Game of Thrones Season 6 Premiere: Emilia Clarke Doesn’t Owe Us Her Body

elanabrooklyn:

elanabrooklyn:

There are two overly long sequences of Dothraki threatening to sexually assault Daenerys in the season six premiere of Game of Thrones. We could’ve gotten to the narrative point of her being told she must join the Dosh Khaleen without brown men threatening to rape a white woman over and over. 

But there’s something far more upsetting happening, something that impacts an actual real-life human, actress Emelia Clarke. 

 
Serious fans of the show know that a few seasons ago Clarke made it known that she would not do any more nude scenes. There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing nude scenes, but obviously the actress doesn’t feel comfortable doing them and her wishes should be respected. 

So the lengthy sequence where Khaal Moro threatens to rip her clothes off is metatextual. It’s toying with the viewers’ knowledge that Clarke doesn’t want to be seen naked. It taunts us, and her saying, “we know she doesn’t consent but let’s see if we can force her anyway, because the collective and assumed straight male gaze has the power.“ 

We are asked to root against the actresses’ wishes. Even though she is not striped in this scene her autonomy is insulted. 

That’s sexist as hell. Emilia Clarke deserves better. 

 
Contrast this with the artistically and plot significant nudity of Melisandre in this episode. Actress Carice Von Houten has said in interviews she has no problem being nude on screen. The reveal of Melisandre’s body in this episode is significant and clearly not a source of discomfort for the actress. 

That makes all the difference.

There is nothing inherently wrong in wanting to see somebody naked. It’s one of the most common human desires. But there is something wrong in wanting to see somebody naked who does not want to be seen naked.

When Clarke played Holly Golightly in a Broadway production of Breakfast In Tiffany’s she had to deal with theater goers trying to take her picture during a bath scene. It was a significant enough problem that the theater had to increase security. The bathtub scene on Broadway was even set up to avoid showing her fully nude. After being perved on by theater goers no wonder Clarke doesn’t want to deal with this shit. 

 
Let’s hope the rest of Season 6 respects it’s actors.  

When Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen emerged from the flames at the end of Season 6 Episode 4 we all cheered. 

And then I realized I would need to go online and explain why her nudity in that scene is totally fine and why my earlier critique of the will-she-or-won’t-she BS in the season premiere still stands.

So here’s the deal:

The actress was vocal and enthusiastic about appearing nude in service to the plot of this particular episode.  She makes a distinction between nudity that she is comfortable with doing and nudity that she is not comfortable doing. This scene was shot on a closed set. 

The purpose of this scene was to demonstrate her character’s power. Appearing nude as a god-like figure before bowing legions (of not just brown people this time thank god) is entirely different then being forcibly stripped of your clothing by rapists, which was what the earlier episode was teasing at. 

Remember, my central argument here was around the show’s treatment of the actress as a worker. It really sounds like the show did what it needed to make her feel comfortable on the set for this. 

Clarke said in interviews:

 “Taking off my clothes is not the easiest thing, but with the magic of the effects, I don’t have to do a season 1 and go on a cliff and do it,” she notes. “I’m in control of it.”

The new scene is a demonstration of her character’s power. The scene in the first episode of the season was men teasing her about her powerlessness.

Context: It Makes All The Difference