# Game of Thrones' Producers' next move: Confederacy. Sigh **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720 "2017-07-20T14:47:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/1 "2017-07-20T14:47:39Z")
Article here: [HBO draws ire over drama 'Confederate' from 'Game of Thrones' bosses](http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/19/media/confederate-hbo/index.html) > [@](#): > > On Wednesday, HBO announced “Confederate,” a series from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss that takes place in a reality where the southern states successfully seceded from the Union, “giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution,” according to the network’s description. I have a bad feeling about this. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/2 "2017-07-20T14:49:33Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I have a bad feeling about this. Why? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/3 "2017-07-20T14:53:23Z")
That…is the stupidest, most disgusting idea I’ve heard today. Anything that gives the slightest recognition of the Confederacy should be shunned. If they go through with it, I hope it craters so hard they are outcasts from all civilized society and die penniless. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/4 "2017-07-20T14:55:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That…is the stupidest, most disgusting idea I’ve heard today. Anything that gives the slightest recognition of the Confederacy should be shunned. > > If they go through with it, I hope it craters so hard they are outcasts from all civilized society and die penniless. Is it that different that a series about Japan and Germany winning WWII and occupying the US? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/5 "2017-07-20T14:55:39Z")
And [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAFjBSPUQJk) is the theme song! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/6 "2017-07-20T14:57:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That…is the stupidest, most disgusting idea I’ve heard today. Anything that gives the slightest recognition of the Confederacy should be shunned. > > If they go through with it, I hope it craters so hard they are outcasts from all civilized society and die penniless. You’re assuming it’ll be pro-Southern? Why? I’d expect it to be more of a _Handmaid’s Tale_-style dystopia. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/7 "2017-07-20T14:57:49Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Is it that different that a series about Japan and Germany winning WWII and occupying the US? Most certainly, and a minutes reflection should show you “why.” The descriptor says slavery “evolved.” That means every jackanape asshole racist scumbag in the country will find a way to celebrate every little crumb they can find in the show to justify their belief that the Confederacy was a “Noble Cause” and all that bullshit. Dystopia or not. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/8 "2017-07-20T15:03:03Z")
I get why people are leery but this could be really cool. If handled poorly it could make black people and others extremely upset but if handled well it could be fascinating and a good conversation starter (like The Man in the High Castle and Jewish people). A few years ago there was a movie called C.S.A. set in a Confederate States of America. It was done more humorously and it made me want to see a more serious take on the topic. ETA: I would assume it would depict the horrors of Slavery in a modern setting. If anything I think the people who will be most angry at it will be Southerners. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/9 "2017-07-20T15:06:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Most certainly, and a minutes reflection should show you “why.” > > The descriptor says slavery “evolved.” That means every jackanape asshole racist scumbag in the country will find a way to celebrate every little crumb they can find in the show to justify their belief that the Confederacy was a “Noble Cause” and all that bullshit. Dystopia or not. Why doesn’t that criticism apply to _Man in the High Castle_? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/10 "2017-07-20T15:21:31Z")
About ten years ago, there was a [mockumentary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.S.A.:_The_Confederate_States_of_America) that also imagined a world in which the confederate states won the Civil War. As for this idea, if it’s done well, it could be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/11 "2017-07-20T15:28:19Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Why doesn’t that criticism apply to _Man in the High Castle_? Because the last time I checked, we were neither German ynor Japan. The Confederacy were United Statesians before they turned traitor. I want nothing but scorn and contempt heaped upon them and their glorifiers/defenders for the rest of Time. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/12 "2017-07-20T15:33:17Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The descriptor says slavery “evolved.” That means every jackanape asshole racist scumbag in the country will find a way to celebrate every little crumb they can find in the show to justify their belief that the Confederacy was a “Noble Cause” and all that bullshit. Dystopia or not. Indeed. It’s different than Man in the High Castle because the folks that idolize the Japanese empire or the Nazis are a very small population. Folks that idolize the Confederacy is a far greater proportion of the population. I also have a really bad feeling about this. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/13 "2017-07-20T15:49:42Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Why doesn’t that criticism apply to _Man in the High Castle_? MitHC is history and a fantastic enough alternative that we can be a bit more separate. America’s relationship slavery is far more complex and directly, and currently, awful. I don’t trust, well, pretty much anybody’s ability to set up a multi-year arc that doesn’t have major instances of feeling off, not ringing true, trivializing something profoundly important to some group. Could a show about a behind the scene’s look at a Plantation work today? Kind of an Upstairs, Downstairs, but you, know funnier and cooler because of the rape, murder and inhuman mental and physical abuse?? I don’t want to watch someone make profound points in a multi-season alternative history thriller by invoking slave situations. I can’t imagine a promo for this that would make me touch it with a 10 foot pole. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/14 "2017-07-20T15:51:22Z")
I’m not going to base my enjoyment of something based on who else likes it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/15 "2017-07-20T15:56:05Z")
So–I’m guessing not fans of Harry Turtledove’s _Guns of the South_? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/16 "2017-07-20T15:57:50Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Most certainly, and a minutes reflection should show you “why.” > > The descriptor says slavery “evolved.” That means every jackanape asshole racist scumbag in the country will find a way to celebrate every little crumb they can find in the show to justify their belief that the Confederacy was a “Noble Cause” and all that bullshit. Dystopia or not. There’s a brilliant novel I read a couple months ago, [Underground Airlines](http://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/484012349/underground-airlines-presents-a-scarily-realistic-alternate-history). It has a similar setup: four states maintain slavery into the 21st century, and slavery has absolutely “evolved.” It’s terrifying, brutal, sickening. This is absolutely an area that can be explored through good storytelling, IMO. I have no opinion on whether this project will do so, but I don’t think it should be off-limits. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/17 "2017-07-20T16:08:51Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I can’t imagine a promo for this that would make me touch it with a 10 foot pole. _‘Picture a remake of DJANGO UNCHAINED, but with modern firepower.’_ ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/18 "2017-07-20T16:09:01Z")
Suddenly, what is one of the two most common alternate history premises is unconscionable? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/19 "2017-07-20T16:10:17Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > There’s a brilliant novel I read a couple months ago, [Underground Airlines](http://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/484012349/underground-airlines-presents-a-scarily-realistic-alternate-history). It has a similar setup: four states maintain slavery into the 21st century, and slavery has absolutely “evolved.” It’s terrifying, brutal, sickening. How had slavery “evolved”? In what fashion? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720/20 "2017-07-20T16:10:18Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’m not going to base my enjoyment of something based on who else likes it. Agreed. I always base my enjoyment on who doesn’t like it. I’m a rebel, not a conformist! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-producers-next-move-confederacy-sigh/791720.md?page=2)