We Don't Need To Show Nudity To Create Intimacy, Says GoT Actor

Carice van Houten who played the role of Melisandre, on the HBO television series Game of Thrones has questioned the nude scenes and sex scenes in the series, raising her doubts about the relevance and need for such scenes in a post a #MeToo World.

Me Too movement changed it all

Van Houten, who is currently spending her time with her three-year-old son in Amsterdam in lockdown, said that her opinion about the HBO series and the final season hasn’t changed and that #MeToo movement has made her "very aware" of the male gaze.

So what exactly changed post-MeToo for Houten? “I became very aware of the male gaze,” says she.

"When the Me Too movement started, that's when it started sinking in for me, and it did sort of change my perspective on my whole career, not just Game of Thrones,” Van Houten told the Insider, further adding, “In retrospect, I  thought,  'Why did that scene have to be nude? Why was that normal?’ This is when I started to question things, it wasn’t about holding someone accountable, but that’s just how we evolved, and just how the movement affected me," Houten told Insider.

Also Read: Sophie Turner From Game Of Thrones Battled Suicidal Thoughts

What went wrong

The superhit HBO which enjoyed a cult following was known not only for its gripping storyline, cutting VFX but nude scenes that featured several actresses such as Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, and Van Houten as well. In fact, Van Houten isn't the only actor to open up about the nude scenes in the show. Last year, Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen revealed in the show how she would be in tears before shooting some of the “terrifying” nude scenes.

“I took the job and then they sent me the scripts and I was reading them, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s the catch!' But I’d come fresh from drama school and I approached it as a job: if it’s in the script then it’s clearly needed. This is what this is and I’m going to make sense of it and that’s what I’m going to do and everything’s going to be cool," said Clarke.

Houten realized that nudity isn’t necessary to create intimacy, “ We don’t need to see breasts”. Earlier she was quite flexible and defended nudity. “ I thought, Why can you have a machine gun and not see a nipple? I thought it was weird."

Also Read: Game of Thrones: Arya Stark is a very modern femme fatale

Houten insisted that art and expressions shouldn’t move away from nudity or explicit intimate scenes, but there has been a subtle change in her viewpoint and any nudity or sex scenes should have a narrative function. As far as Game of Throne is considered, this viewpoint was missing from the picture, said she.

She added, “ My consciousness is bigger. I’m a bit more woke.” Van has finally confronted her own feelings of ‘ that’s what audience want’ and not feeling confident enough to say ‘ Wait a minute, why would I have to do that?’

Shreya is an intern with SheThePeople.TV