House of the Dragon: War between Male Gaze and Female Gaze

Aemma: You will lie in this bed soon enough, Rhaenyra. This discomfort is how we serve the realm.

Rhaenyra: I'd instead serve as a knight and ride to battle and glory.

Aemma: (laughs) We have royal wombs, you and I. The childbed is our battlefield.

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze and its opposite, the Female Gaze Theory, emerge here all too well in this short dialogue from House of the Dragon season 1. The feminist concept of the male gaze depicts women and the world in the visual arts and literature from a masculine perspective.

Laura Mulvey explained this theory in the Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975). And then comes the Female Gaze theory, which, according to some social science researchers, is no such thing, not yet- is a feminist theory term referring to the gaze of the female spectator, creator, director, and also the displacement of scopophilia.

The wait ends tonight. Season 2 of House of the Dragon releases on June 16 after almost two years of waiting.

HBO has already announced the third season of this drama series. Although the date is unknown, fans of the series have already started speculating.

House of the Dragon first came to the screen in 2022 before the events of Game of Thrones. Despite featuring King Viserys Targaryen as the main protagonist, the story revolves around King Viserys' first-born daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and her friend and later King Viserys' second wife, Alicent Hightower. The battle for the throne becomes a battle of motherhood, desire, and friendship between two women.

In the realm of freedom

The princess-turned-queen Rhaenyra is a multifaceted character. She gradually became the main protagonist, which was very clear at the end of season 1.

She was passionate, and her desire was clear and very well portrayed. At some point in the show, the young Rhaenyra (played by Milly Alcock) explored her sexual pleasures as a teenage girl. The intimate scene with her sworn shield, Ser Criston Cole, is an excellent example of the female gaze, where a woman's desire is portrayed from a woman's perspective.

After naming Rhaenyra his heir, her father, King Viserys, pushed her to find a husband and begin having children. As a teenager, her former best friend Alicent Hightower became a mother to perform her duty for the realm and seemed to wither under the weight of it all.

Rhaenyra remained free of those pressures as long as she remained unwed and unattached. However, Rhaenyra and Daemon had coupled in a brothel, and the King's Hand, Ser Otto Hightower, reported the incident to the King. Then, the need for Rhaenyra to wed reached a peak. She argued to her father that her 'purity' should not be an issue, and if she were a male heir, no one would be bothered if she had produced several bastards.

But Westeros runs on misogyny, and she cannot be held to the same standards as her male counterparts. So her father arranged a marriage to Laenor Velaryon, and she married with the agreement that they would explore their taste as per their will.

This young Rhaenyra is nothing more than a living character seen from the perspective of a female viewer! Which makes the male viewers nervous and uncomfortable. This also breaks the conventional obedient girl concept, which was well-portrayed by Alicent in this series.

The sacrifices

After King Viserys' first wife, Queen Aemma Targaryen, died, Alicent slowly drew the King towards her by her father's command. After their marriage, Alicent renounces all her desires for the realm to her family and fulfils her duties as queen.

Alicent's portrayal of the character is comforting for male viewers. Because Alicent quietly performed her responsibilities while maintaining the order of a patriarchal society.

But Rhaenyra's free-spirited life was uncomfortable for Alicent; it slowly angered her. After Aemond loses his eye to Lucerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra's second son, Alicent, attacks her and shouts, "What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, and the law. At the same time, you disregard everything to do as you please. Where is duty? Where is sacrifice?" She finally bursts into anger and jealousy, and as it is normal for women to be jealous according to the norms of patriarchal society, Alicent's jealousy is also justified by the audience.

The traditional concept of motherhood

Motherhood has been treated prominently throughout the series. Noticing the willfulness in Rhaenyra's behaviour, her mother told her that the real battleground for girls is the labour bed.

No matter how free-spirited Rhaenyra was in her youth, at the end of the day, her priority was her children above all else. During episode 10, Rhaenyra learned of her father's death and the usurping of the throne. The apparent shock sent her into early labour, where she delivered a stillborn girl.

The most significant moment of her life, when she would finally get her birthright, was delayed because of her female duty. Her fear came true. When Vhagar killed her son Lucerys in episode 10, only then Rhaenyra immediately declared war on the Greens out of revenge.

Alicent disobeys the King's order and strikes Rhaenyra with a dagger only in revenge for losing one of the child's eyes.

Motherhood is important. But motherhood is glorified in visual representations, as if women's lives are incomplete without childbearing.

This concept also supports the traditional gender division of society. The responsibility of rearing the child from birth onwards is the woman's sole responsibility.

We see the same in House of the Dragon, King Viserys's failure as a father despite declaring Rhaenyra as his heir- not understanding, not trying to understand his child.

Even Queen Aemma died in labour; she suffered a painful death due to the King's brutal expectation of having a son. Even Daemon's behaviour towards his children is portrayed as if the child is only the mother's responsibility.

This is also a modification of the traditional male gaze. Motherhood is, therefore, a depiction of the duties imposed on men and women by conventional stereotypes.

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