Race in Game of Thrones: a request to not repeat the folly of Xaro

[trooogdooor]

@Dragon King: You touch on something that I barely dare allude to. This is how we know for sure that changing Xaro is about marketing to the detriment of story: because unlike with most effete villains (such as Dany's brother), Xaro's gayness is important to what makes him compelling. But obviously, if the character had been made both black and gay, then everyone would implicitly understand that the portrayal is unflattering to black people, and D+D's change of Xaro's race would lose a lot of Patricks. So changing the race adds pressure to remove the gayness. And now, next time there's a gay character, there will be even more pressure to not offend anyone, because a precedent has been set.

It's ironic how profoundly Patrick misses the point:

it also acts as one of the first times that Dany isn't objectified by a male.

There might be no male in the series who objectifies a female more than Xaro. Xaro doesn't even desire Dany as a woman and wife, or value her for her beauty - he's gay, and coldly wants her as an object of power. An incredibly creepy and business-minded wooer, without warmth or even the basic substrate of love - many women are viscerally terrified at the idea of being married to a man who proves to be gay, or even one who doesn't show his love in a reassuringly "male" way. Drogo, who desires Dany for her body and ability to breed for him, respects and loves her precisely for her beauty and sexuality; even ignoring the HBO rape aspect, he has an intensely sexual motive for marrying her and loving her, yet their love arc is one of the most moving, in a book series full of moving love arcs. There's arguably no love arc that is more simple, deep, and unconditional - and it draws its strength precisely from its primal directness.

And Patrick calls that objectification, and contrasts it to Xaro! :-D

Can you imagine such a viscerally repulsive suitor as gay, creepy nose-jewelry Xaro being played by a black man? Not just a gay black man, but a gay black man who is designed to be viscerally repulsive to white women - the second demographic to which black male cast are normally marketed. A horrifying black Xaro might be made to work, and it might have been almost as good as the original Qarthian powder milk-man, a black Xaro with effete man-tears and gilded nose jewelry. But no, they couldn't do that.

The cravenness of HBO at portraying a repulsive gay black villain probably has to do with studio marketers thinking that politicos need to be "pleased" to get them to watch. To the contrary... people watch uncomfortably compelling stories. That's why Drogo-rape became, and remains, such a thing. It's moving, disturbing stuff.

@Angelin:

the key is to sell the end product

You mention this in the context of a thread about casting, suggesting that "Xaro's race and backstory is part of what got altered" due to people besides D+D. I think it's fair to say that D+D were unlikely to be affected in their casting choices by engineers and gaffers. If anyone affected them, it was the studio, pressuring them to include more POC (and non-gay ones! No unpleasantly gay blacks!). And that's what this thread, and the original post are about - so I guess you essentially agree with my premise, and just think that D+D have done a great job at not getting co-opted more than they have. Which I suppose is a fair point.

I think that Season 1 marketed extremely well, without any concessions to politico power-lobbies. To the contrary, every non-PC choice they made proved to be a strength, and it's what the story is known for. The series likely would attract more viewers if they'd shown Xaro. Book-Xaro is a compelling, disgusting character for especially women, and one which a lot of viewers would love. While forgettable HBO-Xaro just... isn't. Yawn. HBO-Xaro, through no fault of the actor, is just... boring and stupid. A dickless writing choice. The opposite of Drogo-rape, which is a big draw for the female demographic, if you don't mind me pointing that out (and there's nothing wrong with finding that compelling, any more than brother-sister incest is compelling, and Theon Greyjoys repulsion at brother-sister incest is compelling).

That's why I made this thread. I hope D+D will have the courage to do what makes a visceral story, rather than cave to marketers... who probably don't know what they're doing. That is what makes for an end-product that will sell.

[Khal-a-bunga]

@troogdoor

If this thread is about how HBO, as a studio, "forced" D&D to make the character of Xaro an African American who isn't also homosexual, then you should probably watch more HBO programming to get a better idea of how they operate. The Wire, Oz, Six Feet Under, True Blood, and Hung are all shows produced by the network that feature main characters who are both black and gay. Given that HBO has never been know to interfere much with the vision of their show-runners, your postulation doesn't seem to hold much water.

It's more likely that the decision came down to D&D and Nina Gold (the casting director) alone. Whatever their reasoning was, none of us will ever likely be privy to that information, but I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't a result of some mandate from HBO executives to include more people of color.

Regardless, none of this matters to the extent this thread makes it out to, seeing as Xaro isn't a character integral to any of the story lines going forward. His place in the story of ASoI&F (both the books and the show), and the matter of his race within that story have been given a hyperbolic level of importance in this thread. The same can be said regarding his sexual orientation, for that matter.

[trooogdooor]

@Khal: There is no comparison.

We're not just taking about a black gay character. We're talking about Xaro, a creepy caricature of everything that's repulsive about gayness - not to men, but to women.

No reasonable person could find The Wire comparable. Omar Little is literally a gay hero icon, openly favorite Wire character of the President of the United States, that's how safe he is. True Bloods gay black characters are vampires, and sexy vampire toys.

There is no comparison.

I'm curious, Khal - why do you think they washed away the repulsive, oppressive gayness of Xaro?

[Khal-a-bunga]

@Khal: There is no comparison.

We're not just taking about a black gay character. We're talking about Xaro, a creepy caricature of everything that's repulsive about gayness - not to men, but to women.

No reasonable person could find The Wire comparable. Omar Little is literally a gay hero icon, openly favorite Wire character of the President of the United States, that's how safe he is. True Bloods gay black characters are vampires, and sexy vampire toys.

There is no comparison.

I'm curious, Khal - why do you think they washed away the repulsive, oppressive gayness of Xaro?

It essentially comes down to this: Xaro's "repulsive gayness" isn't relevant to the story they were trying to tell in Qarth. Knowing that quite a few posters who didn't even pick up on the fact that Xaro was gay in the books (including myself, the first time through) that terminology also comes across as a bit hateful. Regardless, the point is that his sexual orientation wasn't made relevant because they only have so much time to work with, and ultimately Xaro isn't a major character or thematic presence in the story of ASoI&F, much less the television adaptation.

As to the point of race, the 'ulterior motive' of D&D was that they liked Nonso Anozie, who had auditioned for the part of Khal Drogo when season one was casting. Obviously they invited him to come back, and wrote the part of Xaro to fit both the actor and what they were trying to accomplish thematically with the story line in Qarth. I had my problems with some of the writing with Dany's story this past season, but I can attest to Nonso Anozie's acting talent from both the films and live theatrical performances I've seen him in. In light of that, it seems more plausible that D&D and the other writers simply weren't able to make everything work on the level of the other story lines of the season (particularly Theon's arc, King's Landing, and the material with both Renly and Stannis), rather than some arbitrary "We need a black guy!" mandate from either the aforementioned producers/writers or any executives at HBO.

Essentially, I'm saying that you're over-thinking the whole thing.

[trooogdooor]

There's a lot of storytelling details that have been kept from the books which "could be" justifiably removed with the phrase "isn't relevant". In fact, most details "could be" removed in this way.

In the case of Xaros gayness, it's a detail that would be easy to faithfully keep. It requires no budget, no props, no time (it could easily be done in the same time as Xaro's heterosexuality was explored), no crazy acting skills. Easy. Easy as can be. It fits the story well, it provides insight into Dany's choice to not take Xaro up on his offer, and it's frankly interesting.

But they took the active choice of converting "could be" into a change, into the equally time consuming heterosexuality of Xaro. Why do you think they actively made this change?

[TerraPrime]

I feel shamed, now, that my gayness is not oppressive. I want the oppressive type of gayness. I want my gayness to force others to do... whatever. I want others to feel oppressed on account of my gayness. Lacking this, I find it difficult to relate to the oppressive gayness that defines Xaro as a character.

Can someone kindly link me to where I can buy some of this oppressiveness for my gayness? Is this like the different trim levels for a car that you have to opt for when you purchase the vehicle? Have I missed my chance of getting the oppressive feature for my gayness?

[trooogdooor]

@Terra: Sorry, you've a sense of humor, that murders the oppression! You're probably more Renly than Xaro, ain't nothin you can do.

You seem to be Asian though, so you might get censored for that in stead. I would have liked if they had made Xaro a pale Asian or Eurasian, as I mentioned earlier in the thread - the Qarthi and Tyroshi are once or twice described as "almond-eyed". But nobody ever talks about underrepresentation of Asians. :-( Especially not about Asian men. It's pretty hypocritical.

A bignosed, serpentine HK actor like Edison Chen or Daniel Henney could IMHO have been a compelling Xaro.

Edison_Chen_060024.jpg

http://abagond.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/daniel_henney.jpg

[Khal-a-bunga]

There's a lot of storytelling details that have been kept from the books which "could be" justifiably removed with the phrase "isn't relevant". In fact, most details "could be" removed in this way.

In the case of Xaros gayness, it's a detail that would be easy to faithfully keep. It requires no budget, no props, no time (it could easily be done in the same time as Xaro's heterosexuality was explored), no crazy acting skills. Easy. Easy as can be. It fits the story well, it provides insight into Dany's choice to not take Xaro up on his offer, and it's frankly interesting.

But they took the active choice of converting "could be" into a change, into the equally time consuming heterosexuality of Xaro. Why do you think they actively made this change?

Because they're the ones making the adaptation, and they felt like it. This thread is filled with a little too much thinly veiled racism and now blatant homophobia for me to stick around.

[Kim87]

Can someone kindly link me to where I can buy some of this oppressiveness for my gayness? Is this like the different trim levels for a car that you have to opt for when you purchase the vehicle? Have I missed my chance of getting the oppressive feature for my gayness?

You can buy it at your local Gayness and Stuff of course!

[trooogdooor]

Because they're the ones making the adaptation, and they felt like it.

Well, this is my point. No one can explain removing these important, defining traits of Xaro, except with Joffrey-style triteness like this. There's no good reason for making him heterosexual. Just vapid, flaccid BS like "well, why not change GRRM? Are you a secret homophobe because you like GRRM?" and "they can do what they want, therefore nothing ever requires a reason".

Protar, Titan, Bear, Dragon, and Lindaaa, of course, have posted a better explanation. I think it's pretty clear by now that Linda's first post on Xaro has been vindicated.

*

I humbly request that the folly of Xaro is not repeated. Caving to the lobbies of fake won't help the commercial success of the series. To the contrary: it's courageous stuff, like "Drogo-rape of silvery Targerian teenager in tribe of savages", that makes the series compelling, interesting, and successful. Ignore the PC police, they watch precisely for the opportunities to be outraged by courageous, compelling Xaros.