#or better yet: if naming slavery and colonization makes you that uncomfortable? you shouldn’t have brought it up

[mxtxfanatic]

Have you ever read "The Shade of Old Trees" by Kryal on ao3?

I genuinely think you might enjoy it, the characterization is top tier and the author's notes go heavy into details on why they made this or that decision. It was all incredibly good, well thought out, well researched, and with not an ounce of fanon to find.

I’ve read it, and while I initially enjoyed the story and the long author’s notes, I found it very toothless in its critique of anything substantial despite the author bringing up major issues in the modern world, themself. It also felt like their understanding of China and its history came straight from one of those 5-minute info-videos that’s half American state propaganda and pretend like the history of modern China begins in 1949. Finally, they also fall into the trap of softening Jiang Cheng’s character in the final confrontation with the excuse that “jc wouldn’t actually want to kill wwx!” despite that being what he literally did and tried to do again in canon. I appreciate them writing through their logic, but that doesn’t mean I’ll agree with the leaps they take simply because they’ve explained why they’ve made them. Great start, weak finish.

[saintnesryn]

short daenerys meta for @aelinbitch

ok so I AM NOT A GOT/ASOIAF BLOGGER so pls no one take this too seriously

(j@nsas and northern/stark apologists do not fucking interact)

anyways lovely bella, who has never seen nor read the series, asked me if i could share my thoughts on daenerys targaryen + white saviorism (btw there will be some spoilers, sorry)

TW for racism, rape, slavery, abuse, misogyny, child abuse, suicide

so i’d like start by just saying that i do understand why some people believe dany is a white savior. the scene you referenced (the scene where dany is being held up by a bunch of brown ppl who’re calling her mother🙃) was done in such poor taste in my opinion. as a poc, it did make me uncomfortable and i wish that the writers had done something different. there’s also a lot of criticism on her character for basically interfering with other societies and trying to ‘fix’ them. believe me, i get it, i really do.

that being said, i personally do not see her as a white savior or a racist or a colonizer or anything like that. from my understanding, colonizers go to different countries and kill citizens and force the remaining citizens to follow their beliefs and practices, and basically annihilate whole societies (colonization is way more complicated and serious of course than this really condensed summary but you get the picture). dany has done NONE of that.

firstly if you look at historical imperialists, you’ll notice that they basically come from wealth and privilege. dany is an exiled, penniless, abused child at the very beginning of the series. she has absolutely no power, no authority, and no money. her brother, the only family she knows physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses her. she has no allies, no one who to protect her. while she eventually does make a name for herself, the hopelessness and loneliness that came from being so neglected doesn’t leave her. she unlike these historical imperialists understands what it is like to be poor and hungry and homeless and thus her intentions are vastly different from theirs. also she never tries to destroy people’s culture? she learns the languages and customs and tries to assimilate more than anything so...

next, daenerys herself is a victim of the very crimes that she vows to end. for instance, when she goes to cities and bans slavery, it’s not coming from a White Man’s Burden type of place. dany herself is a former slave, having been sold off to a warlord at the age of 13. while being this man’s wife granted her a bit of power (great, she could give a few commands -__-) she was still a child bride and was not treated like a real person. she is also a rape victim, having been raped every night by her husband to the point she was suicidal. so when she is so vehemently against rape, it’s not bc she thinks she’s better or bc she looks down on these ppl it’s bc she’s literally a victim and doesn’t want others to have to go through it. and i also have to add that if dany’s problem was something like religion or cuisine or music or something petty, i would understand why ppl would be mad at her. but like, i shouldn’t have to explain why rape and slavery are bad????? regardless of if you’re a victim of it or not, you should know that those are really bad things and we should all actually try to end those things?.?.?

now she gets criticized a lot bc she burns ppl alive sometimes but like- SLAVE MASTERS AND RAPISTS DESERVE TO BE BURNT ALIVE FOR FUCKS SAKE. and here’s where it gets interesting ok bc daenerys was basically punished by the narrative for being a revolutionary. instead of being wishy washy and lenient, she takes radical steps to ensure that these practices end. so if that means killing every slave master or rapist, she will do it. it’s honestly such a breath of fresh air from the stupid idea that if you kill a bad guy you’re just as bad as the bad guy. she unlike any character in the series and most characters in the media is not afraid to take down systems of oppression.

and throughout all of this dany is literally such a sweetheart. the show at least tried to convince us that she was EViL and mAd aLL ALong but there’s no one in the series who continuously gives a shit like dany does. like she actually listens to her people and advisors and considers their needs as well as her own. she goes as far as to lock up her dragons (who she sees as her children after her own human child was sacrificed and she was made barren) to ensure the safety of her ppl. the show really tries to squander these behaviors and attitudes of hers. in the book for instance, there’s a scene where one of her handmaidens is dying of a fever(?) while they’re all like stranded in the middle of nowhere (she’s poor again in this scene btw so much for her ‘privilege’) and everyone tries to convince her to leave the girl to die. daenerys- too kind for this world- targaryen instead gives the girl her water and stays with her until she dies. in the show however, the handmaiden actually ends up betraying daenerys leading to this whole revenge plot 🙃.

and finally for now ;) daenerys allies herself with multiple women and poc. it’s funny how the most marginalized folks in the series rally around her out of their own volition yet somehow she’s the racist woman hating asshole of this series 🤡

TLDR : DRACARYS