‘House Of The Dragon’ Ep4: Twitter Salutes Director Clare Kilner For Showing Sex Scenes From A Female Gaze
When House Of The Dragon was first announced a lot of people had made known their apprehensions; they were worried whether the prequel series would be able to match the phenomenon that Game of Thrones was. And with every episode, the prequel series is putting all these doubts to ease. In fact, the latest episode – episode 4 – was the one that was the most talked about on social media. From a brotherly reconciliation to a fallout yet again, the episode, King Of The Narrow Sea, has so many events taking place that blinking isn’t even on the cards. But the scenes that are most talked about in this one-hour episode are the sex scenes. The scenes were noticed by people on Twitter for being a lot different than one might expect out of Game of Thrones and the reason for that could be the fact that this episode of House Of The Dragon was directed by a woman director, Clare Kilner.
Yep, the fourth episode of House Of The Dragon was directed by a woman director, Clare Kilner. And many people on the internet believe that it is because of this very reason the nudity and sex scenes in the episode are more humane and add more depth to the character of Rhaenyra Targaryen. For those unversed, out of the 19 directors that directed the Game of Thrones series, one of them was a woman.
https://twitter.com/apparitionnow/status/1569296486495821828?s=20&t=-i2egYuycP9SwppgnCOX5Q
https://twitter.com/apparitionnow/status/1569297453094150145?s=20&t=-i2egYuycP9SwppgnCOX5Q
Also Read: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Maisie Williams Reveals How Playing Arya Stark Affected Her Womanhood. The Conflicts She Faced Are Understandable.
One of the Twitter users pointed out that the camera work in episode 4 of House Of The Dragon had no titillation, lingering, or extra zoom shorts on women’s breasts. And that in a way conveys the message that sex is about intimacy but intimacy is more than just objectifying (or showing) the body.
https://twitter.com/apparitionnow/status/1569300029483159552?s=20&t=-i2egYuycP9SwppgnCOX5Q
The user writes, “When a main female character eventually has sex, her body isn’t framed in a lascivious way – she’s young, zealous, rebellious. her body language and the way her body is shot conveys that. simultaneously, we see another character going through the motions without feeling anything-“. They further point out that this is exactly why female directors and intimacy coordinators are required. The user says that just like in the episode of House Of The Dragon, the woman director, Clare Kilner, used sex as a meaningful plot where she showed character development without exploiting it.
https://twitter.com/apparitionnow/status/1569300565448093697?s=20&t=-i2egYuycP9SwppgnCOX5Q
In fact, many of the fans took to their respective Twitter to hail the woman director in House Of The Dragon for showing the sex and nude scenes with so much respect and care. Check out some of their tweets:
Good thread! I'd also add that the scene where female lead kinda semi-coerces a male character into having sex, the complex power imbalance + his struggle bw lust and sense of duty and free will is vv sensitively shown. Meanwhile GoT almost always depicted sex as a male victory.
— Ria Chopra 🐍 (@riachops) September 12, 2022
Female gaze won in this episode. And I’m grateful that the prequel will not show violent abuse towards women.
— Monica Haque (@haque_monica) September 12, 2022
Also Read: ‘House Of The Dragon’ Ep4 Leaves Fans Wondering How Westeros Has A Better Abortion Policy Than The United States
Clare Kilner, the director of Dragon House Episode 4 is amazing!! Emotion so delicate and you can feel her protection for the actress everywhere, vivid but not pornographic#HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/VwezuCE2kd
— thim00r🦑 (@Annnnnnatar) September 12, 2022
https://twitter.com/falkring/status/1569366706505777152?s=20&t=-i2egYuycP9SwppgnCOX5Q
Clare Kilner directed the hell out of Episode 4 of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON
— Frankee White (@frankee_white) September 12, 2022
And if you ask me, having a female director directing the sex and nudity scenes in House Of The Dragon makes all the difference in the world – the very major difference being that there is no violent gaze or unnecessary violence on women’s bodies. In fact, I’d say that the sex/nudity scenes move the plot ahead rather than just be the padding.
