Shockingly, It's Racist

One of the first things that I noticed when watching the first season of Game of Thrones is how unjustly stereotypical the Dothraki were portrayed during the Daenerys Targaryen arc of the show. From the second that the Dothraki and Khal Drogo are put into action, they are placed in a bad light. The first scene that you Khal Drogo appears is when he’s getting to see Dany for the first time after purchasing her from her brother. This automatically places him in the role of the villain in the beginning scenes, the audience immediately revolting after his overtly sexual and what appears to be condescending look when he first sees her.

"Yep. I'd tap that."

From that point on, the Dothraki seem to follow a path of stereotypes that try to explain who they are while keeping them less civilized and inferior to the Targaryens. During the first season of Game of Thrones, the Dothraki race was quoted to be written to portray a “Native American-like culture”. Even while they try to explain what they’re doing, they’re doing all the things that an American audience would usually identify with countries that are underdeveloped. From the massive dance/orgy that took place in the beginning at Dany’s wedding to Khal Drogo, to eating the heart of the horse in front of shaman-like woman while she chants things in a foreign language, these are all things that we, as an American audience, identify with cultures that we find inferior to our own.

You mean this isn't how we party?

This is even emphasized during the heart-eating scene, by placing Viserys in the scene. Viserys is our white-imperialist counterpart that needs everything explained to him. He says what we as an audience is feeling in this scene, which by doing, is placing us in the viewpoint of someone who openly and with hostility thinks himself and his culture as superior. They are having the audience identify with the racism that Viserys is feeling.

As Viserys let us know, "Gross".