game of thrones s03e07
TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE
Fyi.
like, seriously, this isn’t going to happen
Oyd, is this what you were looking for?
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR THANK YOU.
This is awful and terrible and I feel like minna needs to see it.
(Source: myladymother)
FEEL SO MOON: Why Daenerys should not be glorified
It is understandable why Dany is a fan favorite - she has a lot of potential to be a great, powerful, and interesting character. But there are aspects of her, and the choices that she makes, that should not be ignored or pushed to the wayside in order to contribute to this popular “badass” conception of her. Glorifying her is damaging and, in effect, misses the point, as she often serves in the books as a representation of white savior imperialism - a fact that must be acknowledged in order to adequately discuss her character.
Right. Okay. Let’s talk about this and how incredibly misguided it is to paint everything with two brushes, in black and white. I’m breaking this down one problematic statement at a time.
So, I have some thoughts:
If you are GRRM and make a “race” of people who have white skin and white/blonde hair, or as tumblr user danysbitchface describes them:
“They are, in fact, entirely other with their white hair and purple eyes. They’re the Real World equivalent of Albinos. Just because they made her white in the show doesn’t mean that she’s actually part of some dominant race.”
and then have one of their princesses become the queen of a “race” that is brown-skinned and described as “brutal” and “savage” and etc
that does not excuse you from being a colonist, racist shit. Even though danysbitchface says,
“Dany has no White Guilt over this people because she has no reason to. The Targaryens didn’t build an empire on the backs of Astapori slaves. There is no white savior complex here because there is no guilt. You’re looking for issues where there are none.”
this is a bunch of hooey, because here in the REAL WORLD white people did all of the above bad things to brown and black people as well as try to paternalistically control these people’s lives through economic, political, and social controls, and these Real World white people are reading GRRM’s books and getting these ideas reinforced in their heads as An Okay, A Very Good Thing especially because of a White-skinned, pigmentless princess is selflessly doing this Very Good Thing like freeing Brown people and giving them their lands and getting lauded and followed and basically worshiped.
Here in the Real World, POC read that kind of shit and roll their eyes.
begin sarcasm/
GRRM OBVIOUSLY had NO CHOICE NOT TO MAKE HIS MADE-UP RACE of Targaryens with such lack of pigment and melanin. And NO CHOICE to have such a pale princess become the focus of adoration of all other peoples.
That has nothing to do with colorism and racism at all. Nothing to do with the practiced and unconscious preferment of white people.
/end sarcasm
People don’t magically lose their Real World context when they read and write books.
BTW there are albino people from every ethnicity. Not all albinos have blindlingly white skin.
“Here in the Real World, POC read that kind of shit and roll their eyes.”
“Here in the Real World, POC read that kind of shit and roll their eyes.”
#nice white ladies and white saviours and all your favorite tropes #it’s not that i don’t find her interesting #or understand her perspective as someone who was herself sold #but it’s contextually gross #and even grosser to watch on screen #it takes the thrill out of what is to this day her more interesting moments from the book #which were problematic already
white fandom needs to stop
OK seriously. I love Dany pretty hard, but the idea that this storyline doesn’t play into a bunch of white saviour shit BAFFLES me. Like, there’s a point where I sort of side eye the idea that anyone in the series is flawless, because, like, part of the point is that they’re not because that’s not how this shit works and the Game is precisely about everyone being kind of gross, but holy crap the backflips that response was going into to try and make Dany not white made my eyes roll the FUCK out of my head.
Like, sure, I will shit on criticism when it’s terrible, but this, like, isn’t? I mean, I’m not entirely sure who is thinking “I take what’s mine” is some sort of feminist anthem, but in the context of whiteness and the way white feminism interacts with women of colour I can understand other women of colour reacting to it that way.
In short, as someone who actually loves Dany a lot, white fandom needs to sit down.
I kind of hate that there exists a show where I am genuinely happily anticipating the bloody murder of a child.
# people who unfairly compair sansa and arya piss me off # they’re both fighting for survival # they’re both playing to win # but the thing a lot of people are failing to realize? # THEY’RE PLAYING /DIFFERENT/ GAMES # they’re not in the same category and they’re not working with the same tools # or in the same arena # quit fucking putting down sansa in comparison arya # quit portraying sword fighting as more nobel than fighting with words # they’re both cunning # they’re both clever # you don’t need to insult sansa’s femininity to build up arya # they’re both amazing and they both fucking with the westeros gender roles^^^^THIS
I love the women in Game of Thrones. When I was younger and more in need of role models I could identify with, I would have been SO into Brienne and Arya (and I do like them both), but these days I’m interested in a different kind of strength.
So my favourites are a toss up between Sansa and Daenarys.
I adore Tyrion, but other than him most of the male characters are just a backdrop for the ladies of Westeros as far as I’m concerned.
Right?
I remember sassing (or at least wanting to sass, I honestly can’t remember) a dude friend who was reading the books (somewhere towards the end of book 2) because he made some comment about Dany being boring or wanting to skip over her parts, and after someone commented that they found Jon Snow boring, he responded that he was willing to give Jon time to “get interesting”.
And my eyes, they rolled outta my fucking head. Because fucking seriously, ONE OF THESE PEOPLE HAS FUCKING DRAGONS.
I mean, I’ll admit I stan Dany (and most of the ladies, let’s be fucking real) pretty hard, but even if you’re going to be super shallow in your reading, SHE HAS DRAGONS, FFS.
Posted 1 month ago
#ASoIaF #GoT #sansa stark #arya stark #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #animated gif
#ASoIaF #GoT #sansa stark #arya stark #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #animated gif
23,370 notes
# people who unfairly compair sansa and arya piss me off # they’re both fighting for survival # they’re both playing to win # but the thing a lot of people are failing to realize? # THEY’RE PLAYING /DIFFERENT/ GAMES # they’re not in the same category and they’re not working with the same tools # or in the same arena # quit fucking putting down sansa in comparison arya # quit portraying sword fighting as more nobel than fighting with words # they’re both cunning # they’re both clever # you don’t need to insult sansa’s femininity to build up arya # they’re both amazing and they both fucking with the westeros gender roles
^^^^THIS
(via moniquill)
In Defense of Sansa Stark
Sansa Stark must be one of the most hated characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. The vitriol levelled against her is often frightening in its intensity, surpassing that for actually horrific characters like Joffrey and Ramsey Bolton. Her crime? The unforgivable fact that she is a pre-teen girl.
As a massive fan of Sansa, even I must admit that she is difficult to like at first. She’s spoilt and a bit bratty. She fights with her fan-favorite sister and trusts characters who the reader knows are completely untrustworthy. She is hopelessly naive and lost in dreams of pretty princes and dashing knights. She acts, for all intents and purposes, like the eleven year old girl that she is. Most of us were pretty darn unbearable to older people at that age (and that’s fine, because they were also pretty unbearable to us). Robb and Jon, although older than Sansa, are similarly misguided and bratty, with Jon’s constant “poor me, I deserve so much more” attitude at the Wall, and Robb’s clumsy attempts at being the Lord of Winterfell. But these mistakes are only reprehensible to readers when they come from a girl, interested in girly things and making girly mistakes. Because viewers have been taught that “girly“ is automatically bad.
I love bad-ass, sword-wielding heroines as much as the next person (Arya and Brienne are two of my other favorite characters in anything ever), but the focus on this sort of female character — the oft-cited “strong female character” — seems to suggest that femininity is still bad, and that women can only be strong by adopting stereotypically male roles and attitudes. There’s nothing wrong with Arya declaring that being a Lady does not suit her and forging her own path, but saying that all female characters must take this attitude is as sexist and dismissive as saying that all female characters must be weak and take a backseat in events. Femininity is not bad, just as masculinity is not necessarily good.
Sansa plays an important role in the narrative, because she shows how societal expectations of women completely screw them over. She believes in everything that her parents and her septa have taught her. She believes in stories, and she believes that the greatest thing she can do is marry the prince (who will, of course, be chivalrous and honorable and handsome and kind) and have his children. She has spent her life in the cold castle of the North, dreaming of stories of tournaments and beauty in the south. Because people want her to be that way. That is how they think the ideal young woman should be. And it almost destroys her. Worse, it brings the reader’s hatred down on her, because even though women are told they are only “good” if they fit into this role, the role itself is seen as weak, manipulative, stupid and generally inferior. It is the Catch 22 of being a woman, both in Westeros and in our own world: no matter what you do, you are criticized, especially if you don’t act like Arya Stark and fight to become “one of the boys.” And so some “fans” of the series declare that they wish Sansa would get raped, a woman’s punishment for daring to act how she has been taught. For daring to act feminine, and making mistakes while doing so.
And all this hatred misses the fact that Sansa is one of the strongest individuals in the entire series. In a world where people drop like flies, in an abusive situation that would break so many people, Sansa survives. Sansa endures. She stays strong, and she never gives up. As Brienne says to Catelyn, she has a “woman’s courage.” She learns how to play the game. She wears her courtesy for her armor, and she listens, and she adapts, and she keeps her cards close to her chest. She learns how to smile and curtsey and use her words to keep going long after other, older, more experienced players, including her father, are destroyed. But she will not kneel. She will not weaken. She remains strong, and she remains determined, because the North remembers, and her day will come. Her “woman’s courage” keeps her alive and in the game where characters like Arya would not last five minutes.
Most impressive of all, Sansa maintains one key part of her personality that others might dismiss as “weak” or “feminine”: her kindness. She manages to be brave and gentle and caring, despite the trauma she goes through. She shows love and affection to little Robert and to Tommen. She puts herself at risk to save Ser Dontos, using her words and her courtesy to trick Joffrey into doing as she desires. She cares for and calms the people of King’s Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater, despite the fact that she is so young and so inexperienced and few of them have ever done anything to help her. She knows that if she were Queen, she would make the people love her, because she cares about other people, even when her own life is torn apart.
Traditional femininity is not innately inferior. It has its own kind of strength and its own kind of power, and Sansa Stark demonstrates that better than any other character I’ve encountered. She is not fierce or rebellious. She is not ruthless or brutal. But she is strong. She is a survivor. And that should not be dismissed.
Yes. Yes to ALL OF THIS.
It is also a reason that I love scenes between she and Cersei, because it is such a narrative on the way that women are crammed into a position by society, expected to adhere to those roles, and then harshly criticised because they did exactly that in order to survive.
