Game of Thrones 5×09
“The Dance of Dragons”
In this blog about mise en scene, I will analyse a scene from a popular TV show “Game of Thrones” created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, in which queen Deanerys is rescued by her dragon from a riot, happening during one of the special events.
The action takes place in a colosseum-like arena. Many men are fighting for their lives in the center, meanwhile citizens of Meereen and Daenerys are watching. That’s when the Sons of the Harpy decide to strike in attempt to kill the queen.
We can notice how the fighters and soldiers of the queen wear armor, spectators have very few and dark clothing, along with dirty faces, but Daenerys is the one that stands out greatly, with her golden jewellery, perfect blonde hair and spotless, white dress. In this particular scene it could represent her purity, as she is the only one, truly displeased with the occurance of those deadly fights, but also her vulnerability later on, when she is defenseless without her dragons against the attackers. All the characters have little to no makeup, which goes along with the fantasy/medieval setting. When the riot starts we can notice that many people have their faces covered in blood.
Daenerys is not just unhappy because of the fights, but she is also worried, as one of the warriors is Jorah Mormont – her close friend. Thus when the bloodthirsty crowd cheers and screams, the queen seems like she feels trapped in her chair unable to prevent the madness. When Sons of the Harpy emerge from the crowd and put their masks on , everyone is confused, but soon enough they run as the bloodshed begins. Queen’s guards are trying to protect her at all cost, but she still feels terrified just as everybody around her. When they get surrounded by the attackers, Daenerys grabs Missandei’s hand in fear, hoping for a way out of this situation. She closes her eyes and tries to make peace with the possibility of dying, but then everything changes when her dragon appears and burns the Sons of the Harpy. Daenerys pulls out a spear from Drogon’s side, gets on his back and flies away relieved and somehow triumphing.
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