The cultural revolution started by Game of Thrones

[thehandwipes]

I always imagined Slaver's Bay being India, racially not culturally, halfway between Europe and China (Asshai).  And there are so many great actors in Bollywood it seems such a waste.

 

I imagine the free cities more Middle Eastern.

[Richard Writhen]

Frankly real life is full of sex and violence, you just don't always see it. However, yea it does get to be a bit much sometimes (LF directing the two prostitutes moaning)...

[Pyat>Daenerys]

It's funny how the only way to not be racist is not to cast black actors. Hrmmmmmm. Strange.

I have no problems with changing race of characters when it is plausible. XXD being pale adds nothing to plot. Now if Jon Snow were black, the theories about his parentage would be out of control.

 

Nobody said there is a problem or anything. They were just wondering and discussing what the reasons might be. Being pale doesn't add anything to the plot that's true. But neither does being black. Not to mention nobody said Xharo needed to be pale.

[thehandwipes]

The "sexposition" doesn't bother me too much because at least we get some plot relevant back story.  Its the brothel filler scenes we get at the expense of plot that bother me.  And the rape. 

[Spilt Pea Soup]

I kind of understood it at first, but by now they don't need to rely on boobs to keep their audience. I would prefer more boy butt, to be honest, and thankfully Olyvar provided that.

[thehandwipes]

They should have retired LF's brothel at the end os season 3 with Ros dead and LF in the Vale.

[A Ghost of Someone]

Sarella is the only Martell offspring who is half Summer Islander.

Prince Doran's estranged wife was from the Summer Isles, Areo Hotah came with her as her guard when she wed Doran. All 3 of his kids, Arianne, Q, and Trystane are all by her and are half black.

[Mallow002]

Doran's wife is from Norvos. We don't know her skin tone, actually. 

[A Ghost of Someone]

Doran's wife is from Norvos. We don't know her skin tone, actually. 

I cannot find the direct references but I am pretty sure the text gives it away or it is a given.

[TheTowerOfJoy]

 

I'm not saying the actors in question shouldn't be allowed to have a role on the show because they're black. Please stop trying to twist my words.

 

The issue is simply that they're playing characters with specific physical descriptions in the books... and it seems as though the producers have deliberately gone against those descriptions because they feel it would be politically correct for them to have a certain amount of black characters on screen a lot.

 

Why does it matter whether Areo Hotah is from the Summer Isles or Norvos?  Same for Salaadhor San or Xaro Xhoan Daxos?  Where they're from and how they look are irrelevant to the story.

 

Now a better question for the show runners is why replace Alayaya (who was actually from the Summer Isles) with Ros?  And why write out Stong Belwas, who at least was not lily white, and who could have been played by a darker complected actor.

[Khal Boner]

 

And why write out Stong Belwas, who at least was not lily white, and who could have been played by a darker complected actor.

 

Kimbo Slice! Could have been awesome.

[DarkAnise]

Prince Doran's estranged wife was from the Summer Isles, Areo Hotah came with her as her guard when she wed Doran. All 3 of his kids, Arianne, Q, and Trystane are all by her and are half black.

 

Doran's wife, Mellario, and Areo are from Norvos. Norvos is in Essos between Pentos and Qohor. The Summer Isles are somewhere south of Westeros and Essos and west of Sothoryos. I'm not sure where you got that she was a Summer Islander. Perhaps misremembering that one of Oberyn's girls, Sarella, had a Summer Islander mother?
 

[DarkAnise]

I cannot find the direct references but I am pretty sure the text gives it away or it is a given.

If you find it, please post it. I've read the books 6 times and still find that I miss stuff.

[WhitewolfStark]

To be honest, I see the show sparking a backlash and a distaste against extreme violence and gratuitous nudity by giving so much of it that the violence and the nudity no longer have the meaning they once did.

Essayists on Satire and Irony (and this TV show is most definitely ruled by Irony) often describe such works based in such styles as an author or his protagonist rubbing both the readers and his characters' noses in their own shit in order to inspire a dislike of it and shock them back into moral behavior. Satire and Irony wallow through the sewage of humanity, reminding us just how much we value a clean bath as it does so.

It's the equivalent of the old Donald Duck cartoon where Huey, Dewey, and Louie all buy a box of cigars for their Uncle Donald, who sees them doing so and thinks that they're doing it to smoke, so Donald teaches them a lesson about smoking them by making them smoke all the cigars in the box until they're sick (only then discovering the card that the cigars were meant for him).

The same principle is at work theoretically--overindulge in XYZ until it reminds people just exactly why they don't like XYZ. That said I don't think it's being purposely invoked by anyone working on the show, but do I think it's happening all the same? Yes.

[Richard Writhen]

This is true. They could lighten it up a bit but then it would be less fun... :dunno:

[Liz Stark-Targaryen]

 

While I'm all for race changing characters where there is room for it, I think it's...interesting to note, that despite the large amount of race changed, essosi characters in the show, all of the minority characters from the books have (to my memory) been cut. 

 

:agree: This, exactly. Also quite strange that there are lots of posts on this thread complaining about the presence of a couple of black actors playing tertiary roles, when all of those in question are quite clearly over in Essos, which is a multicultural and multiracial continent in canon. If you think that's PC, you are clearly unfamiliar with the source material.

 

Game of Thrones isn't exactly a Shonda Rhimes show, there are no secondary characters of color, let alone main characters. And the show's international audience is clearly fine with that, other than a few agitators, but those exist in any fandom.

 

I dislike the Missandei/Grey Worm storyline, though. That's because I prefer what GRRM actually wrote in canon, where Missandei was a little girl, not an attractive young woman. But I think Nathalie's just fine in the role.

[protar]

 

:agree: This, exactly. Also quite strange that there are lots of posts on this thread complaining about the presence of a couple of black actors playing tertiary roles, when all of those in question are quite clearly over in Essos, which is a multicultural and multiracial continent in canon. If you think that's PC, you are clearly unfamiliar with the source material.

 

Game of Thrones isn't exactly a Shonda Rhimes show, there are no secondary characters of color, let alone main characters. And the show's international audience is clearly fine with that, other than a few agitators, but those exist in any fandom.

 

I dislike the Missandei/Grey Worm storyline, though. That's because I prefer what GRRM actually wrote in canon, where Missandei was a little girl, not an attractive young woman. But I think Nathalie's just fine in the role.

 

I don't really have a problem ageing up Missandei. I imagine it's hard to find a young child actor who can learn Valyrian. But the Missworm romance..ugh. It leads nowhere. 

[Khorkalba]

 

Why does it matter whether Areo Hotah is from the Summer Isles or Norvos?  Same for Salaadhor San or Xaro Xhoan Daxos?  Where they're from and how they look are irrelevant to the story.

 

Now a better question for the show runners is why replace Alayaya (who was actually from the Summer Isles) with Ros?  And why write out Stong Belwas, who at least was not lily white, and who could have been played by a darker complected actor.

Again you're missing the point. I'm not suggesting that the changes detracted from the story in any way or that the actors were bad. I'm simply questioning the motives of the producers for making the changes in the first place. It's possible that they sent out casting calls with no appearance requirements at all and then simply re-wrote the character backgrounds to accommodate a black actor they were really impressed by in the auditions. However I think it's more likely that they made a conscious decision to re-write the character backgrounds first, then send out casting calls specifically for black actors.

 

Ros is actually based off of an unknown red-headed prostitute from the books. She's pretty much a POV character in D&D's version of ASoIaF. Besides being one of their main sources of "sexposition", I think their intention was to show the transition from life as a local of Winterfell to life in King's Landing from the perspective of someone who isn't highborn. It made sense to give some of Alayaya's storyline to Ros once she's in King's Landing.

 

And personally, I thought the decision to write out Strong Belwas was a good one. He comes across as a bit of a gimmicky comic relief character in the books. Almost cartoony. I think this would be even more apparent on screen.

[Richard Writhen]

Of course it leads nowhere... the poor man has been castrated early in life. But Missandei is a very emotional and outside-the-box thinking individual and is willing to see where their relationship will go if her man is thus compromised...

[Marcus Agrippa]

.... Really? REALLY? Missandei is terrible in the show. The actress is very sigh worthy and makes my head hurt. The greyworm/Missandei storyline is also very bad.