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What do I you think about the way women are portrayed in Game of Thrones?

126 replies

Millie3030 · 13/04/2015 22:10

As the title says really, my husband watches it and loves it, but it annoys me, it seems like male titilation for me, half naked women, lots of prostitues, sex scenes and murder. But the main character is female and she seems a strong female character, and there are also other strong female characters in it.

What are your thoughts?

OP posts:
EqualRites · 14/04/2015 09:18

There was a scene with Danaerys in the bath. I remember because before that I was sure I'd read an article that said she had a no nudity clause in her contract. I guess boobs don't count Hmm

I can't defend GoT, I watch it in a 'woman takes half hour break from feminism' kinda way.

Hakluyt · 14/04/2015 09:18

Of course they shouldn't be watching it- but they are.

To be clear, I don't think that film makers should have to consider people younger than the classification when they make things. I was just commenting that this is a hugely popular programme among you his teens and I worry about its influence on them.

As a separate point, I see no legitimate purpose at all for the pornographic element, regardless of classification. Porn is being "normalised" in society- and GOT has to be a contributer.

LaurieFairyCake · 14/04/2015 09:20

Agree totally that it is the overall pornification that leads to the greater acceptance of it in our society. I hate it.

And I wish it wasn't marketed to younger teenagers - it's not suitable for them.

Hakluyt · 14/04/2015 09:28

My ds is one of only two in his circle who aren't allowed to watch it. And I know that's true- I have asked.

LaurieFairyCake · 14/04/2015 09:32

When I worked with year 5's in a prep school only one boy wasn't allowed to play that computer game - COD? And the grand theft auto one where you get points for running over women.

Unbelievably depressing.

BIWI · 14/04/2015 09:40

There's an incredible amount of sex and nudity in the books (as well as horrific violence).

Some of the sex scenes/writing makes me cringe a bit, although I wonder if that's because they've been written by a man, trying to 'get inside' the mind of a woman?

I don't know.

I'm divided on this. I find it alternately hugely misogynistic and sometimes hugely feminist! I guess that in that regard it reflects 'society' quite well - i.e. we're not all the same, some of us are 'good' and some of us are 'bad' and many of us just muddle along as best we can.

I haven't seen any of the TV though, so can't comment on how it's all brought to life on screen.

Hakluyt · 14/04/2015 09:43

I think the books and the TV show are completely different animals.

uglyswan · 14/04/2015 10:50

I am less worried about the nudity and more about the fact that "strong female character who gets raped" seems to be a recurring plot point.

almondcakes · 14/04/2015 11:00

To clarify about the bath scene, I mentioned the bath scene as an example of nudity being shown as ordinary rather than sexualised. In the bath scene Jamie and Breane (sorry if all my spellings of names are wrong) are in the bath because they are having a bath. Dragon woman is also occasionally shown naked for similar ordinary reasons.

But these are exceptional. The vast, vast majority of nudity in Game of Thrones is about sexualising women's bodies. They are naked in the plot for reasons of sexual display. So I think it has that very US Prudish attitude to nudity where if a woman shows any flesh it must be about sex, not just that women are people with bodies.

uglyswan · 14/04/2015 11:26

Slightly off topic, almondcakes, but there really are a hell of a lot of bath scenes: Brienne and Jaime (narrative exposition bath), Daenarys, Viserys et al.(sorry, I have no idea how to spell any of the names), Jon Snow and Ygritte (sexy bath), Greyworm and the interpreter lady (love at first bath), Reek (torture bath), Melisandre (sexy occult bath), as well as a number of public bath scenes. To name just a few. I'm not sure why that is, whether it's just an opportunity to add more nudity without adding another sex scene (poss. a ratings issue?) or to make some point about vulnerability. Or perhaps that's the reason none of the women have any body hair - they spend all their breaks from being strong/raped/both in the bath, depilating...

emzii206 · 14/04/2015 12:45

Personally I think people dwell way too much on how women are portrayed on tv....if people are really that bothered about it, don't watch it. It's fiction. Fiction that is clearly aimed at adults, and if anyone is allowing their children to watch it, then I would seriously question their morals as a parent! The show is made by HBO...so really nudity/graphic violence/explicit sex is expected. I don't think the producers sit down and think "maybe we shouldn't show Emilia Clarke's tits because it might offended a middle aged feminist in the Home Counties!" Hmm

LaurieFairyCake · 14/04/2015 12:51

I think people don't dwell on it enough!

Tv reflects our culture and it's reflecting a society in which women are routinely abused, humiliated and discriminated against.

GuybrushThreepwoodMP · 14/04/2015 12:54

It's interesting. The men's weaknesses are the women's strengths. The men just fuck and kill people. The women fuck and kill people but usually have much more depth- a tremendous sense of justice, a warrior-like strength, incredible ambition... the men mostly just fuck and kill like animals.
The Bible managed to show women as one of two things- the mother or the whore. GoT has a lot more dimensions than that.

I don't really mind the nudity. Personally I've always found it odd to see a shower scene on TV with no nudity or a sex scene with a bra on. In real life, people are naked. Don't see what the problem is.

I love the phrase 'thoroughly modern fannies'.

ifyourehoppyandyouknowit · 14/04/2015 12:57

Perhaps they should think 'maybe we wont show Emilia Clarke's tits because women's bodies are not just objects for display/abuse. She's a great, interesting character, her being naked doesn't add anything to the plot'.

LadyTmalia · 14/04/2015 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LadyTmalia · 14/04/2015 13:11

I have asked for the post to be deleted, my apologies
need an edit button

Hakluyt · 14/04/2015 13:20

"I don't think the producers sit down and think "maybe we shouldn't show Emilia Clarke's tits because it might offended a middle aged feminist in the Home Counties!" hmm"

I'm sure they don't. However, they do think "let's show Emelia Clarke's tits because that'll get us another order of magnitude of viewers"

Not offended, by the way. It is possible to be questioning and to think somthing has a negative influence on society without being offended.....

theblonde2000 · 14/04/2015 13:26

ARGH! This issue annoyed me so much a while ago I wrote a blog post about exactly it. gorillamums.com/2014/05/14/im-a-feminist-but-its-personal/

Skeppers · 14/04/2015 13:37

I didn't think that the books were that graphic, not as much as the TV show, but GoT is a HBO show and they've got form for unnecessary nudity; Boardwalk Empire was another a-MAZING HBO show (better in many ways than GoT...I know, HERESY! Shock) but they insisted on lots of scenes taking place in 'cathouses' = lots of boobs/nudity. I suppose it was positive in some way that all sorts of female body shapes were represented, not just the standard porno-shaven nubile post-teens (small mercies).

Husband and I have actually turned it into a bit of a standing joke now with GoT: we have a pre-show 'tit tally' and whoever gets closest wins a prize, that's how ridiculous it has become.

It doesn't really bother me though, to be honest. Maybe I've become immune to it? I'm guessing that all actresses involved have consented to the nudity so they're doing it out of choice so that they can put GoT on their acting CV?

Some of the sex scenes have been a bit gratuitous (one particularly unnecessarily drawn-out girl-on-girl sex scene at the start of an episode in Season 2 which was literally just taking up screen time whilst Littlefinger was undertaking some boring expositional narrative sticks in my mind).

Oh, and the dinkle in season 1 was Hodor's I believe. Sadly.

Skeppers · 14/04/2015 13:42

Someone above mentioned Cersei's nekked scene- that is an integral part of the plot though, and her nakedness is part of what's going on at the time (trying not to be spoilerific!) so I think that it does warrant being shown.

Rando tits & fanny? Not so much. There was a bit in last night's episode which actually made me lol in its pointlessness- when the Unsullied goes to see the prostitute, she takes off her top and then unwraps her skirt, flashing full frontal minge, only for him to say 'you don't need to do that', so she wraps it up again! She literally just flashed for the audience; there was absolutely NO NEED for us to see her bush- it added nothing to the scene/story!

Moln · 14/04/2015 15:27

I don't recall Cersrei being naked, though it does seem that if you are female, bar the exceptional, you are at the very least going to have to reveal your breasts, probably full frontal too.

Female full nudity does far out weigh the level of male full nudity in the sense plot line irrelevance.

I recall only one penis being show and it was part of the plot (man bring walked off naked by someone on horse back can't recall why though but it was punishment) there's be such a huge number of thoroughly modern fannies though.

almondcakes · 14/04/2015 15:48

Swan, there are a lot of baths, but I am thinking of women who get to just have a bath with no sexual meaning!

I do think Briane and Daenerys get treated better in how they are characterised that some of the other female characters.

Emzii, it isn't about being offended by nudity or graphic sex. It is about being annoyed by the constant sexualisation of women in a tv show that is really quite exceptional in its range of complex female characters.

And quite apart from anything else, I am not a straight man, and it is boring for everyone other than straight men to have to sit through an endless stream of sex scenes and nudity that sexualise women but nobody else and do so in a way that does not expand characterisation or advance the plot (I accept there was a little male nudity in a short gay scene, but it wasn't a very impressive or sexy gay scene).

It is the sexual equivalent of somebody interrupting a conversation every 5 mins to show you their holiday photos. Yes, we know you went on holiday. Yes, we know straight men like tits. Why is this being pointed out to us 100 times per episode?

LadyTmalia · 14/04/2015 16:27

If I recall correctly Hodor was wearing a prosthetic (adding nothing to the discussion :) )

Theon also did a full frontal scene.

They were in the book, some of the naked scence on the show were also in the book, but most are there for no reason. I think its stupid, but it doesnt detract from my enjoyment of the show

Hakluyt · 14/04/2015 16:57

Can most people turn off their political sensibilities and just enjoy the ride? I wish I could- I would love to watch GOT- but I just can't!Sad

uglyswan · 14/04/2015 22:57

almondcakes, your point re non-sexual nudity in bath scenes was perfectly clear, mine was just an aside really. And as a bi-woman (before anyone brings that up) not only am I just as if not more bored and annoyed by a uninterrupted stream of sexualised images of women, I always see the message as being "you don't matter, your interests don't matter, this is not for you, it's for straight men". Because straight men are, as always, the default...