The House of the Dragon screenwriter revealed that the series will deal with rapes, but that these will not be shown on screen. Instead, the focus will be on the victims.
Whereas House of the Dragon is about to land on our screens, the series is already crystallizing many questions on the representation of sexist and sexual violence in the universe of Game Of Thrones. Sara Hess, the prequel’s writer and executive producer, spoke about it, saying that it would feature a treatment completely different.
No rape scenes in House of the Dragon?
We are only a few days away from the release of House of the Dragonthe release of which is scheduled for August 21 on OCS. The plot of this prequel to Game Of Thrones is set 200 years before the 2011 series, at the time of a generational war that is tearing House Targaryen apart.
The whole point is whether House of the Dragon will be able to take into account the criticisms addressed to Game Of Thrones. The series is particularly known for these rape scenes gratuitous and extremely violent. Asked by Vanity Fairscreenwriter and producer Sara Hess assured that the rapes would not not shown and would remain off-screen :
“I would like to point out that we do not describe sexual violence in the series. We are dealing with a case off screen and show instead consequences and the impact on the victim and the abuser’s mother. I think what our show does, and what I’m proud of, is that we choose to focus on the violence against women that is inherent in a patriarchal system. »
House of the Dragon, critical or complacent with rape culture?
Should we deduce that House of the Dragon will be more feminist than its predecessor ? Nothing is less sure. The screenwriter made comments that he would be legitimate to question :
“There are many ‘historical’ or story-based series that romanticize sexual relationships between powerful men and women who were under the age of consent, even if they were ‘consenting’. We put that on the screen, and we don’t hesitate to say that our heroines, in the first half of the series, are coerced and manipulated into doing the will of grown men.
This is not necessarily done by those we would define as rapists or abusers, but often by men generally. well intentioned which are unable to see that what they do is traumatic and oppressive, because the system they all live in normalizes it. It’s less obvious than rape but just as insidious, although in a different way. »
We are concerned to see a form of disempowerment of the aggressors, whose actions would be justified by “the times”. At this point, we would like to recall that Game Of Thrones and House of the Dragon are less historical series on the Middle Ages that fiction on a fantasy world from the imagination of George RR Martin…
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Feature image credit: © HBO
House of the Dragon: how will the writers show sexual violence (and avoid GOT mistakes)?