"The United States in 2012 is, far too often, and even with a black president, still a culture rich in racist stereotypes and xenophobic fear-mongering."

April 1, 2012 9:48 AM

Is “Game of Thrones” too white? [Salon.com] Saladin Ahmed, author of Throne of the Crescent Moon, discusses fantasy fiction, politics of race, & America's broader values.
posted by Fizz (7 comments total)

Ultimately, A Song of Ice and Fire, like the Lord of the Rings, is the work of a brilliant and conscientious writer who is nonetheless writing in his own time and place. The United States in 2012 is, far too often, and even with a black president, still a culture rich in racist stereotypes and xenophobic fear-mongering. (from the article)

Perfectly said, and it's why these discussion often devolve into almost pure emotion-driven cries "are too" vs. "are not!"

Game of Thrones (and similar works in books and on TV) is too white. And, it isn't. Both are true at the same time. The sooner we as a culture grow up and accept the complexity of that, the better off we'll all be.
posted by Frayed Knot at 9:56 AM on April 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Martin strikes me as an author who unintentionally dodged a few contemporary bullets. The nub of the article is this sort of happenstance:

There is nothing unique about the savage horde’s savagery. If Dothraki society is depicted as violently perverse, so is Westerosi (i.e., quasi-European) society, which bows to the whims of the Aryan-featured boy-monster King Joffrey, and which has knighted mass murderers and rapists like Ser Gregor Clegane, one of the most horrifying minor characters in all of fantasy. Every culture is savage in “Game of Thrones,” and that’s a very different view of the world than what Tolkien gave us.

I doubt Martin paid much attention to race (and its this that Ahmed dings him for), and he did indulge in convenient tropes like taking the common conception of the Mongol hordes and calling them the Dothraki. By luck or design, though, his choice to make the whole series a morally relativistic deconstruction of Tolkien tends to dodge racial issues by making everyone a morally inferior being, regardless of color, house, or allegiance.
posted by fatbird at 10:00 AM on April 1, 2012 [5 favorites]

Just like 14th century England was waaaaay waaaaaay to white.
posted by Chekhovian at 10:04 AM on April 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

The Westerosi are 'savage' in a figurative sense.

The Dothraki:

- Are copper-complected.

- Wear animal skins

- Technology stops somewhere around yurts and sandals
posted by Rat Spatula at 10:06 AM on April 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is this another one of those shows where Elizabethan-dressed actors say stuff like "gnarly, man!"?
posted by telstar at 10:07 AM on April 1, 2012

Nonsense. Fantasy heroes have always had non-white sidekicks. Wait...
posted by Forktine at 10:07 AM on April 1, 2012

Is this another one of those shows where Elizabethan-dressed actors say stuff like "gnarly, man!"?

Snark is coming!
posted by Fizz at 10:08 AM on April 1, 2012