Sexism: Not Okay In Real Life, But Okay In TV Show

As a person who is obsessed with Game of Thrones and can’t wait for the next season, it is defeating to see the sexist and misogynistic views in which the show portrays women. From the way Daenerys comes to terms with her inner power and her inner dragon to the way that she changes the great Khal Drogo, the series sexualizes women and tries to play it off in a positive light. Many people view the show as empowering women because it emphasizes the strength and courage that is possessed by Daenerys and paints her in a positively powerful light. However, they fail to acknowledge the way she came to recognize that strength and the way in which she came to terms with her power. In Game of Thrones, Daenerys realizes her true power only after marrying an important and powerful man. She learns to stand up to her brother only after she realizes that her brother can no longer hurt her because she has Khal Drogo’s bloodriders to protect her. It is only after this that she learns to embrace her status as a Queen and the power that comes with being the “dragon.” Although later in the series Daenerys gains more strength and power on her own, after the death of Khal Drogo, the book originally portrays the strong Daenerys rising as a result of her marriage to Khal Drogo.  

Another instance is when Daenerys changes the feelings of the all mighty Khal Drogo through the power of sex. The series illustrates Daenerys using sex as a tool to make Khal Drogo less “animal-like” and more civilized towards her. At first he only takes her from the back, more in the show than the book, however, once Dany learns how to properly please a man she makes him have sex with her face to face. Why does Dany have to use sex in order to obtain respect from Khal Drogo, her husband? And why is that quickly overlooked by most of the people who watch GoT?  

More upsetting than these instances of sexism and misogyny are the ways in which the series has tried to downplay them and use them to further the plot. The scene in the show/book where Dany forces Drogo to have sex face to face is meant to show the change in their relationship; it is the moment when Dany manages to soften the Khal Drogo and change his ways. However, it is overlooked because it was common back in the time period from which the series is influenced. Many people say it is okay because it is just part of the world that the is created within the series by George R. R. Martin. But this does not make it okay. Why is it okay to be sexist within a fantasy world in a TV show, movie, or book, when it is not okay in real life?  

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Am I White enough?

The Game of Throne is very evident that there are racial issues that are very evident within the book and movie. The most obvious one is seeing how Daenerys, the princess, is extremly white in every facit you can possibly think of. The white could symbolize a lot of things from being pure, virgin, or "chosen one" to just being white in who a white person is thought of as being superior to any other race. In both the book and movie it is very apparent that Daenerys is extremely white not including her white horse, go figure. With all this white focus you almost think that she is the next coming of Jesus or some Christ figure. To me it almost seemed like she was the next coming of Jesus due to her being so white and the Dothraki king being dark skinned. This is relatable in how Jesus come and washed everyones sin away and made them "white as snow". Not saying that Daenerys is Jesus or anything but just pointing out that the commonality between the two. Also when the Dothraki king, he rides a dark colored horse that is suppose to be superior and top stuff but ends up dying to save his owners life, wonder why they just did not use the white horse if being white is a superior thing?? Guess this time is was meant to just be shown that the horse is Daenerys’ and that the white is being just from a different tribe rather then being a “superior” thing.

Sex and Dragons: How Dany’s “Tasteful Nudity” and Dragon Children Symbolize Her Role as White Imperialist

         Daenerys has been known to proclaim “I am the mother of dragons.”  Anyone with Internet access and a mediocre sense of humor knows this.  But what do these dragons mean in a world where everybody is associated with a symbol or identity of sorts, including the bastardy of Jon Snow as incongruent with his genuine goodness and Tyrion’s malformed façade as a means of shaping him as a Richard III figure? Dany has her dragons.  The majority of her segment of the first book builds up to the moment at which she claims her matriarchal role and it lingers throughout the rest of the series, television and novel.  These dragons are symbolic of Dany’s imperial power.

            First, the dragons emerge in suspicious timing with the death of Khal Drogo and Rhago’s ill-fated monstrous birth.  They emerge at a time when Dany, at least in the show’s depiction, has begun to adorn herself in her original attire.   The dragons were the emblem of her family, her ancestors, really.  In this sense, they represent Dany reclaiming her heritage and seizing that power, that identity.  Normally, this gesture would be seen as empowering, however, Dany’s Targaryen roots present the much more problematic action of Dany demeaning the Dothraki people, ultimately. Upon the death of her husband, she rises from the pyre along with her dragons and she takes the role of white imperialist in place of indigenous warrior and utilizes those people to reclaim her prize.  Fire cannot burn the dragon, as she says.  Instead, it bolsters her and gives rise to the birth of her dragons.  The dragons rise and so does Dany. 

Both mythological reptile and white-haired princess are unclothed, in a high fantasy recreation of “The Birth of Venus,” a repetition of one of Dany’s first scenes in which she, naked, steps into the scalding bath.  While nudity could draw Dany closer to the carnal and atavistic depictions of the Dothraki people, we, the viewers, do not see her extremities.  The assets both the camera and the male characters draw attention to are now covered by dragons.  Dany’s armor is now her small dragon family.  Assuming dragons equate to white imperialism, Dany’s reptilian fig leaves seem to better her in juxtaposition to the nude Dothraki women.  She is still nude, she is still somewhat vulnerable, but the parts of her body both representative of her role as prize and potentially role as Dothraki Khaleesi, are shrouded by civilized imperialism.

Perhaps the dragons in their roles as Dany’s “children” as opposed to her “pets” further this imperialistic nature.  Even though mythological and ancient in appearance and nature, these dragons represent a new future.  Somehow they are a more civilized generation than the Dothraki people.  Even Dany exclaims that dragons eat horses.  Dragons, essentially the symbol of the white imperial Dany, conquer the symbols of the Dothraki.  In this sense, Dany takes over the Dothraki with her “seed,” her lineage.  It just so happens to be super convenient that her half—Dothraki son didn’t quite make it past the lump child stage.

Dany as both sexualized being and mother of dragons serves an interesting purpose.  Dany uses her dragons not quite as an armor but as a distraction from what the male characters had been determining her worth by.  Through using her dragons as form of empowerment, she proves she is more than her sexuality.  She reclaims a new identity as woman, as matriarch and not sex thing, and, further, heightens her role as an imperialist force that cannot be stopped.

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