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".

White Feminism, Mass Media, and the Dothraki Language

Why do so many people honestly care about the Dothraki language? Of course, this question could have a simple answer.

"Obviously it's because the creators of The Game of Thrones spent so much time developing the language! How many shows can say they did that?!"

While this answer holds some merit, it still doesn't acknowledge the fact that there are numerous languages in TV shows, movies, video games, books, and even toys that have a completely fictional language. What about Klingon or Elvish? Krpytonese? Na'vi language? For the love of the Great Stallion, there's even a semi-developed language for Furbys. Why am I suppose to be amazed by this development of language? There are literally operas performed in Klingon. Tolkien created at least seven Elvish scripts: Tengwar of Rumil/Sarati, Gondolinic Runes, Valmaric, Andyogena, Qenyatic, Tengwar of Feanor, and The Cirth of Daeron. So this isn't something new to pop culture at all. Languages are created all the time for fictional universes. Why is Dothraki so damn popular?

Unfortunately, the Dothraki language, like the rest of the culture, was captured by the ever-prevalent white imperialistic feminism surrounding the show. Who was the first character to learn the language in the show?

It simply couldn't be.

Daenerys involvement in the language is why it's so popular among viewers. If she hadn't learned it or taken interest in it or pushed it aside, there wouldn't be a following. The Dothraki speaking the language wasn't enough for the giant frenzy accompanying the development of the language. Sure, Daenerys also speaks High Valyrian and the Common Tongue, but she didn't learn them from assimilating into a culture, and the progression of those languages wasn't followed as well. Daenerys uses the language with force and to primarily get what she wants from the Dothraki people instead of using it just to communicate with the people and to learn from the culture.

Okay, so maybe the feminist argument didn't convince you. How about the bizarre news hype about the language? Go Google "Dothraki language", click on the news, and look at all the news outlets that pops up: the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, The Guardian, Slate Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, CBS News, and NBC News. This is just to name a few. The media has gone nuts with the series, especially the language.

And absolutely everything published by the media is fact.

It's for a good reason. Most of these news outlets aren't related at all to each other like CBS News and NBC news. Some are related to HBO though, like Entertainment Weekly through Time Warner. EW would want HBO to succeed with the Game of Thrones and would do anything to make sure that the series expands and makes as much money as possible obviously. What about the other media outlets though? Wouldn't the riveting success of one company mean that the others would suffer? Well, they're all pretty comfortable with their assets, so if one succeeds, like Time Warner with Game of Thrones, all can succeed. All can report on the Dothraki language and how amazing it is and how it's becoming a trend to learn it. More people will read the articles because it references Game of Thrones, the catalyst for the media buzz. Every company earns profits because of Game of Thrones. Everyone prospers on the exploitation of a culture!