Rodafowa wrote:
flis wrote:
I just watch some of it and think "Wow, whoever wrote this had real issues." They only seem to do it doggy style, whether they're simulating rape or 'love making' and it's all quite demeaning and there doesn't seem to be any actual need for the constantly aggressive nature of the sex scenes.
Yeah, it's definitely going for a Deadwood-esque commentary on how sex and sexuality are used to oppress women, but unlike Deadwood it's trying to have its cake and eat it by making the sex scenes titilating for the viewer (as well as repeatedly using sexy-sexy time to EXPOSITION DUMP all over the screen).
My issue with the Dothraki isn't the characters or the obvious Ghengis Khan parallel (blimey, if I had a problem with thinly-veiled metaphor or parallel I wouldn't last long in the fantasy/sci-fi genre!), it's the fact that it's the only place you're seeing non-white characters in the series and they're playing straight to the trope of non-Western people as savages who're "Closer To The Land" than people in more "civilised" cultures. It's tired and cliché and mildly offensive.
It's exactly what happened in the book though. As malc has pointed out, the Seven Kingdoms is Europe, and the stuff over the Shining Sea or whatever it is is the Middle and Far East. The Dothraki are, and are supposed to be, Mongol-esque. It's all party of Dinarys's character development later on - driven by the contrast between her and her whiney brother's regal background and the culture of the big bad horse botherer she ends up getting given to. A culture which she ends up buying into, and then
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
basically exporting back to Westeros when she invades
In the book you see the Dothraki's interactions with the other pseudo-Arab civilisations over there, most of which are vastly,
vastly more advanced than the Kingdoms. And all of whom are looked down on (and pounded on) by the Dothraki. I presume they haven't got round to them yet.
The Seven Kingdoms are viewed by most other civilisations as being a bit backwards, although that obviously hasn't become clear as yet in the telly version. But in any case, the individuals within it who are the main characters of the books (and presumably the telly series) are largely execrable, and when there's a
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
civil war
later the way the common folk are treated by all sides is a real insight into the values (or lack thereof) at the heart of the Kingdoms.
I really don't see where the offense can come from here, unless you're looking for it very hard.