In the sixth episode Dragon House, Rhaenyra Targaryen walks the halls of the Red Keep just hours after giving birth. He looks exhausted and furious, but realistic. Swollen body and clumsy step due to the pain associated with the brutal physical process. The character can barely stand, and the camera follows in rough detail the trail of blood left behind him as he walks.
On the fictional continent of Westeros, Laena Targaryen had labor pains, but her birth turned into a tragic event. Unable to give birth despite the Maester’s efforts, Prince Daemon’s wife decided to sacrifice herself by the fire of her dragon Vhagar. Something that saved her from a bloody death, as happened to Queen Emma in the first episode of the series.
Both sequences were analyzed behind the scenes by medical experts familiar with the changes in women’s bodies during childbirth. The element became a subject of special interest for production. For writer Ryan Kondal, it was about a way to understand “the strength of women in a cruel time”. The context of the argument also included an examination of the medical conditions associated with childbirth in the Middle Ages, the series’ reference scenario. The result is deep, painful yet flawless footage of childbirth under difficult conditions.
This data makes the series a rarity in pop culture. In fact, it can be considered one of rare cases when the condition of a woman in labor is shown on television from such a sharp point of view. Which is nothing short of amazing in a production that has raised concerns about a likely misogynist plot.
House of the Dragon is a new series in the Game of Thrones universe.
A new look for women Dragon House
Actually, Dragon House he paid close attention to his female characters. The production had multiple directors for some of its key chapters.. Motherhood, erotica, sexuality, and especially intimacy from a woman’s point of view became an important point of the argument. Something that grew up like Rainier, his main character and the center of almost everything, became an adult.
At the same time, the director took care of creating a safe environment for his actresses and actors. So much to get away from the loud and frequent criticism of the multitude Game of Thronesas if to analyze history from new positions.
As a result, the view of women is completely different and much deeper than one might think. in a plot based on sexist violence. After all, the great premise Dragon House this is due to the rejection of the queen figure. But the creative team behind the camera prevented that notion of power from spreading to the performers of the key figures in his story.
This included hiring intimacy coordinators for a few more difficult scenes. Especially since the exploration of sexuality equates to power in several of the show’s most important scenes. For Emily Carey, who plays the young Alycent, the decision to respectfully analyze the sex scenes was paramount.
In an interview Newsweek, commented that he was barely 17 at the time of filming intimate scenes with Paddy Considine. Plot twist in chapter 4 Dragon House, was crucial to understand the queen and her future decisions. So he needed all the help he could to keep the sequence from being traumatic or aggressive. But thanks to director Claire Kilner and her team of coordinators, she was able to play Alycent’s difficult times without a hitch.
The maturity of a controversial story
In particular, it was Kilner who took care of all the details so that the image of a very young Alicent in bed with Viserys I did not cause painful emotions. The solution was to show minimal nudity (only the actor in this case) and focus on Carey’s face. It provided consistency Dragon House remarkable maturity and a conscious exploration of the helplessness the character suffers from.
Something similar happened to Rainier Millie Alcock in the same fourth chapter. In the story, Uncle Damon leads her through the streets of Westeros, as well as to the “house of pleasure”. In the end, this leads to the creation of a sexual situation that is not completed, but can be very uncomfortable for the actress. Kilner commented House of the Dragon: Inside the Episode, from HBO, that his intention was to show the power of the princess over her body. Also discuss his emotional and physical connection with Ser Christon Cole (Fabien Frankel).
The director insisted that in both the kinky sex play scene with Damon and the sex scene with Kriston, she showed a woman’s point of view. A nuance that redefined the character in a completely new way and deepened the way the female characters are analyzed in the production.
