Feminism Within The Patriarchy

The presence of TV shows cannot be ignored in our contemporary society, nor can the influence that media and the hegemonic discourses conveyed by it have on their audience (Garretson, 2015). Especially women have been underrepresented and often portrayed as stereotypical characters on TV (Yang et al., 2020). Thus, studying popular TV series on their depictions of women is important and extremely relevant today. One such TV show is the recently released medieval fantasy show House of the Dragon (2022-), a prequal of the hit series Game of Thrones (2011-2019). While the female characters in Game of Thrones are dynamic, plot-driving women, a lot of criticism especially surrounding female power, sexuality, and motherhood emerged from the audience and researchers alike. Thus, to understand whether Hollywood can improve and listen to this criticism when producing a new TV show within the same transglobal media universe, this study analyzed female representation in House of the Dragon. The following research question is answered: How are female power, sexuality and motherhood portrayed in HBO’s Game of Thrones prequal series, House of the Dragon (2022-)? The research question is answered through a multimodal critical discourse analysis. This method allowed an in-depth analysis of both visual and textual aspects of the first season, consisting of 10 one-hour episodes, of House of the Dragon. The analysis showed that the creators were successful in portraying characters in a patriarchal society with sexist notions, while simultaneously portraying women as powerful, dynamic, and feminist characters. Major differences with Game of Thrones were noticed, especially considering the absence of unnecessary sexual violence, not reducing women to sexual objects or stereotypical mothers, and the power coming from female characteristics instead of solely male attributes. The findings highlight (1) female power within the patriarchal society, (2) the role and manifestation of sexuality, and (2) the adverse side of motherhood.