"When people of colour are expected to educate white people as to their humanity, when women are expected to educate men, lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world, the oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions."
I am done choosing
between my womanhood and my blackness.
Stop giving me fictional white
female characters and telling me “these are the fictional women to
admire, the ones that break the mold, the feminist icons, the
representation you’ve been longing for.”
Stop asking me to
squint to see myself represented on screen. Stop telling me to “wait
my turn”, to support shows with white female leads as though this
was a rare occurrence, as though there haven’t been thousands of them
through the years. As though white women haven’t been held as the
pinnacle of progress and feminism on TV since Lucille Ball.
Stop telling me that
a white woman playing a spy, is innovative and feminist when you’ve
had Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels, Scarecrow & Mrs. King and
Alias before Agent Carter.
Stop telling me that
seeing Jessica Jones, a white female character with PTSD, on screen is
a long time coming, a revolutionary feminist act, when Joss Carter,
Abbie Mills, Olivia Pope, Sasha Williams and Michonne aren’t afforded the same
treatment regarding theirs from writers, media and fandom alike.
Stop telling me that
“romance is not part of the show” when said show is built on the
loss of the White Male Lead’s love interest. Stop labeling black
female characters as one half of a “brotp”, as the supportive
friend, a mammy that does everything but wipe the white man’s ass or
tuck him into bed, only to prop up the Random White Woman In The Background as the
obvious choice for a new, better suited love interest.
Stop giving me
Trojan Horses, those black female characters I’ve longed for, the
ones I finally can see myself in, the ones that you’re praised for
creating and writing, the ones you make money off of only to kill
them later, once they’ve served their purpose.
We are not your
first step towards success, we aren’t a tool to be used to avoid
criticism, or appease higher ups afraid of losing
money because of the lack of diversity and representation in their
shows.
We are not either
women or black, we are both and we deserve to be spies, the fated
love interest, the damsel in distress, the selfish one, the
vulnerable one, the pinnacle of feminism and progress, the one who’s
turn has come, the one who was a long time coming.
Stop giving me a
drop of water and calling it the sea.
Tumblr better turn up for Abbie Mills the same way they did for Lexa.
I want to see the same outrage across fandoms that the 100 got. Black girls deserve more from showrunners and writers. More importantly, they deserve more from their fellow fans. Please, don’t ignore what Sleepy Hollow meant to it’s black fans or how important Abbie Mills was. Please, don’t ignore Abbie Mills’ death, because it reflects a larger problem with how black women are treated on TV and in film. We all know representation matters.
Abbie Mills deserved better. Black girls deserve better.
It really, REALLY bothers me when I hear people frame climate change and other environmental crises as something that everyday, average-ass people are responsible for, and not corporations and entire governments.
Like literally, how can a regular-ass person ~opt out~ of all damaging behaviors while still being able to function in society?
You literally can’t.
The future of our planet is not down to whether or not someone recycles their water bottle.
It’s down to whether or not governments and corporations decide to quit sucking up all our resources and poisoning the earth with reckless abandon.
I mean obviously people should still live as cleanly and as sustainably as they can manage where they are and with what they have, but like. THAT isn’t the major issue.
God bless this post this pisses me off so much
Also this hyper-individualist shift of responsibility is largely an American thing and consumerism is framed as a solution- e.g., buy more shit that’s sustainable! That’ll fix the problem (buy a new, green water bottle! buy a new, green car! buy a new, green whatever-the-fuck that’ll just ultimately produce more waste)!
I took a course in sustainable engineering.
The professor mentioned that even if every private individual in the world were to conserve resources and the environment the ol’ Jimmy Carter way- by turning down the thermostat, recycling your glass and plastics and metals, cut down on luxuries, take shorter showers, etc., it would only get us 10% of the way to where we need to be in order to avoid global catastrophic climate change.
This is your daily reminder that the characters of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff are Romani, of Jewish heritage, and the children of Holocaust survivors, and that Avengers: Age of Ultron portrayed them as white-washed and as volunteers with Hydra, a neo-Nazi organization.
Seriously, it surprises me that people still don’t get that “whitewashing” doesn’t just mean “taking a character of color and turning them white,” but also applies to “focusing disproportionately on the stories of white people,” “glossing over or altering parts of a story to make it more palatable or make white people look better,” and “treating ‘white’ as the default race”
The fact that Disney churns out film after film after film after film about white people with a maximum of one film per ethnicity that showcases a group other than white people is whitewashing.
The fact that the story of “Pocahontas” (not her real name) has been substantially altered so that some of the white people in that story don’t look like such villains, with John Smith younger and Pocahontas significantly older, as well as recounting a popular myth of her saving John Smith from near-execution (a story John Smith made up to make himself look brave, the real Pocahontas told him to stop telling and hated him for using her to make himself look good, and he started to spread like wildfire after she died because she could no longer object) is whitewashing.
The fact that the characters on “How I Met Your Mother” are all white, and they supposedly live in New York City, but apparently associate exclusively with other white people (with the exception of Wayne Brady, who occasionally visits from out of town, and a recurring taxi driver) is whitewashing.
The fact that the Doctor has now been a white man a full twelve times in a row is whitewashing even though the character’s always been white, because the idea that there’s a character whose entire appearance can change in a matter of seconds, yet ends up white twelve times in a row by pure random chance, implies that white is a neutral default and other races are a deviation from that norm.
The fact that people get really angry at the suggestion that characters like Newt Scamander or Hermione Granger could be black because the books never explicitly say “they are black” is whitewashing.
Because that’s the thing. People often assume that when someone’s race isn’t explicitly specified, they’re white. People insist that Katniss Everdeen must be white because it is possible for them to rationalize that idea in their head. People think of white as “raceless” and every other color or ethnicity as “raced,” and that’s what we call “eurocentrism.“
And that’s the thing about whitewashing. It’s this idea that a “person” is white, and a “person of color” is black or asian or arab or latin@ or whatever they might be.
It’s why people call John Stewart the “Black Green Lantern” but just call Hal Jordan the “Green Lantern.” It’s why Miles Morales is called “Black Spider-man” but Peter Parker is just “Spider-man.” If you want to throw gender into the mix, it’s why Jennifer Walters is the “She-Hulk” but Bruce Banner isn’t the “He-Hulk.”
People think “character” is white and “character + black” is black. There is no default race. Community did a whole episode about how a truly raceless character would look something like this monstrosity:
But there’s the tricky part: Once you stop thinking of white characters as “character” and start thinking of them as “character + white,” it becomes really overwhelming how many characters are white.
I mean, I know there’s a kerfuffle over Disney Princesses right now, so let’s look at the list of official Disney Princesses, shall we? That is, let’s look at the list and include everyone’s race, not just the princesses of color:
Snow White + White
Cinderella + White
Aurora + White
Ariel + White
Belle + White
Jasmine + Arab
Pocahontas + Native American
Mulan + Asian
Tiana + Black
Rapunzel + White
Merida + White Soon to be added:
Anna + White
Elsa + White
4 of those 13 women are women of color. All four of those women of color are different races than one another. At the moment, the number of white princesses is seven, but it’s about to go up to nine. All nine of those princesses are the same race as one another, despite a few of them being different nationalities, although most of them hail from Western Europe.
And a lot of people are saying “but they’re just accurately portraying the parts of the world those stories are set in!” First of all, the presence of a person of color has never been implausible in any part of the world, in any period of human history. Hell, a bunch of these movies were set after Shakespeare had born, lived, and died, but he still managed to write a play set centuries earlier featuring a black male lead in Italy.
Second, and most importantly, it’s not like they are being assigned a setting at random and have to accommodate it in their character designs. The people at Disney choose to set film after film after film in France and Germany and Denmark.
It’s not that those areas produce more or better fairy tales and folk tales than any of the other continents, it’s that the stories that come from those areas are the ones Disney considers universal.
In the eyes of Disney, there’s a Princess for Black little girls to look up to, a Princess for Native little girls to look up to, a Princess for Arab little girls to look up to, a Princess for Asian little girls to look up to, and nine princesses for all little girls to look up to. It’s no coincidence that in almost all promotional art featuring the “Princess Lineup,” Jasmine, Tiana, Mulan, and Pocahontas are all standing in the back, usually obscured by other white Princesses’ dresses, while the blonde lady brigade stands in the front.
there are just SO MANY things wrong with lincoln’s death i don’t know where to begin. even just in the context of the show itself, we have yet ANOTHER poc character dying (albeit “honorably” in some way, and even that’s debatable) to further the storyline. yet another minority used as a plot device. what makes lincoln’s death even more fucked up is placing it in the context of the real world.
ricky whittle quit the show and has come out multiple times about jason rothenberg being a bully, that jason was greedy and self-centered (wanted all the attention), in addition to being controlling of his cast (limiting their soc-med interaction) and this is not even bringing the manipulation of the lgbt fandom into the equation.
ricky whittle, who quit the show on his own morals, who had likely spoken up against jroth in the past BEFORE his death scene, was killed off in the most disgusting, vile way possible.
in a world where black men are always seen as inherently dangerous just for existing, in a world where unarmed black men are being executed in the streets by authoritative figures, jason rothenberg made the executive decision to shoot lincoln’s death in a way that directly paralleled this disgusting reality that black men live in.
lincoln was shackled, made to kneel, and then executed by a man in power. he was unarmed, entirely defenseless, and he was shot in the head. not only did they execute him, they then apparently showed the shot in slow motion, with an absurd amount of gore, and then panned to a wide shot of lincoln lying, dead, in the mud. because that’s not similar at all to the way black bodies are paraded on the media, right? (remember mike brown lying in the street for hours, anyone?)
THEN, to add to this vile ass shit, jason rothenberg has not said a word. he didn’t live tweet the episode, he didn’t even bother to pen out even an “obligatory” goodbye message to ricky or even thank him for his portrayal of lincoln, a fan favorite character since his fucking introduction.
no one can convince me jason didn’t make that death as gruesome as it was out of petty ass “revenge” for ricky standing up to him. no one can convince me jason didn’t do that shit on purpose, and it disgusts me even more that not a single person in that writer’s room, on the camera crew, or what the fuck ever, apparently didn’t look at this script and say “this is fucked”.
and lol remember how steve talley, the white male, racist, misogynist fuck that he is, got his character written out WITHOUT death? lmao, jason. lmao.
and people wonder why the cast seems so fucking done with this show. god. please let this show be fucking cancelled so this cast can be free to go off and do bigger and better things. i’m so happy for ricky and alycia but i’m so sad for the rest of the cast who’s stuck working with this fucking muppet for another season.
I’m not in the 100 fandom, and I wish I could be surprised at the white fandom reactions but like. All this has happened before and will happened again because the 100 fandom discourse is HTGAWM fandom discourse
is Hannibal fandom discourse
is MCU fandom discourse is AOS fandom discourse is Teen Wolf fandom discourse is is is is—
Bottom line is:
White fans are desensitised to chromatic characters dying.
Hannibal fandom told Asian women to shut up when Beverly was killed in a brutal, dehumanising way for Will’s manpain but lost their shit when Alana was considered dead at the end of S2 and the show was suddenly anti-feminist garbage.
The Agents of Shield fandom didn’t give a shit about Ward emotionally manipulating Daisy and sexually abusing Melinda until he threw FitzSimmons into the ocean and all they focused on was what it did to Fitz.
The HTGAWM fandom was in a uproar over Sam Keating slapping Connor, but not when he was choking Rebecca or verbally degrading, abusing and assaulting Annalise.
I’d say there’s about an accumulated 10k words of meta on Bucky, Natasha and Clint regarding agency and
bodily
autonomy and guilt and blah blah blah blah but maybe a few handfuls on Mike Peterson and Akeela Amador at best.
Bottom line is: white characters being treated like characters of colour is the threshold for white fandom’s tolerance.
Black and brown people’s pain onscreen will never hold the same gravity and presence as a white person’s because mainstream media desensitises the audience to that pain, especially that of black characters, especially through hyperscrutinisation of black women. They’re so “strong” “independent” and “tough” to the extent that they’ll never need emotional support or time of heal, and any time they are shown weakness white feminists will deem them “stereotypical” and “too womanly” (while praising white women for being “both kickass and feminine”).
News media weave narratives to demonise victims of colour so, framing it that so they “deserved” their deaths in some way and the audience is lead to believe that narrative in every other context - their deaths were necessary, not excessive; it was inevitable, not a rating stunt; it was a good rep for white fans; everyone can just have to wait their turn.
In most shows we’re side-characters at best, disposable cannon fodder for cultural appropriation at worst and somewhere inbetween there’s a thin line where we’re allowed to exist and have agency and see ourselves for a glimpse before being thrown aside in favour of the “better” (read: white) love interest.
White fandom appropriating poc movements (especially black movements, jfc with the black power fist for white lgbt women) is nothing new.
Yes, it’s shitty that wlw were robbed of another meaningful representation. Yes, it’s shitty that the show’s creator is so blasé about her fridging. But the fact that white fandom refuses to empathise with poc going through the same kind of marginalisation and dehumanisation unless a white character goes through the same thing because they never have to feel threatened by that kind of toxicity in the same way says a lot about how much privilege whiteness holds.
"Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape."
if you want a nice body, go get it. if you want to become a lawyer, study your ass off. if you want nice hair, pick a style and get it done. stop being afraid and motivate yourself. find yourself. find your happiness, because it’s out there waiting for you.
yes of course because it’s so easy going to “get a body” and affording college to become a lawyer is nothing and obviously getting your hair done is very accessible to everyone, of course why didn’t we think of this before
the 100: * puts Tibetan descent woman in position of power*
the 100: * puts black woman in position of power*
the 100: * makes latina, disabled character one of the greatest characters in the show and makes her in charge of her own sexuality with absolute no slut shaming*
the 100: * makes half-Filipino male main male character*
the 100: * makes Korean descent male everyone’s beloved male character*
the 100: *presents big, muscled, tatooed, black guy as one of the most gentle characters who would never hurt anyone if he wasn’t made to do so by rich white male*
tumblr: but THE 100 IS RACIST!!!1111!!
BONUS:
in the 100 we have:
* teenage lesbain being the person who holds most power in the show
* teenage bisexual girl being in position of power and being main character
* white rich male being the biggest source of evil in the show
So much racism !!!!!!!! Awful show!!!!!
^this! Yass!!!
Uhuh okay how about just no?
Why is the 100 is a racist show.
Because Wells Jaha (a BLACK MAN) got killed by a WHITE GIRL for SHOCK VALUE and to further Clarke Griffins’ ( a WHITE WOMAN) character development, the latter having being confirmed by the writers.
Because Jasper Jordan ( a WHITE MAN) was supposed to die in the first episode but Rothenworst thought him “too good of an actor” and brought him back to life. Wells Jaha is still dead though.
Because Clarke Griffin (a WHITE WOMAN) barely mourned Wells Jaha (a BLACK MAN) and her supposedly best friend since they were in diapers while she’s still mourning Finn Collins ( a WHITE MAN) a man she had known for a MONTH and who was a mass murderer.
Because Theloneous Jaha ( a BLACK MAN) is the only one who remembered Wells Jaha in season 2,the only one who mourned him, Clarke and Abby Griffin ( WHITE WOMEN) could not care less.
Because Theloneous got locked up b Abby for wanting to go somewhere else seeing as the grounders were here FIRST and the arkers were colonizers.
Because Monty Green ( an KOREAN MAN) was written as Jasper Jordan’s sidekick in s1( a WHITE MAN). He was Jasper Joran’s ASIAN BEST FRIENDtm and had NO STORYLINE OF HIS OWN.
Because Monty Green despite being the smarter, more resourceful and cunning character of the two was not the leader of the Mt Weather storyline. Japer was.Useless Jasper who while Miller ( a BLACK MAN) and Monty were working on finding a way to get them out of Mt Weather, fake-played with a sword but still was deemed a “leader”.
Because the show chose to focus on Jasper Jordan’s “lovestory” with Maya while Monty Green has now been desexualized for TWO seasons.
Because Jasper Jordan is still alive.
Because Lincoln “the savage” (a BLACK MAN) and Octavia “ the white beauty” ( a WHITE WOMAN) lovestory is to quote Rothenworst “a beauty and the beast” lovestory.
Because Lincoln stalked Octavia and obsessed about her before he even met her. But hey, what do you expect from a “savage” and whiteness is a hell of a drug isn’t it?
Because the first word uttered by Lincoln was to Octavia, this white lady HUMANIZED him (prior to that Lincoln didn’t talk as savages are won’t to do)
Because Lincoln’s been ready to sacrifice himself for his white princess since the day he first stalked her.
Because Lincoln was tortured more than once in TWO season and everytime it was shown ON SCREEN. However, Murphy ( a WHITE MAN) was tortured OFF SCREEN.
Because both Jaha Sr ( a BLACK MAN) and Bellamy ( a BI-RICIAL PHILIPINO) had to redeem themselves and beat themselves up for the choices they made that lead to people’s death, their redemption arcs spanned on several episodes. But all Murphy had to do was to tell a sob story about his childhood and then felt entitled to everyone’s forgiveness for trying to kill Wells Jaha twice, harassed people at camp (peed on a BLACK GUY and tried to burn’s a girl face) and putting a bullet in Raven Reyes’ spine (a LATINA WOMAN).
Because Murphy had more of an independent storyline than Monty did.
Because The 100 is a retelling of Native American history with the arkers as white colonizers and the grounders as Native Americans HOWEVER Lexa ( A WHITE WOMAN WITH A BINDI) is their leader.
Because Clarke Griffin ( a WHITE WOMAN) begged Lexa ( a WHITE WOMAN WITH A BINDI) to not act as the rest of them “savages” (direct quote) in the image of Indra ( a BLACK WOMAN), Lexa’s 2nd in command.
Because they had Raven called Octavia (a WHITE WOMAN) “ Pocahontas”
Because Anya ( A NEPALESE WOMAN) was killed for SHOCK VALUE AGAIN.
Because while Anya and Wells were killed for SHOCK VALUE, Finn Collins ( a WHITE MAN) mass-murdered 18 grounders ( in the most triggering way) but the show spent several episodes painting him as a confused kid who “did a mistake”.
Because we were meant to feel more sorry for Finn than for the 18 innocents grounders that he had killed.
Because Raven Reyes’s (a BI-RACIAL MEXICAN WOMAN) s2′s arc was being TORTURED ON SCREEN ( =/= Murphy) + being emotionally/physically in pain.
Because the show barely focused on Raven’s POV after Finn’s death and did not give us any insight in the aftermath of her being tortured. But it focused on Clarke Griffin’s pain ONLY to the point that she was given Finn’s ashes and was allowed to burn his body despite Finn’s having been Raven’s first love and only family.
Because Raven’s storyline was highjacked by Wick ( a WHITE MAN) to better prop him up.
Because the show is painting Wick as Raven’s literal WHITE knight in shining armor that will also teach this young woman of color how to love and slut-shame her on the way.
Because Bellamy Blake ( a BI - RICIAL MAN) was demoted to a foot soldier in s2 while Clarke Griffin (a WHITE WOMAN) was propped to a princess.
Because Bellamy and Clarke power dynamic in s2 is now UNBALANCED.
Because Rothenworst said that Bellamy Blake (a BI-RACIAL MAN) was Clarke Griffin’s knight (a WHITE WOMAN).
Because why does Bellamy (MOC) have this level of devotion for Clarke (WHITE WOMAN)?
Because Octavia (WHITE WOMAN) feels she can hit Lincoln (BLACK MAN) and tell him to fight against his addiction and TEACH HIM THE WAY OF A GROUNDER.
Because the show 100% humanized on the Mt Weather Men POV ( WHITE FATHER AND SON) but didn’t think it’d be interested to do the same for Dr Singh ( an ASIAN WOMAN)
Because we were given the Mt Weather Men POV but we are still waiting to get the any grounder POV that is not somehow linked with a WHITE CHARACTER.
Because Rothenworst humanized Mt Weather Men ( WHITE FATHER AND SON) despite them conducting experiments on the grounders “savages” (among them Lincoln), and using them as food for decades. Again we were meant to feel sorry for them.
Because the 100 fandom would rather IGNORE the complaints from POC regarding the show and how intentionally or NOT it is a RACIST show
Because the 100 fandom think it is a “progressive” show in term of female characters but doesn’t think useful/doesn’t care to talk about RACE REPRESENTATION as far female characters of color are concerned.
Because the 100 fandom would rather listen to white feminists (and token POC) to teach them what is racist representation/narrative/tropes or not rather than LISTEN TO PEOPLE OF COLOR.
Because the 100 fandom would rather stay in STATUS QUO THAN QUESTION THEMSELVES AND THE SHOW ON ITS RACIAL BIAS
Because feminism is for WHITE WOMEN according to the fandom and the show.
Those are just from the top of my head, I’m sure there are many more that have been pointed out by other POC.
And YES the above examples are RACIST TROPES and NARRATIVES that WHITE PEOPLE have been using on PEOPLE OF COLOR for CENTURIES.
@The100isforwhitefeminists
It is also telling that kimshum, the100writers and Rothenworst are always quick to talk about (white) lgbt representation on the show or blarke but shut down any discussion on RACISM. They will literally BLOCK you if you utter the word “racism”, well except if you’re a white feminist telling them that “obviously the show is not racist”
“puts a black man in position of power” and has a white woman strip him of that power and imprison him, the white woman is glorified for doing this. “puts tibetan descent woman in position of power” and vilifies her and her people, kills her off for shock value. “puts a black woman in position of power” gives her no pov and sidelines her for a white girl. “makes latina, disabled character one of the greatest characters in the show and makes her in charge of her own sexuality with
out season 2, puts him in racist “queen and knight” dynamic with a white girl. “makes korean descent male everyone’s beloved male character” never gives him any screen time or pov, sidelines him for a white guy.“presents big, muscled, tatooed, black guy as one of the most gentle characters who would never hurt anyone if he wasn’t made to do so by rich white male” paints him as a savage that is taught ~humanity~ by a white girl, constantly has him get tortured and dehumanized, gives him no pov at all.
“teenage lesbain being the person who holds most power in the show” white girl inexplicably is the leader of a large group of poc. “teenage bisexual girl being in position of power and being main character” white saviour who treats poc like trash is the main focus of the show, all the poc are sidelined to prop her up.“white rich male being the biggest source of evil in the show” omg one white guy is presented as a villain, this does not change the fact that most of the terrible and oppressive white men (and white woman) have largely been glorified by the text. and the mountain men were pretty much given more humanity and depth than the grounders were, but whatever.
Like can y’all not do this bullshit by trying to make shows you love (I love it too. I am fucking Clexa trash) as the amazing thing that have no failings when that’s not the fucking case?
AND realize even if the show starts off with great representation doesn’t mean they aren’t still fucking up and can and will end up problematic.
In his final chapter in a Feast for Crows, Sam meets a character named Alleras, a young student from the Citadel who Sam tells everything he’s witnessed since he arrived to the Wall and during his trip with Maester Aemon. Alleras -who is actually Sarella Sand (one of the Sand Snakes) in disguise- leads him to Maester Marwyn, a man who is open about magic and paranormal, as he’s the only one who can help Sam.
As far as I know, Sarella isn’t being cast this Season. I won’t comment on the fact the show is willingly ignoring a black girl that is pursuing education (so much to the point of disguise herself as a boy) but instead, I’ll comment what is the show deciding to portray instead: Sam returns -for what it looks like- to his Home, Horn Hill to meet again his father, mother and siblings, including his little brother Dickon. (this doesn’t happen in books yet, but it’s hinted it will).
For those who don’t remember how or why Sam ended up at the Wall, it was due to him being an “improper” heir. Once Sam left, Young Dickon became the heir of the Tarlys. So far, the book hasn’t yet introduced us properly to Dickon, but he seems to be a nice person, much better than Randyl Tarly (It was him the one who told his father about the ridiculous bet made by Tarly men about taking Brienne’s virginity). We also know that Dickon is still very young and it’s, at must, thirteen years old.
To play the role of Dickon, HBO has cast this guy:
Of course, there is the chance that HBO is actually pulling an 90210 and trying to pass this guy as a thirteen years old boy but I really doubt it. And I doubt it because this fits a pattern they have already followed since around three seasons ago: age up children for the purpose of sex.
First, I want to clear something about ageing up children. In some cases, it’s needed. Those who have read the books know that mostly of the children in the story are absurdly young. While I’m sure there are amazing child actors that could pull out the acting perfectly, it would be a big conflict to have a 13 years old girl having sex with Jason Momoa (not to say that’s also illegal). So, in this case, as well as the many others, the ageing was very understandable.
What it’s not understandable is the need to age up younger characters to have them have sex or being involved in sexual situations on screen, specially when it’s not needed it all because such situations don’t exist in books or because they add nothing to the plot.
For example, If anyone from HBO tells me that the reason for ageing up Missandei was to make her a confidant of Dany (as they decided to simply eliminate her Dothraki handmaids), I could say that the decision isn’t bad itself. Yet, that’s not why Missandei has been aged up.
In the books, and this might shock some Unsullied, Missandei is a nine years old slave that has been educated in languages and certain protocols (like a C3PO but actually smart, brave and not annoying). She was captured as a slave when she was a child, as well as her three brothers that ended up being Unsullied (the real ones, not the not-reading audience). We don’t see this in the show. We, instead, have her having a “romance” with Greyworm. That’s how they “humanize” her.
Both the show and books have portrayed a situation in which one of the Unsullied visited a brothel to only get cuddled (although the show’s version was insulting). This was one of the many ways that Martin has chosen to tell the readers that the Unsullied, despite the severe training, weren’t as broken as the Masters thought. But of course, it was not enough. They needed to actually prove it by getting Missandei in a “sexy” situation. They aged her up for this:
It was not only a need to get them involved in some sort of romance. There is the need of a sexualization of such infatuation, presenting Greyworm as a “man” with “needs”, because every man in this show is in constantly need of putting their penises to work and penetrate anything even if you don’t have a penis at all. Remember that the one Unsullied we saw looking for a prostitute only wanted cuddling from her instead of sex but they still showed a naked prostitute?
Missandei isn’t the only child aged with this morbid purpose. Another kid they aged (but didn’t undress, of course) was Trystane. Trystane is not only a minor character in books: he hasn’t even appeared on page. All we know about him is that he’s kind and probably let Myrcella win at cyvasse (a very cute gallantry of him). Also, he’s thirteen.
Of course GoT wasn’t going to show a kid trying to be courteous to the girl he will eventually marry in such platonic way. Trystane was cast as a more older guy that was always trying to put his tongue (and God knows what else) in Myrcella’s mouth because Dornish and guys. Because HBO and D&d.
Although, considering this is HBO we talk about, what he probably wanted was to have offscreen sex with her while he’s dressed and she’s not because sex in this show is like the opposite of Blink and if you look at such sex, it tries to kill you. Maybe.
(actual footage of consensual sex in GoT)
GoT’s obsession with boys trying to prove their masculinity with sex is not healthy. Trystane is not the only one aged for sexualization. We also have Pod. Pod is around nine years old in books, very innocent and sweet. Yet, what is what mostly Unsullied (this time I mean the watchers) remember of him? That’s right. His magical penis.
Of course, none of them took off their clothes. It’s not like they’re women in Game of Thrones. The sex Pod had was off-screen because let’s not forget there is another rule: sex isn’t shown unless is violent.
The books showed us more of Robert’s bastards. We have not only Gendry but Mya and Edric Storm. Edric lived in Storm’s End, under the protection of Renly and eventually, Stannis’. Unlike Gendry, Stannis has known Edric all of his life. And he’s not only Robert’s son but also, blood of his own wife (he’s a Florent by mother’s side). This conflict isn’t shown in Stannis’s storyline, mostly because Stannis is treated in this show like he’s consensual sex too, and also, why cast a child when they can use a legal adult instead?
In Storm, Edric is a bit sick and he’s leeched. That’s how Stannis gets the blood from him. They didn’t bother casting this young son of Robert because they already had another one they could sexualize, even if in something so innocent as a leeching.
Instead of having a young boy being leeched, we had a grown version who got leeched after he was raped. Because he was raped. Or was he there by his own will? And of course, why waste a good scene in which Carice can take off her clothes, right? (also, look who is fully undressed and who isn’t… heh).
But the biggest crime committed (crime that is borderline a sin, imo) is the ageing of Tommen Baratheon, who went from a nine years old kid who loved kittens to a teen boy who loved pussy.
I said that there is nothing wrong with ageing characters if the plot or legal contritions demand it. It was a good move that they cast Kit Harrington as Jon instead of a real fourteen years old boy. The problem with Kit is that, at the beginning of the show, while Kit was older, Jon retained many of his juvenile attitudes. So, instead of having a moody teen, we had a moody dude. That’s why Kit looked so lost in the first seasons, imo.
With Tommen happened something similar. They turned him into a teen who was biologically able to consummate a marriage, yet, they kept his mind and personality as one of a child. So, when Margaery was obviously manipulating him, she was being a predatory adult abusing a young boy who was not, in any way, in full capacity to consent. And this was played for the laughs.
This change bothers me deeply for two main reasons: one (and the most important), I have a son that is still a teen and I hate when media portrays male victims of abuse as nothing but wanton dudes. Being a male teen is as dangerously vulnerable as being a female one, but it can be even more dangerous because society normalizes and encourages teen boys being sexually active since early age, even if they aren’t fully prepared for the responsibilities this requires. And two, because I find this arc of ASOIAF being very interesting.
We have Cersei in Feast being incredibly castrating in relation to Tommen. He doesn’t allow him being a functional human being. And what she fears the most is that Margaery will steal him away from her. Cersei even believes that Margaery giving Tommen kittens is a replacement for the sex she can’t use to manipulate him, but what Marg really gives Tommen is self-confidence, independence and attention. Cersei can’t give Tommen sex and Margaery will someday, yet, she doesn’t use that. What Margaery gives Tommen is something Cersei can give him too, but she doesn’t want to give it.
Game of Thrones simply made her giving him sex, of course. Why bother with complexity?
For those counting, HBO aged up 9 years old Missandei in order to show her breasts, thirteen years old Trystane to have his hands all over the originally eleven years old Myrcella, ten years old Pod in order to make him a sexual Tyrannosaurus, ignored thirteen years old Edric in favour of the fully grown leechable penis of Gendry, and changed nine years old Tommen for a teenager who was enchanted by the pleasures of sex. And yes, they will likely do the same for Little Dickon, who I’m sure they will turn into a full dick who is after Gilly’s ass, only to be defeated by Sam, the protector of… well, no maiden.
Now, you know who they didn’t age up? Sansa and Shireen. Sansa was kept a young fourteen years old girl who went to her wedding night completely terrified of a situation she couldn’t, in any way, control. Of course, despite pretty much everybody has aged up, and considering she’s much older than Tommen, she should be a nineteen years old by now, right? But nope. Let her remain a child victim because having a child bride being violated is more shocking, of course.
As it was more shocking to burn a little girl.
While everybody else was aged in any way (even Sansa was shown having some “grown” with her ugly feather dress), Shireen was always portrayed as a child despite Kerry Ingram being sixteen years old.
There was no sexy dresses for her, no proof of her maturing as a young princess. She kept her childish figure and innocence for the audiences to be feel appalled at her death. Maybe if she had shown her boobs at the camera, she would be alive.
A cunning vampire door-to-door salesperson who stands in people’s doorways and talks until they can find a convenient moment to drop their pen and the person picks it up and the vampire says oh “Thank you” and the person says “you’re welcome” and the vampire smiles a big fangy grin and steps inside
And that’s this vampire’s modus operandi for decades And then the language starts to change and suddenly millenials have homes and the vampire thanks them and they say “oh, no problem” and the vampire is like ???????????????? this was not the plan
honestly the most unbelievable part of this is where millennials have homes
i noticed that alot of queer kids feel like they have to tell their friends and family that theyre queer. even if theyll be rejected
and i want to remind u all that nobody is entitled to knowing your romantic, sexual or gender orientations. nobody. you have no moral obligation to share that information if youre not comfortable with doing so
youre not “lying” by not telling people or “hiding”. cause its honestly no ones business but your own
you come out on your own terms when you feel safe and comfortable doing so!! or you can come out to a few trusted people if you want before telling a larger group
dont feel like you owe that information to anyone ok??
