King o' the Cats
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Critics’ Reactions to the Final Season 3 Scene in Game of Thrones
Surfed Google News looking for what reviewers thought about the White Lady Jesus scene.
“It’s kind of weird that the show decides to rely on the slightly racist, definitely cliche stereotype of hordes of adoring brown slaves worshipping their white liberator.” - Kate Walsh, Indiewire
“…the messianic tint to Danaerys’ brief appearance takes on a weirdly racist and pro-colonial overtone (look at those poor, dark savages and how much they love their blond savior!)” - Todd Brown, Twitchfilm
“…her being surrounded by a worshipful mass of people she’s saved who are decidedly, er, browner than her is really frakking weird. I’m not saying there’s malicious, racist intent or anything, and some of the slaves are probably just tanned white people. But as an image, I found it really offputting.” - Rebecca Pahle, The Mary Sue
“I think we’re supposed to feel tense and apprehensive awaiting their response to her setting them free, but I’m just kind of bored. No surprise – they accept her, calling her “mother.” She crowd surfs while her dragons fly above the crowd. Also, she’s very white and all the slaves definitely aren’t and so maybe this is racist? I’d call for discussion but this is the internet so better not.” - Dr. Improbable, The OutHousers
“During Game of Thrones‘ first season, the show faced criticism that it was racially… not super sensitive when it came to portraying the Dothraki, who were largely treated as Klingons noble savages…Now, Dany has become a straight-up conqueror—an outsider who swoops in with her dragons and eunuchs to show other societies how they’re doing things wrong. Which is where things start to feel a little dodgy: The final shots of this season were supposed to be rousing, but they felt weird.
There was Dany, seriously the Whitest Woman Ever, crowd-surfing on a bunch of heretofore unseen and uncharacterized brown people, all of whom had been enslaved and helpless before she showed up? And they’re lovingly calling her “Mother”?” - Erik Henriksen, Wired.com
“Yes, this is problematic. The optics on this scene are really bad, which I can see you have noticed, because you have eyes. Problem one is that there aren’t very many people of color people on this show to begin with, and problem two is that when there are, they tend to be acting out “tribal” stereotypes and/or cast in the role of slaves. And this final scene featured largest crowd of brown faces we’ve ever seen, lifting the world’s blondest woman up as their messiah and praising her for saving them from bondage. It’s like George W. Bush’s secret fantasy of how he thought the invasion of Iraq would go for him (including the blond wig).
“If you’ve never heard of the White Savior phenomenon in media, wherein a fictional white outsider appears to heroically save fictional people of color from problems they can’t solve on their own, there’s more information here. Or you can just take a screenshot at any point in the last minute of the show, since it’s pretty much textbook. And that’s another problem, while we’re counting problems: I feel like I’ve seen this trope so many times before that it feels emotionally flat and boring, especially in comparison to her astonishingly badass siege of Astapor.” - Laura Hudson, Wired.com
“Also, I can’t even express how uncomfortable her last scene (the last scene of the season) made me feel. This show has always had issues with race and unfortunately, by having hundreds of faceless brown people lifting up a young, white blonde woman and calling her “mother,” showrunners are far from correcting them. It was Greyworm (and friends) who liberated the city. Can’t he get some love?”- Madeleine Davies, Jezebel.com
The Khaleesi of previous seasons, and even previous season three episodes, seemed to care little for titles that others were so eager to attach to her. But it’s that blissful smile, that obvious Christ pose while being hoisted above the crowd, her blonde hair and pearly whiteness shining upon a sea of trodden-upon brown people that lead one to wonder if all this savior stuff is finally going to her head. - Gabriel Ruzin, Screen Invasion
“The final image is still that of a white woman being embraced by the poor slaves she set free, and on a show that has been validly criticized for its lack of diversity in its main cast, ending a season with that scene was a questionable choice. We understand why the writers thought it was a good direction to go — viewers needed some real hope after the Red Wedding — but there were probably ways to direct it that would have taken the sting out of the visual.” - Rebecca Martin, Wetpaint
“So, um, did anyone else think it was a little weird to have a bunch of dusky brown people reaching out to the blonde white lady and proclaiming her their savior? Dany’s crusade to free slaves and whatnot is admirable, sure, but that scene seemed to say “Hooray! The nice white lady saved us!” Kinda got a weird vibe. Was anyone else made ever so slightly uncomfortable?” - Joe Streckert, Portland Mercury
It’s an image that many commentators found troubling, given Game of Thrones‘ overwhelming whiteness, and the presentation of many non-white people as barbarians, deceptive slavers, or mindless slaves. - Alyssa Rosenberg, Think Progress
“And not to end on a sour note — because I did think “Mhysa” was a tight, elegant episode — but did anyone else watch the final scene outside Yunkai and think, ‘Hmmm, am I really looking at a pretty white lady being worshiped by thousands upon thousands of adoring brown people?’” - Nina Shen Rastogi, New York Magazine
“The show’s previously been careful to maintain a heterogeneous look for most of the cultures Daenerys encounters in her travels through the eastern continent of Essos, so the uniformly brown skin tone of the freed slaves worshipping the blondest possible savior figure was surprising and disconcerting – doubly so since, in the books, much is made of just how many different kinds of people had been forced into slavery by Yunkai and then freed by Dany when she took the city. This uncomfortable contrast kneecapped what could otherwise have been the most purely uplifting and cathartic moment in the series so far. Plus it gave the episode its title and was, you know, the final shot of the season – a rough one to go out on. “ Sean T. Collins, Rolling Stone
This is why choices matter.
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▣ Frozen(2013) first officially released concept art
…why do they look almost exactly like Rapunzel and Flynn
Like, literally I feel like I’m looking at a shorter hair Rapunzel and a blonde Flynn Rider right down to the demeanor and I don’t know what to make of that
whooo-eee it sure is GENERIC PROTAGONISTS in here
i never thought i’d experience boredom in a picture but here it is
even the male protagonist looks fed up with this shit
the guy is sort of cute, but I need to see a trailer before I pass judgement completely. However I am terrified they will sameface Rapunzel :C
yeah we probably need more blonde white female protagonists I’m not sure we have enough yet
hey just sayin when you make a character you consider where the fuck they’re from. if it is cold, and icy, the person is gonna be white. sorry. also looks like this takes place in well AN ICY DESOLATE KINGDOM aka nordic aka white pale blonde creatures wow who would have thought disney looks at like, i dunno, where the characters are from and where the story is taking place whoa sorry we gotta sacrifice the diversity of tumblr social justice for facts yknow
yeah i forgot that everyone that lives in icy places is white.
oh wait that’s not true at all, you racist shit.
you know this fucking hat you wear in the winter?
this shit?
you know where that’s from? it’s called a “chullo”, you fuck. and it’s FROM THE ANDES.
WHICH is in SOUTH AMERICA. MADE BY THE PEOPLE THERE SINCE BEFORE THE SPANIARDS CAME.
how much do facts hurt now?
Been meaning to reblog the commentary about FROZEN but this pretty much sums up my thoughts and adds some good points that I think many people will miss.
o o p
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THIS is why it’s important to have Native representation in pop culture and mass media.
I just want to say that this is why minority representation in the media matters. Mae Jemison was inspired to become an astronaut after watching Nichelle Nichols as Uhura on Star Trek.
Can I avoid reblogging this? I don’t think so.
When people argue that messages on tv, or in magazines, or what have you, don’t have an impact, they’re normally saying it from a place of ignorance, having never felt like they are in no way represented.
That’s why we had the year of arguments about Lena Dunham’s Girls - not because minorities are petty about being ‘included’, but because it’s actually necessary to fight against the idea that diversity doesn’t need to exist in fiction.
I genuinely have trouble understanding the reasoning of those who are like “calm down, it’s just a movie/tv show/book/comic, it doesn’t matter” when multi-media entertainment literally is a billion dollar industry that drives our cultural economy.
Like.
That is a lot of money, jobs and livelihoods for it not to matter.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH!!!!
I am incredibly proud to present a project that I worked very hard on that has finally premiered on the internet! Over a year ago, back when I still worked at Hero4Hire Animation as the art director/lead design, I was given the reigns to direct a big project for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media. Its a wonderful foundation that fights for the interest of one of the things very closest to my heart; that being the portrayal of girls and women in animated media, as well as for equality of roles for women working within animation. Things are slowly changing (Rebecca Sugar being the first women to get her own show on CN!!!), but animation is still largely dominated by men, especially in roles of power like direction and creators. This is often reflected in the female characters that arise from this disparity, that can often be cookie cut outs, token in nature, or at worst just there for the pure reason of sassy eye candy. That’s not to say there aren’t great female characters in media, but the numbers are actually quite staggering. Even being really in tune with the issue myself I was blown clear away by the actual numbers when I attended the institutes conference in NYC last year. I’d recommend taking a look at the research found here, as it’s really eye opening.
So I got to meet Geena Davis. I’d never met a celebrity before, let alone sat down with one over tea to show her my drawings and pitch book for the short I had made for her foundation. It was a little nerve wracking as I sat there in the small NYC cafe waiting for her arrival, only made more so when she walked in and was the tallest person ever. Let me describe to you the inner monologue of someone who has a stunningly beautiful, 20 foot tall movie star walking at them:
“AAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA AA AAAAA”
Needless to say Geena is a rad lady and super nice. Also I managed to not make any “There’s no crying in baseball” jokes despite how my terrible brain kept a constant feed of them supplied to me throughout our ensuing conversation.
The project went through a few stages before the finished product. Initially it was drafted to be a more story based short. I’d written a 14 page script which even still I think is pretty funny/informative, about traveling through the various animated stereotypes of girls (and boys too!). Maybe someday that will see the light of day, but it ended up a studio decision in interest of time/funds to go with a more infographic style short piece instead. Which is fine, because flat art is my bread and butter baby. Aw yiss gimmie dat illustrator program.
Anyway before I get too far off and write a novel, I am super proud to present this piece for the foundation and SeeJane.org. It was a joy to work on, and a privledge to be given a writing, directing, and design position on it given the content. I am flattered that Hero4Hire and Geena put that much salt in me.
This project, of course, would be nothing without the others who made it possible. Adrian Garcia, whom I worked with on storyboards, also made the animatics and did most of the effects animation you see here that makes everything look so 3-D and beautiful. He’s such a pro. Dan Flynn and Mike Nordstrom who did all the beautiful character animation. Evan Sussman who did all the post work that really made this thing look special. And Mari Kidder! My super sweet intern turned junior design assistant who is going to graduate college this year! She came in for a week long whirlwind and saved our butts for which I will be forever grateful, haha. Oh man we would have died without her help aaa aaaa.
But I digress, This project was my baby. I would be honored if everyone took a peek at our little film, and even more honored if it helped people think a little harder about the issues it brings to the spotlight.
Thank you!
I love Geena Davis and I love this video.
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Voting with your wallet: Media diversity edition
Wrote a thing over on my legit blog in response to a great post by the loverly Jasika Nicole on media diversity.
This is a really great blog post about inspiring people who want to effect change in the media! There is power for, by, and from The People, and this blogger lays out a pretty great argument for how to use that individual power, no matter how small it may seem, to enliven the colors, genders, ability and sexualities we see onscreen.
Truth.
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With the Power of Obsession!: The more you know…
Somebody informed me that Billy Crystal has BEEN doing blackface impersonations practically his whole career. Did em all the time on SNL.
So, just fyi…minstrelsy never went away. People build their careers off of…
Does this really surprise anyone, considering Walt Disney was anti-Semitic? I don’t find it hard to believe he was a racist, white supremacist bastard. That being said, I had NO clue about Mickey, and I don’t remember Bosko, but that is fucked. I’m done with Disney. Fuck them and their racist ways and their misogynistic view of women.
It’s interesting to me that you’ve taken a conversation that was about the anti-Black foundations of American entertainment and compartmentalized it into one evil man being evil.
This isn’t about Disney. The corporation or the man. And it is not about just general racism. This is about all white people, about all white entertainers ever, about the very thing we conceive of as entertainment and how much all of that was built on anti-Blackness.
Yeah, Bosko’s not even a Disney character. This is so far from something one man did, it was an industry. And seriously, with regards to that last line I bolded… even knowing that the characters’ origins were in blackface, it’s really stark to have the comparison between the standard “merry melody” style cartoon and minstrelsy tropes laid out.
The fact that Warner Bros. published its cartoons under the banners “Merry Melodies” and “Loony Tunes”… okay, nowadays we tend to think “toon” rather than “tune”, but it’s tune as in song, and it’s because the standard cartoon was an animated minstrel show, in every sense of the phrase. If you go look at the original Warner Bros. characters from the time of Mickey and all the other Disney characters drawn from the same model, you see a bunch of characters with names like “Foxy” and “Piggy” that could have stood next to Mickey, Goofy, Horace, and Clarabelle and not looked out of place.
This isn’t something that was subtle or secret. And it didn’t die out in the thirties. In the 1950s Chuck Jones was putting latter-day minstrel songs in “One Froggy Evening”, a cartoon that’s so iconic as to be instantly recognizable in parody or homage. The Bosko cartoons were in rotation in Nick At Night’s Loony Tune highlight blocks in the 90s, along with any number of generic Merry Melody cartoons with non-recurring characters performing musical numbers that would invariably include an Al Jolson tribute.
In the intervening decades, any time there was a chance for someone to have a car exhaust backfire in their face, or light an exploding cigar, or get ink or oil squirted in their face, it was a chance to insert a blackface “gag” that may have been cut or edited down in modern airings… with or without the mugging for the camera and singing a minstrel song, the fact that getting one’s face blacked is part of the standard visual language of animation is revealing.
This is something that stares us in the face every time we see a “classic” WB or Disney short, and if we don’t see it, it’s at least in part because that’s what a short cartoon is to us. It’s the genre.
(NB: I’m focusing on animation because it’s a subject I’m familiar with, not because it should be singled out to the exclusion of other media.)
Interesting thread exploring the history of animation and it’s connection to minstrely and perpetuating stereotypes.
Yes - it’s not all on Disney. It’s an industry-wide thing. Credit where credit’s due.
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Feminist Frequency - Tropes vs. Women: #3 The Smurfette Principle (full video & transcript here)
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