Wha? Of course it was fanservice, but why need that be a bad thing? That’s the whole point of sexual objectification, no? The scenes with dude-on-dude action were also there for the same reasons, but with a different target. It’s a show that exists to wallow in debauchery as much as anything else (as are the books).
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historically, many different cultures removed pubic hair
HBO doesn’t need tits to sell its make believe dragon fairy magic dorkfest.
It might not need to, but what’s wrong with just wanting to? If it’s not for you, fair enough, you don’t have to watch it, but feel free to complain away, and I’ll feel free to complain about your complaining.
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Which means the X-rated shots are equal for a mere one 5-minute segment in a multi-year show. Why do you think ONE male shot makes up for the hundreds of female shots we’ve seen?
No, we cannot.
If they started showing full-frontal males the same number of times as they showed women with their shirts off, would you consider that equal? One erogenous zone each, right?
The equivalence is: half-naked man=fully-clothed woman.
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while there is male nudity, i wouldn’t say there’s “plenty” – i could handle a lot more, personally.
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Glad to see this article! I wish more people were talking about this issue. The “naked hypocrisy” is definitely a problem–and not just with “Game of Thrones,” which I’ve written about several times elsewhere: http://www.capstewart.com/2014/05/hollywoods-secret-rape-culture.html
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Why do you think ONE male shot makes up for the hundreds of female shots we’ve seen?
I don’t. And there’s been more than one male full frontal, 2-3 at least I’d say, I haven’t been keeping count.
One erogenous zone each, right?
The equivalence is: half-naked man=fully-clothed woman.
No, you’re comparing apples and oranges here. Penises and vaginas are roughly equivalent, breasts don’t really have a male equivalent though. There’s hasn’t been a shortage of shots of naked men, not half naked men, fully naked men, they just don’t go in for a close up of their junk, which they don’t do for the women at all either, so they’re pretty consistent there.
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I’m not against nudity. I’m against dumb and adding nudity just for the sake of, is dumb. I would like it if they added a laugh track to every nude scene, ya know, self-mockery.
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I quit reading at “historically inaccurate”.
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Sigh
The question is not whether it’s plausible that women in Westeros could coincidentally have the same beauty standards as today. We get that it’s not real, so yeah, you can make up anything you want. And that’s exactly the point.
The question is why, when almost everything about the world deviates from modern times, this particular thing (female beauty standards) is conspicuously unchanged. The creators have put so much detail into the culture, magic, folk lore, environment, politics, religion, customs, etc of this world that it becomes a unique and alien place. So when women’s body standards and pubic grooming are just straight out of 21st century porn, it’s fair to ask: why?
I’m not here to answer that question, just to point out that your rebuttal is simplistic, unhelpful, and a tired refrain of those who want to avoid critical engagement with fantasy as a genre.
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Honestly I couldn’t agree more. My girlfriend and I stopped watching it after the first season because the whole show is just gratuitous. She hated all the gory violence and I thought the nudity was pointless most of the time. I’m not opposed to nudity but when it feels like porn instead of dramatic television I become uncomfortable with calling it a great show.
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This is why I refuse to watch the filth.
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Just kidding, I don’t have HBO and haven’t bothered to hunt it down elsewhere…
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Leigh Alexander wrote a piece about nudity in Game of Thrones on this very site some years ago.
The conclusion at the time seemed to be that it was ‘a fascinating exercise in crossmedia storytelling’ with ‘a lot of fleshy eye-candy’. Is it any different now?
[quote=“CarolineSiede, post:1, topic:57272, full:true”]Game Of Thrones knows a thing or two about patriarchy. Not only
is the battle over which ruler will sit on the Iron Throne a literal
manifestation of it
[Permalink]
[/quote]
What? I didn’t realize this was an English grad school colloquium where a statement like this can go unquestioned. Painting the Iron Throne with the “patriarchy” brush may be convenient, but it’s still 100% grad-school-babble bullshit. Do you have any evidence that the desire for power results from a patrilineage? It seems that the women on the show are every bit as ruthless and conniving in their quest for power as the men.
On the main topic: who cares? Why is nudity wrong? Siede justifies some nudity because it serves the plot directly, but when it’s not one of the main characters it’s bothersome. This delineation is completely subjective to the point that it becomes only a mirror reflecting the author’s own puritanical discomfort with the human body. All of the visual elements mise-en-scène (including those irksome mammaries) work to support the narrative in one way or another.
Just to take one example mentioned by Siede, the brothel murder scene in season 5 episode 2, nudity is completely justified in this scene. We see some exposed breasts in the alley, letting us know we’re in the red light district. Then the sexworker disrobes and cuddles with the Unsullied eunuch soldier. We see the sexworker’s body and it’s meant to be salacious, desirable, but alas those are desires which the Unsullied cannot consummate. It parallels the viewer’s relationship with titillating content in that whatever desire may develop from watching a program, that desire will go unfulfilled from the program itself. It develops sympathy for the soldier instantly, without which the proceeding violence would have been completely gratuitous. Could it have worked without exposing the sexworker’s body? Sure, but not as well. That “not as well” is really the rub here.
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Only if these modern beauty and grooming standards are actually modern and straight out of porn is it fair to ask that.
But, from what I can tell, Westeros has the same beauty standards that some people have had for a long time. These women would look quite at home in Westeros.
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She might be referring to people who argue that women are shown as socially inferior and subservient to men in most fiction because it is ‘historically accurate’ and ‘realistic’, even if it is in stories about dragons and ice zombies.
It would be interesting to see how one would go about adapting the source material from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire without all the violence.
A Clash of Kings: Awkwardness ensues when two members of Renly Baratheon’s Rainbow Guard show up wearing different shades of red armor. Meanwhile in the North, Robb Stark’s judgement is questioned after he is spotted wearing a striped cape over a plaid tunic.
A Storm of S-words: Facing opposition from all sides, Tyrion Lannister struggles to contain the fallout from Joffrey’s out-of-control potty mouth.
A Feast for Crows: As forces continue to vie for control of the Seven Kingdoms, Cersei’s mismanagement of King’s Landing threatens to disrupt the birdseed supply for the Royal Aviary.
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You have shown me three pictures from some time in history that kinda sorta match modern female beauty standards, and that’s supposed to prove that these standards are universal and unchanging?
I’m not impressed.
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Dicks everywhere
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