{"id":1711951,"date":"2022-10-26T12:18:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T16:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1711951"},"modified":"2022-10-26T12:18:46","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T16:18:46","slug":"birth-as-a-battlefield-how-house-of-the-dragon-turned-childbirth-and-motherhood-into-death-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/birth-as-a-battlefield-how-house-of-the-dragon-turned-childbirth-and-motherhood-into-death-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"Birth As A Battlefield: How \u2018House Of The Dragon\u2019 Turned Childbirth And Motherhood Into Death Sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbirth-as-a-battlefield-how-house-of-the-dragon-turned-childbirth-and-motherhood-into-death-sentences%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1711951&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The most shocking thing about the most graphic birth scene on HBO\u2019s \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d prequel series, \u201cHouse of the Dragon,\u201d is that it wasn\u2019t shocking at all.<\/p>\n<p>Showrunners have spent the entire first season of the drama vilifying motherhood and making childbirth a bloody, torturous affair that frequently ended in death. It\u2019s not that these assertions about birth before modern medicine are incorrect \u2013 it\u2019s just notable that series creators did little to balance out that narrative with scenes of women delivering their children without a heaping side of trauma.<\/p>\n<p>Rhaenyra Delivers Her Stillborn Child<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cHOTD\u201d series finale features the Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D\u2019Arcy) being thrust into preterm labor moments after hearing that her ailing father, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), recently died. Rhaenyra\u2019s stepmother and former friend Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) then had her son crowned king despite the fact that Viserys had named Rhaenyra his heir years before.<\/p>\n<p>Rhaenyra labored alone while her terrified handmaidens stood nearby, begging to help her. She paced the room while screaming for her husband Daemon (Matt Smith) to come help her. But he\u2019s too busy preparing to go to war with the traitors who stole the Iron Throne.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Rhaenyra gave birth to a deceased newborn on the floor and the showrunners make no effort to cut away from the horrifying moment. Viewers clearly saw the newborn\u2019s tiny, bloodied feet and her head hitting the hard floor as Rhaenyra pushed out her silent child. It\u2019s a graphic scene that could have easily been a lot more subtle and still gotten the point across.<\/p>\n<p>But again, this is par for the course for \u201cHouse of the Dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Show\u2019s First Birth Was A \u2018Bloodbath\u2019<\/p>\n<p>In the very first episode, fans were disturbed to witness Rhaenyra\u2019s mother Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke), die during childbirth after her husband Viserys allowed an emergency c-section that he knew would kill his wife but could potentially save his unborn son.<\/p>\n<p>This so-called \u201cforced birth\u201d scene was considered by many to be a statement against pro-life laws that limit women\u2019s access to abortion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes it\u2019s accurate in terms of historical context, but it\u2019s still horrifying to see, &#038; doesn\u2019t take away the point that she still should have had a choice about her own body,\u201d one Twitter user <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FrankieT96\/status\/1561719699418890245\">shared<\/a> of Aemma\u2019s death during childbirth. \u201cVery timely given Roe vs Wade &#038; how despite modern medicine, we\u2019re still told what to do with our bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brooke discussed filming the scene during an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/house-of-the-dragon-fans-erupt-over-forced-birth-scene-in-explosive-premiere\">interview<\/a> with Variety. \u201cIt was a bloodbath,\u201d the actress recalled. \u201cBehind that belly was a whole bag full of blood and fluid. When the incision was made, they would have to time it with pumping this blood out of the belly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said the fake blood was \u201ccold and wet, seeping all over\u201d and that the set \u201clooked like a horror movie\u201d after filming concluded.<\/p>\n<p>The actress also addressed the connection between the c-section and abortion. \u201cWhen we filmed it, it obviously didn\u2019t cross my mind because it hadn\u2019t happened,\u201d Brooke said of Roe v. Wade being overturned in June.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, you realize how shocking that is, that comparisons can be made between present day, and a woman\u2019s body and the right to choose what happens to her body, and thousands of years ago,\u201d Brooke continued. \u201cI just think the fact that we\u2019re even talking about it, is evident in itself. It\u2019s very poignant what can happen within a year, and how far we can step back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Birth Is A Battlefield<\/p>\n<p>During an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insider.com\/house-of-the-dragon-birth-scene-too-violent-shown-to-women-2022-8\">Insider<\/a>, \u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d showrunners Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal discussed the controversial birth scene, saying they wanted to portray birth as a \u201cbattlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sapochnik said they ran the scene by \u201cas many women as possible,\u201d who all agreed it wasn\u2019t \u201ctoo violent.\u201d He also declared that they \u201cshouldn\u2019t be shying away\u201d from Aemma dying so brutally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we stated earlier in the episode, the birthing bed is almost a battlefield,\u201d the showrunner said. \u201cYou have 50 percent chance of survival. And so it seemed like this was an appropriate time to draw that parallel visually between the male and the female struggle. One\u2019s fighting on the battlefield, the other\u2019s fighting for survival \u2014 sometimes from the person closest to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laena Chooses To Be Burned Alive<\/p>\n<p>Those two deadly births weren\u2019t the only ones on the series. In episode 6 \u201cThe Princess and the Queen,\u201d Daemon\u2019s then-wife Laena went into labor but it quickly became clear the baby wouldn\u2019t come out. Daemon was presented with an impossible choice just like his older brother Viserys \u2013 he\u2019s told he can try to save the baby by permitting a c-section for Laena, or lose them both from failed labor. But he doesn\u2019t have to make the choice after all.<\/p>\n<p>Before Daemon can answer, Laena got up and walked outside to her dragon Vhagar. The desperate mother stood in front of the dragon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most shocking thing about the most graphic birth scene on HBO\u2019s \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d prequel series, \u201cHouse of the Dragon,\u201d is that it wasn\u2019t shocking at all. Showrunners have spent the entire first season of the drama vilifying motherhood and making childbirth a bloody, torturous affair that frequently ended in death. It\u2019s not that &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1711954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1711951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1711951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1711954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1711951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1711951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1711951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}