Deconstruction of Gender

Game of Thrones extract:

The main female character, Daenerys, initially is portrayed through the cultural stereotype of the 'traditional feminine woman' but also sharing some aspects of the 'sexy woman' as she is young and attractive with the typical blonde hair blue-eyed image. It can be argued that this has typically been contrived through the 'male gaze' theory where her appearance has been constructed from a heterosexual male's perspective, presenting her as an object of a male's pleasure. However, the camera shots in this extract have purposely framed her in a way that makes the audience contradict their ideas of the typical female stereotype. Daenerys is constantly framed in close up shots against blurred backgrounds of the entire army of male soldiers to highlight her importance and dominance that she has over them. This is also shown through the way the soldiers act straight away upon her commands without hesitation and are framed in wide establishing shots to represent them as one whole group as opposed to Daenerys having her own close up frames. However, one could argue that this is challenging the typical stereotypes of the binary oppositions of male and female roles; this is due to the idea of men being the more powerful, brave and dominant figures over women, whereas in this extract we, as the audience, come to identify Daenerys as the superior individual overall. We are also shown Daenerys from a low angle shot looking up at her to initialise the idea that she carries an important role above everyone else as her body language reveals her superiority through her strong posture.

Through the close up shots of Daenerys, her blue flowing robe against her glowing flesh is contrasted with the typical soldier uniforms of black armour, shields and helmets. The representation of blue connotes her purity while black is stereotypically used to associate with death and again, we as the audience are led to believe that she carries some sort of authority over the male soldiers to divert away from the idea of stereotypical gender roles in which we have consumed through society. Daenerys remains standing and almost beyond reach while the army commences their fight, commanded by a female figure. This signifies her strength which eventually becomes unseemly questionable to the audience as it is evident she has full control over them. Through the low angle shot that frames her silhouette with high key lighting around her, it is almost portrayed as her spotlight to enhance her power and dominance. One could argue that this links to the Uses and Gratifications theory by Blumler and Katz as some audiences, particularly women, may perceive Daenerys as their idol or role model and may feel connected with her emotionally.