#any desi hotd fans

[girl-intrigued]

Dance of Dragon is Westeros's Mahabharat !!

[scaly-freaks]

Kind of going off your post about how brown and black characters in HOTD and GOT are completely wasted or demolished or turned into a crude caricature.

Ummmm the HATE that is thrown towards Elia Martell is absolutely absurd. The way they hate the idea of this character and are honestly happy with how her character was destroyed is so telling and disgusting.

The hatred and discontent is so real and frightening and we saw a glimpse of that with those leaked texts from some random discord. I guess what I’m just trying to say is racism is far from dead and it’s seen in this fandom.

And yes the entirety of Arianne Martell’s character being a seductress is insane.

Also wanted to mention that the only other time I’ve seen brown characters in the show are as brothel workers. Of course nothing wrong with that sort of work. But it’s the sexualization that’s creepy.

Yeah. Yep. It's just depressing. Sometimes I find myself accepting it because it's so normal at this point, but then I'm like...no???? I hesitated making Amara Dornish and visibly non-white because my own self doubt made me want to . I thought eh I'll just make her from the Riverlands or something, it's less complicated. But then I make her, and people love her and it's not an issue (it's just stuff I've internalised over the years thanks to how society is set up). Which obviously goes to show the people who create our media are deliberately fucking up representation so that we just stop asking. They can create compelling characters that are centred they just don't want to a lot of the time.

That being said, British TV that specifically isn't popular outside of the UK, represents non-white characters quite well and doesn't turn them into caricatures of their culture/ethnicity (at least most of the time). In this case I am talking about American productions and non-British audiences.

On the note of Elia Martell...a lot of the times she is fancasted as Indian. Stereotypes about Dorne are also stereotypes used against Indians ('she smells Dornish' - no two guesses on what Aerys meant). I've seen Indians be used as punching bags for racism by every other race as if it's a free-for-all, to the point where very horrible and very real issues like misogyny in India are treated frivolously and with 'oh well they're all just like that.'

The mistreatment and racism against Elia has real life parallels because of the otherness of Dorne, and since Dorne brings to mind South and Western Asia so much (the way they hid in caves when the dragons came is very reminiscent of Afghan guerilla tactics and their tough terrain that invaders can't adjust to) that's usually the area of the world I associate it with.

It's all very other other other and now pair that up with snow-white daddy Rhaegar and his lily-white, dark-haired Stark girl (because mind you, I understand white blondes have had issues with how they're represented as slutty caricatures onscreen and brunettes as more clever and by extension more desirable in the long-term).

Elia didn't stand a chance against two white people pairing up, and that is honestly the only time when I'm like "you know what, stop fan casting her as desi." The woman is raped in front of her children and watches those same kids die in front of her, and even that isn't enough to stop the cruel jokes.

And yes, absolutely, there's nothing wrong with being a brothel worker. I adore stories about people in the grassroots, brothel workers especially, just trying to survive and get by in the world. But watch the brown workers be immediately depicted as more "comfortable" with this lifestyle, and just naturally promiscuous as compared to their white counterparts.

Meanwhile irl, if the brown person in question is a Muslim for example, their values in terms of modesty are mocked and derided and deemed an extremist 'other'. And then I guess you can be a Mormon in Utah and be just fine.

I honestly don't know if any of this made sense, or if I articulated without room for misunderstanding. Trust me, I do think about this a lot. I'm Kashmiri, and I've lived in England all my life, and my dating pool has mostly been white because that is what's more available. I've dealt with fetishisation/sexualisation (never for the ethnicity I am which most people couldn't even guess...uhhh hilarious) and it's forefront on my mind despite my active decision to leave it out of my fics as much as I can.

It can be very cathartic to talk about, but sometimes I'm like, you know what Amara, I'll take this extra little bit of suffering away from you bc girl you're already dealing with a lot (Aegon)

[scaly-freaks]

God I actually hate how racist the hotd fandom is I just got into a fight with a girl who said black (and desi) characters ‘shouldn’t ever exist, realistically’ in the show and theyre obviously doing it for diversity points

Thank god for your fics, Anya chalotra fan casts and steven

After i saw the scene of Dany lifted on a crowd of nameless and faceless brown bodies, I kind of wished they didn’t exist on either show tbh. We’re just decorations to these people, fighting for the scraps left over after the white characters get the meat of the production. Though I suppose the fun thing about HOTD is that the whole show is so bad, everyone’s character is suffering, white or poc. No one gets to shine and everyone’s dealing with a horrendous script (equality!)

On a separate note, I’m glad there aren’t desi characters in HOTD. I’d rather not see their talent squandered on this incredibly stupid fandom and this dud of a script. No offence but I think we deserve better than a Dorne George couldn’t be bothered to properly flesh out as a culture beyond poor caricatures and stereotypes. And then the ones playing servants to lily white nobles and validating their every decision because what other position would an ethnically ambiguous brown person be allowed to hold in this universe. The old man couldn’t stop talking about Arianna Martell’s seductive ways and “brown nipples” in the books and I’m supposed to be grateful for any role they toss to a desi person? Fuck outta here.

I’m desi and I could write a better script in my sleep, so why would I want desi actors struggling with scripts catered to white folk and shoddily at that? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Keep us out of it.

The dunderhead who said they were doing it for diversity points is correct. They’re probably even correct about us not existing in that world realistically. Because we are usually an afterthought for a white creator when they put something together. They have to work out where to fit us and that usually comes at the expense of treating us like supporting characters to whiteness. The Velaryons are a noble house in their own right on this show and yet they’re playing supporting characters to the Targaryens (the only none white Targs, Baela and Rhaena, are fighting for lines). It’s a mess all around and I don’t want this representation unless I, or someone who looks like me, is in control of it. Fuck the scraps.

P.S. Amara for the win ✨