If I had to pick a character who was the most difficult to talk about in this series, it would probably be Daenerys Targaryen. The intersection of every single conflict and perspective–in world and modern–about her is one that is almost impossible to address without sidelining one element of it.
That her arc relies intensely white saviorism; depictions of the Dothraki are laden with racist tropes; her experience in Slaver’s Bay harkens to (but does not perfectly mirror) white conquest in the 19th century. This pairs uncomfortably with the fact that she is 13-16 years old (I’m focusing predominantly on book!Daenerys in this–if you are here for show!Daenerys proceed with that in mind), a child sold into sex slavery, a rape victim, and someone who believes firmly and acts upon the belief that any society that relies upon slavery is not society. As a woman in Martin’s historically inaccurate misogynistic world, she confronts challenges that are designed by the creator of the series to confront her womanhood; as a Targaryen/Valyrian/Westerosi far from her home and without the resources of that home, she is left with little choice but to look forward.
Creator-Character-Consumer
Before even touching on the content of A Song of Ice and Fire, a point that causes trouble, right out of the gate, is where do “problems” with Daenerys arise? When, for example, does responsibility lie with a character, and when with the architect of her story? Add into that–when does the responsibility lie with neither character, nor creator, but with instead the fans who are discussing the media in question?
All this is not to absolve Daenerys of whatever sins exist within her storyline. There are choices that the character makes that are reprehensible and for which the ultimate responsibility does lie with her; however it is also to say that many of the things that Daenerys is loathed for are decisions that lie instead at Martin’s feet.
Kahina Ziri’s subplot in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
This totally changed Senator Finch’s “Today is a day for truth” line during Superman’s hearing. She was going to expose Lex.
This is also the reason she needed to die from Lex’s standpoint. She was a respected Figure who knew the truth and would not be manipulated by Lex. She could have swayed the world to believe Superman was on their side.
I mean if you really think about it what actually drove Clark being antagonized by politcians, the media and parts of society was his silence. He didn’t outright speak for himself and he was never offered a space to. Instead he was constantly talked about. Clark is definitely the type who would want his actions to speak for themselves at least as superman. However without context his actions could be interpreted any which way and that’s what Lex was working with.
Senator Finch was just about to let Clark do his whole “I’m as american as they come I’m from Kansas senator” thing and create a context in which he could be seen as a guy trying to do the right thing.
Senator Finch was going to give Clark a Voice and that was actually the biggest threat to Lex’s plan.
I’m just thinking about how this could also be a parallel to Lois in MoS, because it would have been the easiest thing to agree woth everyone and say he’s an alien we’re better of without him. She somehow believed however that he should have the chance to talk about what happened. As Lois immediately believed that Clark had a story and upon finding that he had a life like anyone else she allowed him privacy.
It’s amazing to see women in positions of power using their emotional intelligence to make good decisions and they’re a perfect contrast to the antagonists who didn’t have or didn’t use their emotional intelligence and therefore made catastrophic decisions.
Ooop i still had more.
Because ultimately Kahina also made a choice. Whatever Lex gave her to play a pawn in his game her conscience didn’t agree and especially with what Lex had planed, she was also a very dangerous loose end. She went to the Senator to tell her about Clark what would have stopped her from going to the press? She seemed determined to right her wrongs. This is also interesting if we keep up the theme of ladies with emltinal intelligence v men who didn’t use it.
Wallace Keefe was used like a weapon. Just like Bruce. Their anger made them an easy target. Lex let Bruce steel the kryptonite because he knew Bruce would know what to do with it and he would have the best chance of killing Clark. Wallace was used because he would have taken any chance to stand up to Superman and throw his faults in his face. To show the world that superman is no hero and a fals god. Both of these men had hate so great they didn’t even for a second question the situation they had found themselves in.
Whereas the women did and found flaws which they tried to correct and therefore they were a great danger to Lex’s plan.
1. x-men evolution or young justice (cartoon)?
2. x-men the animated series or batman the animated series?
3. jessica jones or supergirl?
4. steve rogers/peggy carter or steve trevor/diana prince?
5. avengers age of ultron or batman vs superman?
6. mutants or metas?
7. avengers or justice league?
8. tony stark or bruce wayne?
9. kamala khan or cassandra cain?
10. america chavez or renee montoya?
11. wanda maximoff or zatanna zatara?
12. bucky barnes or jason todd?
13. erik lehnsherr or harvey dent?
14. shatterstar/rictor or apollo/midnighter?
15. thor or big barda?
16. namor or arthur curry?
17. carol danvers or kara danvers?
18. matt murdock or dick grayson?
19. clint barton or oliver queen?
20. pietro maximoff or wally west?
21. wade wilson or slade wilson?
22. natasha romanoff or selina kyle?
23. billy kaplan/teddy altman or tim drake/conner kent?
24. civil war or infinite crisis?
25. miles morales or terry mcginnis?
Bringing this back as I block and try to ignore Game of Thrones yet again. My rage and disdain for fundamental parts of this series has not lessened, I discovered.
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