. And I could do little but gape at the Dothraki themselves, who came off last night as little more than an amalgamation of Middle Eastern and African stereotypes with some Mongolian Empire flavoring sprinkled on top.
You should see the look on the (platinum blonde) girl's face when she realizes she'll have to marry such a brute! He's swarthy and he wears drag-queen levels of makeup! His similarly painted people are themselves a range of swarthiness that stretches from... light brown all the way to dark brown! When the men aren't doing freaky sex dances with bare-breasted women, they're killing each other for fun. (This murderous streak is quite damning, despite the fact that we just watched a different man behead someone while his young son watched. But that time it was about "honor.") And on top of all that, their food looks totally gross. The people of Westeros naturally look down on these savages who clearly wouldn't be getting an invite to any royal functions if they weren't so damn good at being an invading horde of nomadic warriors. Frankly, the producers could have saved good money on these scenes if they just tattooed the words "Scary Brown Person" on everyone's forehead.
Maybe all of this is in the book and the producers are just staying faithful to the source material, but that doesn't change the fact that this is an unfortunate trope that crops up all too frequently in popular sci-fi and fantasy. Think of the turban-wearing, generically evil Men of the South in The Lord of the Rings, or the also turban-wearing, dark skinned Calormenes who help literally end the world in The Chronicles of Narnia, or the menacing Persian army (which is historically real but never had a leader who dressed like an S&M queen) in the movie version of 300.
I understand that the creators of these works are coming at these stories with a very Western mindset and often explicitly base them on European (and especially Anglo-Saxon) history, with some magic thrown in here and there. And while that might explain the prominence of these stereotypes, it doesn't address the problem, which is that Scary Brown People become an easy source for uncivilized types of all sorts, whether for their frightening sexual licentiousness or their frightening capacity for violence. Sure, some of the white people in Game of Thrones are off-putting — there are some murderers and some incest-committers, etc. — but those are the bad apples in the otherwise noble European apple basket. It's not the backbone of their culture.
And finally, all these Scary Brown People tropes aren't even historically accurate! The golden age of Islamic culture combined the best discoveries of Greek and Roman society with those from India and China and greatly advanced philosophy and science. The Mongols had a complex meritocratic political system and fostered trade along the Silk Road while practicing religious tolerance. Was it all sunshine and flourishing art scenes? No, but no culture ever is. In the end, this fantasy of a Scary Brown Person society hurts everyone: it's a cheap shortcut and it's boring, while its use promotes terribly outdated stereotypes that are honestly laughable at this point.
Still, I'm sticking with Game of Thrones. But isn't it time fantasy dropped this sorry convention for something better?
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Commentarium (98 Comments)
Did anyone else walk away from the first episode thinking "I feel like whoever made that hates women"?
Also the platinum blond dude seemed way more creepy and horrible than the "scary brown people." Just sayin.
I think the vibe I got was far less a hatred of women and more a frank look at the nasty side of heroic fantasy gender roles. Honestly, almost nobody comes out of Game of thrones looking good, male or female.
And yes, creepy blond dude is creeeeepy.
Actually, the books do a good job of telling big parts of the story from the point of view of women and, later in the story peasants who have no power. The story is about characters in a society that is inherently unfair just like the Middle-Ages. Like any story it's about characters facing adversity. Also, the Dornish (who are somewhat like Italians or Spanish) are very dark and are very civilized and powerful. Also, there is a knight who lives in King's Landing who is black and is from a feudal country, somewhat like North Africa was in the Middle-Ages.
See, that's the real problem I had while reading the series. Morons tend to think that every non-white society was some freaking egalitarian civil rights fest. You know what? Zulus and Aztecs could give white people lessons on brutal treatment of others. Plus the more you read the more you realize the Dothraki are awesome.
The treatment of women in ASoIaF is what is really the issue here. Every woman in the series is either a rape victim or some scheming Jezebel. Except Daenerys because Daenerys is awesome and her POV chapters are far and away the best of the whole series.
Is more Frank Herbert, right? a sci-fi system in which some version of middle eastern culture is central.
I agree about the Scary Brown Person stereotype in other works in our western culture, but I have read the books and they happen to stay completely faithful to how George R. R. Martin described the Dothraki.
And secondly, this is a work of complete fiction, not historical fiction. So when you bring up historical points, it dismantles your argument.
Well, I disagree for two reasons: one, I wanted to point out that the Scary Brown People from Vague Middle Eastern/African Area managed to become so common despite being historically inaccurate, or at least wildly reductive, which I think illustrates why it's so problematic.
Second, Martin has been very clear on how much the series was influenced by medieval history, especially the dynastic clashes in England at the time. It is fiction, obviously, but it is modeled on history. I feel like that makes bringing up other historical points valid, but it's true that he wasn't under any obligation to stick to anything he didn't want to.
I agree with Shawn. The author's discussion of historical inaccuracy does "dismantle his argument" entirely. Also, it is important to remember that while the show is done very well, it will in no way be able to capture the nuance and backstory of each character that is explicit within the books. The author should have waited to see if the show does stay faithful to the books, because if it does, the way the Dothraki are viewed by Dany is quite different. The meeting scene is supposed to be culturally jarring, because the Dothraki do seem strange at first to a young brother and sister who came from Westeros. Eventually, this changes--especially by book 3.
a little late, but i agree with James.
Firstly, the series is not a complete work of fiction. In fact, its little more than historical fiction + dragons/white walkers. All the elements are incredibly familiar- knights, kings, queens, castles, a thoroughly european setting through and through. This DOES make it a bit boring, having been done ad naseum. You must be blind not to see that the Dothraki aren't modeled heavily after the Mongols (or don't know anything about Mongol culture- their tents, their nomadic ways, their skin color).
the points missed by commenters such as Shawn and Chase are this-
a. "Scary Brown People become an easy source for uncivilized types of all sorts" and
b. "this fantasy of a Scary Brown Person society hurts everyone: it's a cheap shortcut and it's boring, while its use promotes terribly outdated stereotypes that are honestly laughable at this point."
First, Scary Brown Person Society would be a great name for a band. Second, it's still better than the Scary Orange People Society, aka Jersey Shore.
"those are the bad apples in the otherwise noble European apple basket" - If you do ever read the books, you will find that this is definitely not true.
In the story, there are societies to the south that I suspect could be analogous to the Middle East which are at least as advanced as the Seven Kingdoms. I don't get a Middle Eastern or African impression from the Dothraki. If this were intended to be a historically accurate representation of Mongolians, it could be offensive. However, there are other nomadic peoples in that region that are probably the closer analog.
I feel like such a nerd.
Yeah, I mean, if you are going call something racist, you should probably get the full story don't you think? I mean, to anyone who has actually read the books, the Dothraki may start scary, but they are supposed to be (it's called a character arc), the world is supposed to be completely foreign to Daenerys. But they become a huge part of the book, and her life, and are incredibly respected as the book goes along.
Again, if you had read the book before you pulled the race card, it would have spared us all from embarrassment.
yourotherfriend
Your willful ignorance embarrasses us all. Mostly you. Pretending racism doesn't exist may enable you to continue indulging your guilty pleasure but it changes nothing.
Though it does expose you for a closet bigot.
In the books it should be noted that the Viking Types to the NorthWest and the Celtic Types North of the Wall don't come out much better than the Mongolian types to the South.
If there is a race problem (and I'll give you there might be), it's probably from the books. Other than the Dothraki, I don't think there is much in the way of non-Caucasian. Although, I think some pieces were missed in the translation from book to teevee. I'm now interested to go and reread the wedding scene in the book and do a comparison.
Just based off of my memory, here's some issues that struck me (and I'll be checking on in my reread):
1. In the book, there are thousands of people at the wedding feast. In the show, there's a lot less - maybe a couple dozen extras? When you imagine a couple of fights breaking out in a very large crowd and a couple of people going at it off to the side, it's not as off putting - hell it could be one of my families weddings. In the show it's center focus and it looks like a bad day at a Hell's Angels picnic.
2. In my memory, the wedding scene takes place at night. There's a big difference in late night drunken "revelry", than all of this happening in broad daylight.
3. The costumes make them look like they are from the Love is a Battle field video of the early 80's - replace bad valley girl eighties clothes with leather. Keep make-up same makeup and hair, add breasts. Actually, maybe they are more Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Either way, they're bad wardrobe decisions. They spent money to create a whole new language for these people, you think there might have been better ways to spend it.
4. They guy they have playing Drogo. Could he be more stiff? He even get's one joke and and can't pull it off (hint, it's right before he rapes...er...consummates his marriage).
5. I don't know much about Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire but I think the book does them as a base (and Native Americans). It doesn't do a great job (it's not histortainment based on the Mongols - they are here to serve a purpose) but I think it does it better than in this episode.
Maybe things will change and they will flesh out these people better. This might all be through Daenery's eyes and we we'll realize more about them as the show progresses. That being said, I'm a huge fan of the books but never really warmed to this whole story line. The only good part was you get to see XXXX get XXXXX dumped on XXXXXX XXXX. And you're really happy about it. Other than that, they drag along on the other side of shallow sea forever...I cringe when her name shows up as a chapter title.
regarding point #4:
The consummation scene within the pilot is completely inaccurate and nothing like the books. Drogo does not push Dany over and go about his business. It was actually a mutual and affectionate scene, and it is where Dany realizes that he is not savage-like at all. I think maybe the director personally favors that particular position, since it appeared again with Cersei and Jaime.
Fair call but where do you start and end? Fear of the other (read non-caucasian for Westerners) runs deep in the human psyche. Use of brown people to denote this in Western culture is so old, ingrained and reflexive that it's essentially an archetype. There are mirror images of this fear in non-Western culture too. Things change but the change traverses generations. Hopefully we've left behind the days of the Gypsy girl-fight from 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' but it's probably going to be a while before a paying audience will accept a dark skinned Hamlet in a professional period production of Hamlet.
No one mentions the portly drunken King feeling up the hefty serving wench in front of his queen and all his subjects at the feast after his arrival. Or the queen and her brother doing it doggy style and then pushing the boy out the window to his death. Or what about the comment the blonde guy made to his sister about how he was willing to let Khal Drogo and his entire army (and all their horses) fuck her if that's what it took to get HIS crown back.
I think it's a question of balance, really -- yes, a lot of the Westeros people do terrible things, but we also see a bunch of them who are caring, clever, noble, etc. But all we have of the Dothraki -- and, therefore, all we have of any non-white people -- are these brutish, violent thugs. It's not just hackneyed, it's unrealistic.
I believe that there are other non-white people in the fantasy world who are more civil. Kahl Drogo is only initially portrayed as brutish in the novels. Daenerys' "blood riders" are portrayed as courageous and loyal.
I think that's true. The only real purpose the Dothraki serve in the book is to be the metaphorical fire that creates Daenyres' steel. So they've been created as mostly one sided - all brute force and fear inspiring.
This gives Daenyres character growth more worth. But, since this is their only function, there's not much reason to develop them more (the books are long enough). And I feel I can say this without being a spoiler but even as Deanarys' learns strength from these people, she tosses out some of their more brutal customs and replaces them with more caring and understanding 'European' sentimentality. Which only makes matters worse, for this discussion, because it underscores that in the mind of the author, there is no other side to them and it takes a civilized Western person to teach them the errors of their ways.
My above reply was written before the 'yourfriend' reply but posted after. In reading it, I think it backs up my point. For Daenerys' 'blood riders' to be seen as courageous and loyal, they must break with some Dothraki traditions - in the service and because of Daenery's.
I agree that the Dothraki are portrayed as generally brutish in the books. However, 1) they are not all portrayed as brutish, and 2) it's not a brown vs. white racial issue, as has been asserted, because there are other non-white civilizations in the story who are not portrayed in this way, such as the Free Cities.
James, I think that you're correct about it being a matter of balance. However, you've only seen one episode, so how do you expect to have a balanced view of the story? While you qualified the article by admitting that you haven't read the book, I must wonder why, then, did you write it?
To clarify, I'm not saying that you ought to read the books before commenting on or making an observation about the show, but I do think you ought to read them before saying that the story reinforces vicious racial stereotypes.
Wouldn't it be nice if an Earthsea adaptation actually cast people to match the physical descriptions given in the books?
And, you know, was in some way watchable?
To me, the Dothraki don't really seem based on any one civilization. Yes they seem to have Middle Eastern, Native American, and Mongol Influences but their civilization is entirely original. Hell, the people playing them are quiet obviously Caucasians with tans!
I just watched episode 7 of season 2. The Arabs are now portrayed as descendants of the House of Undying. The Zionist Scum know how to manipulate the masses. It`s quite funny the Arabs are portrayed that way since Saladin was the recognized Archetype of a Knight. But you must portray them that way, so you can bomb them later more easily.
Reminds me of the Lord of the Rings adaptation which remained 100% white until the evil Arab-looking Sauron army popped up from out of nowhere. Haven't read either book series though, so if the books said something like 'brown skinned people with dark eye-shadow and turbans/non-European dress' then I suppose it gets points for remaining truthful in its adaptation. Either way, I'm tired of it.
Whoa everyone. . . . why so serious?
The Dothraki come off that way, but through the books you realize that they are incredibly honourable and unlike the backstabbing-political agenda filled white nations. Furthermore there are other groups in the 'east' that will appear as the series goes along, and if people get butthurt about the Dothraki I can't wait to see all the panic people have when the slaves come into the show.
That being said, the women are arguably some of the most powerful characters in the books. Give the show a chance, I guarantee in ten episodes from now when Cersei becomes the raging bitch she is, Arya starts stabbing soldiers, Lady Stark runs around the world to help save nations, and Daneyers creates an army Nerve will have an article "Why Game Of Thrones Has The Strongest Female Characters on TV."
Give it a few episodes, all your basically noble Westerosians will die horrible pointless deaths at the hands of the "few" (HA!) rotten ones. Once Westeros society gets into it they'll show a murderous streak you can march an army through.
As the POV character in the wedding is Daenyres, an adolescent girl marrying into a strange culture its really to be expected that the Dothraki come across as bizarre and barbaric, in the books, their portrayal changes as she adapts to her new culture.
Trust me by the end of the series you'll eat your words.
This. AGOT is told from various characters perspectives. What you saw last night was Dani's initial impression of the Dothraki, and it reflects the fear she is feeling at her situation.
You will soon find out that they are characterized as the most civilized! The good guys rather than the scary brown guys
Even when they regularly slaughter those goat herder tribes? They may have own internal code but then again so did the Nazis.
Ha! Godwin's law.
The probability just hit 1.
Enjoyed reading all of the thoughtful comments above. (I am inserting a disclaimer that I did in fact like the show before adding..) I think it does have a race problem, in addition to a big fat gender problem.
Um, just out of curiousity, you folks are aware this is a work of fiction, right? Stop taking everything so damn seriously! Believe it or not, some things are meant to be entertainment, and not everything needs to contain an over-arching social critique.
Exactly. People need to get over themselves.
So I could make a movie that shows how great slavery was, and how terrible black people are, but as long as I say that it's "just entertainment," it's ok, right? I shouldn't exoect anyone to comment on it?
What?????
At this point I agree with Jim. xdI, critique of movies, plays, fashion, and society is neccessary to, at times, gain a new perspective of what lurks beneath.
The only thing that "lurks beneath" here is George Martin cashing another monster check, while not sitting his ass at the computer and finishing the damn series!
People will complain if there aren't enough women, if there are too many women, if there aren't any dark-skinned people, if there are too many dark-skinned people... Ugh.
OK, first off, why does race have to come into everything? Can't people just accept that sometimes things are not done because the people in charge are supposedly racist bastards?
Second, the way the Dothraki are portrayed is meant to make the audience feel as alienated as the charater Daenerys feels, what with her being married off to a complete stranger who she doesn't even share a language with and being plunged into a culture that she has no experience of and doesn't understand.
Third, almost all the characters in the book/series are at some point doing something that in a modern day, NON-FICTIONAL context would seem barbaric, not just the Dothraki. In fact the Dothraki are portrayed in a less barbaric fashion as Daenerys comes to know and understand them better.
All the people who feel the need to read racism and homophobia into everything need to get off of their high horses.
Also, the book is a work of genius, way better than the Lord of the Rings. READ IT.
Well said AD.
I totally agree with AD. Why do some people have the need to look for racism everywhere? There are the Summer Islands people, who are black as ebony and very civilized, and the white barbarians who live in Arryn's Valley, and the white wildlings who live beyond the wall, but all these people ignore it... the only time they open their eyes is when non-europeans are portrayed as wild. Stop trying to make everything look "politically correct" and enjoy the damn tv show.
I am glad that someone has finally recogzied this trend. Sure non-white people shouldn't search for racism in everything but it would help if Scary Brown People weren't always being portrayed as scary. I also acknowledge that part of the problem is that there are not a lot of non-white directors and producers attempting to make sword & sorcery flicks. For the most part we get these kinds of films from european descendents and southern asian descendents...
No one here has said that Game of Thrones or Martin is racist. We are discussing an aspect of Martin's writing and the HBO producers mini-series. If you are looking for a gushing, circle jerk where we all hold hands (er...hand) and sing kumbaya - go to a Thrones fan site and gush all you want. If you actually want to go deeper into a story some of you claim to love - joins us in a discussion of it. In my world, the things I love don't have to be perfect - the opposite would be a very cold and lonely world.
I don't believe it is wrong or misguided to look at different aspects of art and analyze them to see what they reflect of the world and our society at the time of their being written. And, I could argue, that this is more true with fiction than with non-fiction. With a work of fiction, the writer decides all aspects of the world being written about. Even if the writer isn't conscious of these decisions, he or she is still making decisions. And some decisions that appear arbitrary, can still be affected by the world/societal views the author holds (many times passively and subconsciously) - like all of us. The better the story teller, the more calculated the decisions are. Think of the set and costume design in Mad Men as compared to Two and A Half Men. One relies on whatever Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Houser wear to the set each day, the other squeezes out every piece of sign and signifier it can to help communicate its story to the consumer.
Now, in the case of the Dothraki, the argument isn't being made that Game of Thrones is a racist text or TV show. We're saying that for some reason it looks like the representation of non-whites is one sided and that side happens to be negative. Was that a calculation on Martin's part? With the Dothraki, most probably yes. He needs a very scary group of people to highlight the difficult situation Daenyres is in. But he decided not only will these people kill at will, take slaves, and rape pretty much anyone not them - but they're also going to be non-Caucasian - specifically of a browner tone. Why? Probably because he is trying to highlight that Daenerys is in a society where she is completely the other, the outsider. Making her physically different than all those around her is a pretty easy way of doing this.
And I think it does work.
But it is fair to ask, is this the best way to achieve this goal? Right now, it feels like a small crutch in a fairly good story. Did the author take the easy road, maybe relying on societal cues that are negative? I think yes. And does that make the story a net negative? No. But if we want to be better writers, better consumers of stories, or hope to help others to be better story tellers - looking at certain weak aspects of a story and deconstructing them to understand, why they are week and how to do it better is a good thing. We can still appreciate the story AND discuss it's flaws.
How else do you think Martin made this a much better story than LOTR.
The author of the article is making a different argument than you. I'm not gushing about the novels, but I do think you ought to be careful about calling someone a racist (even if they're only subconsciously racist), because that's a very damaging accusation.
In the real world, I think that most peoples who, in ancient times, lived in places similar to where the Dothraki live, have darker skin. It's evolution. Dark-skinned people aren't all portrayed as scary savages in the novels.
I'm happy to analyze the story and it does contain flaws, but I don't think that this is one of them.
But I think the author makes the point that if the Dothraki are at least partially based on a comparable society from our shared history, than he's not doing a great job at representing that society - and that onesidedness is part of the issue.
"The Mongols had a complex meritocratic political system and fostered trade along the Silk Road while practicing religious tolerance. Was it all sunshine and flourishing art scenes? No, but no culture ever is."
And I'm not calling anyone racist - unless you consider the fact that I think everyone from every society grows up with learned biases, is me calling people racists (see also; the song Everyone's a Little Bit Racist from Avenue Q or go take this test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/Study?tid=-1). But I'm not calling anyone a racist . I just accept that our brains have a the ability to group things together and assign known traits to them. It's a survival mechanism that makes it easier to avoid risks and dangers you've encountered in the past but it also has it's downsides and tends to go around our ability to reason.
Again, I'm not calling anyone racist. I think Martin was not trying to draw a fully thought out society in the Dothraki. He's using them mostly as the first test/learning experience that Daenerys must go through in her quest. And because of that and a certain economy that restricts how deep he can delving into every single detail of his book - we end up with a one-sided view of this culture. They serve their purpose and exit stage right. He also happened to make them non-white. In his mind, their violence and the fact that they are non-white probably had nothing to do with each other. But taken together, and with the fact they they are the only major non-white society we've meet, it's leads to the valid question that's being asked by this column.
I think it is a fully thought out society. We have a complete, if not detailed, idea of how they live. We know their worldview, their mode of production (none), etc. Maybe they come off as one sided because no chapter is dedicated, to my recollection, to a Dothraki character, so we never know what they're thinking. Didn't you think of Jaime Lannister as one sided in the beginning? That changes when he gets his own chapters. Furthermore, the wildlings, I think, are portrayed as equally savage. They're white.
The novels don't have a clear white=civilised brown=uncivilised theme as the author asserts.
Like I said, if the Dothraki are supposed to be a fictionalized portrayal of Mongolia, then it's innacurate and insulting. However, I'm not sure that this is the case and, unless there's more information I don't have, I don't know why this is brought up. Yes, GRRM has said that Westeros is based on War of the Roses-era England, but that's all I've read as far as historical parallels.
My main point is that there ARE other non-white cultures in the novel that aren't portrayed as savages. Perhaps you could say that the novels give an unfavorable impression of nomadic people, but not race. Even so, there are other nomadic people in the novels, who the Dothraki call the sheep-people, if I recall correctly, who aren't portrayed as brutish. They are portrayed as weak and, yes, one sided, however. This, at least, indicates that not all nomadic people are brutal savages in this fictional world.
James Brady Ryan was writing about this one TV program, not the books . His critique was appropriate to THIS one program.
True Eileen, and I think there has been some interesting discussion that has come out of this.
Some of the criticism that he's seeing comes from the fact that he was ready to jump straight to the race card after viewing a single episode. Those of us that have read the books know that the situation is a little more complex than he's making it out to be. Watching a few more episodes would have made this clearer.
I agree. Brown people are always portrayed as scary. I don't get it. Even the news. They are always portraying "A slaughter in Darfur" or the Congo or The "killings" in South Africa. The "pirates of somolia" The rape and brutalization of young "dancing boys" in Afghanastan. The "Evil" acid attacks in the mid east. Its all so racist and baseless.
Agreed. Caucasian civilisation has never committed such heinous acts, not even during the medieval times.
James:
The Dothraki aren't the middle easterners of the world: they are the Mongols/Huns/Tartars. Wait until season 3 when they deal with the Dornishmen, who live in Southern Westeros (i.e. the deserts). They are quite civilized (perhaps more so than the rest of people in Westeros).
Your problem isn't with Game of Thrones, it's with reality.
If there's two groups of people, one who live in houses and one who live under the sun, guess which one gets more tanned?
If one culture stays put and farms under the watchful eye of a feodal system and another travels around an enormous plains attacking and taking slaves from surrounding areas, guess which one is more likely to show a variety of subcultures, skin colours...
If one culture lives behind walls and one lives under the sun where everything people do is easily seen, guess where you're more likely to see people having sex or doing violence out in the open?
It's mostly the column writer's ignorance and intolerance that shines through here.
well put, mimsy!
I think everyone needs to calm the fuck down about racial and feminist (amongst other) issues. It's really getting out of hand. The TV show is a a perfect adaptation of the book, so if you have a problem take it up with the author. Otherwise, please get off your high horses and enjoy the damned program because it's better than most of what's on TV right now.
The Dothraki are a fictional race of people. Yes, they are kind of "savage", but that is their culture not because they are "brown" people. On the show they are portrayed as a people of many races, probably because of all of the slaves they take. And many of them are just tanned white people. The Dothraki didn't have sunscreen.
There are many races in this fictional world, and they all have different cultures. I think the author likes to depict peoples who seem almost familiar to us. I don't think they are meant to be an accurate portrayal however, just one that seems somehow familiar to us. In reading fantasy, when every culture you read about is completely bizarre and new and unfamiliar, it's a lot harder to relate to.
Also, must say, the show hasn't done as great of a job protraying Khal Drogo as the books did. I really wish that they left the wedding scene as it was supposed to be. It is one of the first times you realize, through Dany's eyes, that Khal Drogo is not a monster. Not a rape scene.
No on commenting has any idea of the level brutality, murder, and rape that went on in all midevil socties. Your looking at these groups as evil when they. Are perfectly normal for their age.
This is idiotic. Most especially since most of y'all haven't actually read the books. Otherwise you'd all know that Martin has 'savages' who are 'white' - Westerosi - in the books i.e. the Mountain tribes (around the Eyrie) that are even more savage than the Dothraki in the books.
If the series remains as true to the books as it has been so far, Tyrion is soon going to be meeting them. And you're all going to be getting acquainted with folks like Shagga (Son of Dolf), Timmett (Son of Timmett), etc.
The portrayal of the Dothraki is more of the Noble Savage trope than the Scary Brown People trope. Martin takes inspiration for the horse-worshiping culture from the Mongols, Native Americans, and Arabic nomads. They spend a lot of time out in the sun and traveling on horseback. Natural effects of the skin and evolution would dictate that this kind of culture would be brown-skinned at the very least. Would you rather these tribesmen be lily white or black as night whilst traversing the plains of a continent? Wouldn't make sense.
As one commenter stated, the first portrayal of the Dothraki is meant to convey exactly how a 14yr old girl feels in the position of being married off to some stranger who she can't even speak to or understand beyond body language. As with any medieval society, those who are different or don't use the same tools are savages and looked down upon. It's a natural state of affairs for fantasy/medieval fiction and, if you want to get real, most of Western society in medieval times. Savages can and have often been portrayed by not just non-white but also white people. Hell, if you took the time to notice, a good portion of the Dothraki slaves were white people or fairer skinned.
The Wildlings are also savages that live beyond the wall and they are, due to location, natural effects of the skin, and evolution white as hell.
There's no racism here, just the accurate portrayal of a story and mindset of people in a medieval environment. There's no room for touchy, feel-good, PC crap. Do yourself a favor and go read the books and stop making snap judgments based current ways of thought. Why don't you just start trampling down the racist walls of all fantasy? By your reckoning, the entire genre is racist.
Yes, you are right. The entire genre - and our entire society - is racist. That's exactly the author's point.
Its a Tv show ITS FAKE! Stop crying like little b1tches about it..
Seriously.....a race issue?lol!!! I did not get that one bit. Ok so in every episodelets have every race be represented as being clean, intellient, pc, etc. I think the whites are being shown to be just as brutish an uncivilized as the Dolfaki, just in their own waylol that this is even a disscussion at this point.
Does Game of Thrones have a race problem? YES.
Jesus Christ, the Dothraki part of the entire first episode was nauseating. Listen, every slightly dark person in that episode was basically an animal foaming at the mouth. Literature and TV does not exist within a vacuum. America and Europe have characterized dark skinned people as "savages" for years. There was constant propaganda that big scary black men were going to steal and rape white women. And are there evil white characters? Sure! Evil, smart white characters. Because dark skinned people aren't even smart enough to be good at being bad, they're just savage beasts. Echoing these ideas which were once incredibly main stream is not just ignorant, it's racist.
I'm hoping the rest of the series gets better.
The Dothraki are a nomadic people that led a brutal existence in a desert like environment. Their lifestyle is reflective of the merging of many historical similar types of societies. I just don't get why people see the initial depiction of their society as having racist overtones....It's the initial clash of Daenary's culture with theirs that makes the story interesting. What will make the story even more interesting is how Daenery's integrates into the Dothraki society.
the Dothraki wern't actually brown...they had so much fake tan.
You foolish humans and how you go on about the most inane and idiotic things.
P.S.-I won't ever be returning to this site,as I have better things to do,but please feel free to comment.
The Dothraki are surely a stereotype, but not the one that is familiar to modern audiences of 'white and black'. They represent the steppe horde, surely a fear to Europe and the Middle East since antiquity. These were a mixed people, some blonde and blue eyed, and some Asiatic or 'swarthy'. You have the option to view the show and the novels through a modern viewpoint, but just know that your view is irrelevant to the enjoyment of the story.
In any case, It's my view that the Dothraki are amongst the most scrupulous and honest characters in the show so far.
I have come to deliver a message. You are all stupid. Your brains are the size of split peas. The stench coming from your keyboards is almost unbearable. The Dothraki could kick all of your butts, and they could do it with brown skin. And the savage white, totally ignored in this stupid article, wildlings could do it too, though not as well. So shut up.
T.N.B should never be under estimated.
My dear mate! It is clear the only one who has a racial problem is you. Im sorry to say that, but the US minorities are completely different form the coloured people of the world. Now, i sound like a jerk, i know, but im sure you never been to Afrika or India, Pakistan... take it from me, as I have the firsthand exprerience - HBO doesnt turn the blind eye to the fact there are still coloured peole who are uncivilized, even in the 21st century. The first moment I put my feet on the Egyptian soil, and i was only a boy at that time, I realized most of the poor world are only a little more than savages. Sorry to break your idea of equality, but that only work in the us and europe. You would still find tribes like Dothraki in Mongolia, and you would be graceful for living in civilized countries ever after. Tom, Prague, Czech Republic
You should read more and travel more and interact with a lot more people and become less myopic. ANYONE afflicted by poverty acts the same way! It's a matter of poverty and not race and ethnicity. I have seen savage white people in europe, america, africa, etc. You sir, need to inundate your entire existence on this planet!
I really liked the article, and the very cool blog
All the truly evil people are blondes, so I think it evens out. By the way, the creators are Jewish, so the racist accusation doesn't really apply.
you mean the biggest racists of all?
As a non-white person myself, I admit I felt a little bit of discomfort watching the Dothraki on screen. I am hoping that later on in the series, we'll see the stereotype break a little bit with more of the wildlings being shown, and some advanced/civilised non-white societies outside of Westeros.
The Dothraki aren't supposed to resemble an Islamic people though, more like the Huns or Mongols or other preliterate nomads.
Everyone in that type of Era was very aggressive and belittling towards women.. it wasn't just the show that makes this a fact. And I wish not everyone would assume that what people are trying to do is make it "racist". This is a fictitious story about fictitious characters, it shouldnt matter what color they are because they're not trying to make a certain race like any that we know.
It sounds like the mythos of the romanticized noble savage will come to define the Dothraki later on. Also, i'd like to note that the guy who plays the head Dothraki recently played Conan -- a nordic warrior.
Yeah, pretty clearly based on the Huns, not blacks or persians or arabs... the HBO series just got it wrong with the makeup. Also, the women didn't wear pointless belts around their chests to squeeze their tits. HBO just blows. I'm not watching it again.
That's why I like The Society On Da Run. There's no "scary brown people" trope. A lot of nationalities get treated fairly. Everyone's "everyone". A clan of Africans are "dragon gods," the Italians are part of a dragon empire, and so forth.
Despite the depiction of the Dothraki, I'm still watching GoT because I like it (I wish the sex wasn't so IN YOUR FACE)
I dont get the complaints racism.
I have read the books and seen the whole first series and cant for the life of me see any legitimate reasons for people to claim racism if anything the dothraki come off as rather hackneyed "noble savages" which I suppose you might call racist if it wasn't that European seven kingdoms are portrayed as almost irredeemably horrible and corrupt, on the whole the white people and their society come of much much worse than the dothraki and of course you'll see more variety among the white people because theres more of them in show.
Seems like the writer of this article assigned nobility vs savagery as he saw fit in his own mind and then blamed the producers of GOT for his own preconceptions. How you view the actions of the characters is a matter of perspective.
Scary Brown Person LMAO!!!
Dear James Brandy Ryan, I suggest you always get to know the facts of what you're writing about. Your whole article does not sound like a personal opinion - what it should be, considering you haven't seen more than an episode of the show, nor read the books at the time of writing this. It sounds more like an accusation based on what you believe to be fact. On the other hand, the reality of everything can be summarized by two words: insufficient information! You cannot draw an opinion on a whole storyline or character type based on only one freakin' episode!
I hope you have seen at least the whole of season 1 if not even read the books, so you'll figure out that the image you've depicted is wrong. Let me give you some basic knowledge: any people that will spend so much time under the sun will become, at some point, brown of skin (during hundreds of generations, actually). It's called adaptation to the environment. Second, Drogo was supposed to have been the best fighter of the Dothraki, thus he's supposed to be big and tough. Third, take a 13-year old Daenerys (that is her age in the books) who is supposed to marry a complete stranger who looks scary and tough, and enter a foreign culture which seems downright alien. How would you feel if not scared!?
In the end, I have but one question --- do you have a problem with race? I have close friends of many ethnic backgrounds, and none of them feel [racially] stereotyped one way or another by something as this TV show. To quote one them (who has dark brown skin, btw), those who keep taking up this racial issue as a cause in today's world, without a strong base for that cause (which you don't have), is someone who himself has issues with different races. Basically, they're trying to compensate for something. Why did a single TV episode, where the Dothraki have but a few scenes, make you think about race issues!? Next time, read everything you can about the matter and point fingers only when you have exhaustive proof to support the pointing.
EXACTLY RIGHT !! I AGREE!!
Nice piece.
Love the show...have not even thought about the race stuff...damned if you do and damned if you don't. I think of color, very simple in skin tones...variations and I think of culture, how people are raised within their lands, neighborhoods etc...it is experiences, differences and common ground fighting through the stereotypes and the race baiting. We are all different. It doesn't mean we are divided by color, politics, gender or whatever else we can throw into the pit. Race to me is a running event where everyone is inviting to compete, cheer or show support for their fellow man, regardless of color or political hadicap or agenda...
If you don't like it go watch a show on BET (Bullet enters Travon). Probally a bunch of liberal pansies if they put Mooncrickets in Game of Thrones the crime and rapes would be thru the roof. They would have to open a welfare office in Kings Landing for all the Moolies to get there Gibs. Even the undead are called White Walkers as they get off their but to get their food unlike the spades around here. Winter is coming for the US.
Yes.. Out of fear of being called racist everybody should make their characters and cultures like this:
1: Figure out something awesome that will fit in with the story
2: Read comments from friggid bitches online to see what can be complained about
3: Remove any offensive material that might be taken badly by SOME viewers
4: TADAA. Twillight. Bland characters in a series that best can be used as freesbees.
Game of Thrones the German and Japanese pretensions that German and Mongol tribes influenced Western civilization in a positive way and designs the look of the characters to reflect an idealized self image that the Germans and Japanese have of themselves hence the white blondes in the Mediterranean and the athletic LARGE stoic warrior portrayed by Mr. Lisa Bonet.
To the Author: Stop talking absolute shite.
While whites were building castles, blacks were living in mud huts in Africa. Wait, they still are!!!!
Moors built those castles....So called white people are not even indigenous of Europe!