WE were told, by director Miguel Sapochnik that House of the Dragon was moving away from the kind of scenes of rape and sexualised violence that characterised Game of Thrones, and for which it has been slated. But the big outrage following the much-anticipated release of its first episode is about a scene of violence against a woman of a different kind which has upset and triggered many – one of a forced caesarian on Queen Aemma while she is mid-labour with a breached baby and fully-conscious. Blood-soaked and traumatic, it has caused many to ask whether this was a gratuitous step too far.
How have the directors justified the scene?
Miguel Sapochnik who directed the scene has said, “For a woman in medieval times, giving birth was violence. It’s as dangerous as it gets, You have a 50/50 chance of making it. Many women didn’t. If given the choice, the father would choose the child over the mother as a cesarean would kill you. It was an extremely violent part of life.” One of the show’s producers and writers, Sara Hess observed that in this series, instead of “sexualised violence”, they had chosen “ to focus on the violence against women that is inherent in a patriarchal system.”
How have fans reacted?
Some have declared it “gruesome” and “traumatic,” and even declared that the show should have a trigger warning specifically for it.
Is there any kind of feminist case for it?
Some see it as a critique or reflection of the current moment in women’s rights in the United States, following the overturn of Roe v Wade.
Aja Romano, writing in Vox noted, “Enter House of the Dragon as the first major post-Roe TV series to present some kind of allegory for what just happened to women across the nation. Viserys in this scene subverts all decent notions of how a husband is supposed to feel about his own wife and what he’s supposed to want to protect. Yet Viserys isn’t just acting as a husband; here he is literally the state itself.”
So it’s a feminist allegory?
You could view it that way. Or you could see it as a gratuitous exploitation of the current moment in which women’s rights over their own bodies are being rolled back. It’s not as if this is The Handmaid’s Tale, and written by a feminist. It’s based on a book by a male author and the show’s chief creators are men: Martin and Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik.
Worst birth scene in film and television?
Possibly – though there’s competition. The gory Twilight scene, in which Bella gives birth to a vampire, and the birth of Luke of Leia in Star Wars III to name just a couple.
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