I am not a fan of spring in the Midwest. It's allergy season, the snow has barely melted, the parking lots are filled with slush, you can say I'm the spring Grinch. Yet the one redeeming quality of spring for me was always the premier of Game of Thrones, lame I know. I was a woman obsessed and I couldn't get enough. Like many other GOT fans I was totally captivated by Daenerys Targaryen, better known as Khaleesi or the Mother of Dragons . Pretty impressive resume. She is a young woman who against all odds feels empowered and wants to fight to reclaim her kingdom. It's always inspiring to see a female character grow and become stronger in the face of adversity, yet by the third season I found myself disillusioned with Khaleesi and the show. She no longer represented my inner feminist angst but instead was becoming a symbol of something else entirely.
"She no longer represented my inner feminist angst but instead was becoming a symbol of something else entirely."
Let's start from the beginning. When Daenerys is married off to Khal Drogo by her brother Viserys you feel for her, she is treated like property between the two men. In fact on her wedding night she is raped by Khal Drogo. Despite her harsh realities, she slowly begins to establish control over her life, but the way she goes about it is a problematic message to send to viewers. Khaleesi realizes that in order for her to gain the love, admiration and respect of Khal Drogo she must take control of their sexual relationship. Now there is nothing wrong with a woman being sexually empowered or expressing her sexuality but what is troubling about this is that it sends the message that in order for women to gain respect in a male dominated world they must use their sexuality as a tool.
The racial component of Khal and Khaleesi's world is also important to note. Khal Drogo heads his own Khalasar, which is comprised of a Dothraki tribe of nomadic warriors. They are depicted as brown skinned, violent, uninhibited and sexually aggressive. The fictional language of Dothraki is also based loosely on Turkish. Daenerys is shown as much more 'civilized' in comparison to their crude 'savageness'. However, due to her own ambitions and need for an army she embraces the Dothraki lifestyle. In spending time with the Dothraki, Daenarys rediscovers her own identity, which is a page right out of Edward Said's, Orientalism. She is able to see herself much more clearly contrasted against the Dothraki.
Peter Stanton's blog compares Daenerys' life to the Rudyard Kipling poem, White Man's Burden that advocated in favor of British and American imperialism and colonialism. The Kipling poem is written from the outlook of Social Darwinism, which never leads to anything good. Stanton analyzes Daenaery's character, " [She serves as] the notion that Europeans and their cultural compatriots have an obligation to spread the "civilization" and "enlightenment" of their practices and ideas to make the world a better place." This 'obligation' according to Kipling should be fulfilled at any means necessary, because the 'civilized' culture must grow and conquer so that their needs and wants are met. Survival of the fittest culture is what Kipling was referring to. The White Savior Complex goes hand in hand with this notion as well. It is the job of the 'civilized' world to pull those from the 'uncivilized' world out of their own savagery, in other words they must save them from themselves in the name of 'progress', which by the way is a term often defined by the 'civilized' culture.
"It is the job of the 'civilized' world to pull those from the 'uncivilized' world out of their own savagery..."
You see Daenerys' imperialistic and colonialist tendencies in full force throughout the show. One such example I remember is when Daenerys saves Miri Maz Duur, a woman from a neighboring Khalasar. Miri is saved by Daenerys when she is being raped by Khal Drogo's men after her people are conquered by his Khalasar. This is the first instance we see of the 'white savior complex'. When Khal Drogo falls ill from an infected wound Daenerys urges Miri to save Khal, but Miri purposefully keeps him in a vegetative state, rather than saving him. Daenerys also miscarries due to Miri's dark magic. Miri explains that her people were killed and raped by Khal Drogo's Khalasar and that the prophecy claims that their child will be 'the stallion that mounts the world". Miri did this for the greater good of mankind so that no more killing would need to take place for the sake of ambitions. So naturally Daenerys has Miri burned alive. Once Khal Drogo dies she tries to take ownership of the Khalasar ,although she has no legitimate claim to it. Once again girlfriend is tripping and power hungry. What makes her think that she can come in as a foreigner and lead a group that does not have any ties to her?
Civilization is a term that is difficult to define and can be problematic. Civilized society is often depicted as the society with the most advanced weaponry. Therefore it is the group more capable of achieving their imperialistic goals. Daenerys is revealed as the mother of dragons. Dragons are considered some of most dangerous creatures to exist in this world, therefore they are her greatest asset in reclaiming the Iron Throne. Daenerys literally becomes a one-woman, authoritative superpower that possesses the world's most dangerous weapon. She is an armed and dangerous Lady Liberty. Welp.
Civilization is a term that is difficult to define and can be problematic. Civilized society is often depicted as the society with the most advanced weaponry. Therefore it is the group more capable of achieving their imperialistic goals. Daenerys is revealed as the mother of dragons. Dragons are considered some of most dangerous creatures to exist in this world, therefore they are her greatest asset in reclaiming the Iron Throne. Daenerys literally becomes a one-woman, authoritative superpower that possesses the world's most dangerous weapon. She is an armed and dangerous Lady Liberty. Welp.
Daenerys then realizes that she must take what is 'rightfully' hers and goes on a mission to recruit an army to claim the Iron Throne. She visits neighboring areas and liberates brown and black slaves so that they can stop following their previous masters and follow this strange white woman instead. The slaves are so delighted that this woman has freed them from their oppressive lives. They can now fight and most likely die for her right to the throne, everyone wins..right!? Aamer Rahman's post talks about the logic behind this. Rahman points out ," We are supposed to forget that she [Daenerys] is fighting for nothing more than her own sense of entitlement to the throne, like some upper-class brat who loses her family’s fortune and eventually manages to become CEO of her own corporation. Somehow all the grateful brown people she liberates are happy to march behind her for the sake of an imperial project that they have no stake in." The picture below shows how happy these liberated slaves are, you can almost hear them shouting, " thank you Khaleesi, thank you!" Vomit.
This white savior complex is not limited to freedom from slavery , but also applies to freedom from patriarchy when it comes to GOT. This very much feeds into the White feminism narrative of saving women of color from their own 'oppressive' culture. Rahman talked about this as well, "She [Daenerys] is Laura Bush, advocating for the invasion of Iraq under the pretext of saving its women who are desperate to live a life like hers." This particular white savior comes equipped with her very ownMissandei) , who is her most trusted sidekick. The problem is that Missandei works for her and will never be viewed as an equal to Daenerys.
Yes I understand that this is a show about different groups and families warring for their right to the throne, thus it would be in some ways impossible to avoid messages of imperialism or colonialism. I however think that it is problematic to hail Khaleesi as a just hero, when really she serves as an oppressive force. I also admit I have not read the books, so maybe these aspects of the show will change, but so far in all four of the seasons there have been zero empowered women of color. This is shocking since the show has one of the largest casts on television. This is harmful to young women of color like myself who watch these shows and movies looking for a glimpse of themselves in these awesome, larger than life characters. You are inadvertently teaching women of color to put their needs and wants second to those in society who hold more power than them. When women of color are constantly presented as the 'best friend' or 'supporting character' it is easy to start to see yourself in that way. You begin to view yourself as the supporting character in your own life rather than the heroine who has the means to save the world.
Black Best Friend (Yes I understand that this is a show about different groups and families warring for their right to the throne, thus it would be in some ways impossible to avoid messages of imperialism or colonialism. I however think that it is problematic to hail Khaleesi as a just hero, when really she serves as an oppressive force. I also admit I have not read the books, so maybe these aspects of the show will change, but so far in all four of the seasons there have been zero empowered women of color. This is shocking since the show has one of the largest casts on television. This is harmful to young women of color like myself who watch these shows and movies looking for a glimpse of themselves in these awesome, larger than life characters. You are inadvertently teaching women of color to put their needs and wants second to those in society who hold more power than them. When women of color are constantly presented as the 'best friend' or 'supporting character' it is easy to start to see yourself in that way. You begin to view yourself as the supporting character in your own life rather than the heroine who has the means to save the world.
I also acknowledge that this is fictional world, so having a cast that is mostly white, isn't that strange. It sounds like the perfect fantasy for those in society threatened by minorities . A world where the only ones who hold power are those who are white makes this show, Rudyard Kipling's wet dream come true.
I don't want to be saved, I don't want to be a sidekick. I want to be the hero, I want to be the one to take the ring to Mordor, to defeat the Empire, to fight for a throne. I am not a sexualized harem doll or an oppressed victim of my own culture. In order for me to see myself as this empowered individual I have to try everyday to shed these messages I am being indoctrinated with by the media and society, that I will never be the heroine. Women are especially excluded from 'nerd' culture. It is even more difficult to be a young woman of color who loves Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones, video games and comic books because more often than not I do not exist in these worlds. This is why we must advocate for diverse shows, movies and books with women like Laverne Cox, Gina Rodriguez and Mindy Kaling so we can begin to undo this damage. So that we can allow young girls of color to grow up feeling like they too can save the world and believe me they will.
I don't want to be saved, I don't want to be a sidekick. I want to be the hero, I want to be the one to take the ring to Mordor, to defeat the Empire, to fight for a throne. I am not a sexualized harem doll or an oppressed victim of my own culture. In order for me to see myself as this empowered individual I have to try everyday to shed these messages I am being indoctrinated with by the media and society, that I will never be the heroine. Women are especially excluded from 'nerd' culture. It is even more difficult to be a young woman of color who loves Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones, video games and comic books because more often than not I do not exist in these worlds. This is why we must advocate for diverse shows, movies and books with women like Laverne Cox, Gina Rodriguez and Mindy Kaling so we can begin to undo this damage. So that we can allow young girls of color to grow up feeling like they too can save the world and believe me they will.
Writer: Imaan Abbasi
Imaan makes up half of WorldWideWomeNow. She sometimes uses blogging
to shrug off her other responsibilities such as cleaning her room. This year she hopes to conquer senioritis and her aversion to doing laundry. She is kind of gross.