Emilia Clarke's (lack of) Acting?
Hi. As we all know, the Game of Thrones Season 5 premiere is mere days away and I can't wait. 
Anyway, one thing people love/hate is Daenerys Targaryen and Emilia Clarke's portrayal of her. The recent trailers did absolutely nothing to help my view of her with the "Break the wheel" speech, so I thought I'd list my feelings on what was once the most fascinating character and how she quickly became the one who I'd dread when her scenes came on.
Ever since Season 1, I feel like Dany has lost most of what made her character compelling. In Season 1, we see her struggle, we see her cry, we see her hurt, we see her feel. Post-Season 1, most of Dany's character is her trying to act like a queen, with little experience. This would be fine and all, if we saw some other scenes that revealed her vulnerability and general helplessness when it came to private scenes with others like Jorah. For the most part, she keeps her regal demeanor for nearly all her scenes! This makes her character seem hardly human.
The character in the books is supposed to be a young girl, struggling to maintain her queenly image despite all that has happened to her. She's scared. She's unsure of herself. She's compassionate, although she does all she can to appear as a queen. Emilia Clarke does portray some of these qualities at times, but the moments are far and few between overdramatic monologues. The scene where she has to tie up her dragons is probably Emilia's best scene since Drogo was involved back in Season 1, because she shows a glimpse of human emotion.
I guess the writers are partly to blame, giving her many "trailer worthy" lines (I'm not going to stop the wheel...(dramatic pause)...I'm going to break the wheel.) that come off as awkward during an actual conversation, but really, some of the other actors don't even need words to convey the emotions/feelings of their characters. For example, just watch Lena Headey as Cersei in any of her scenes. She's always in character and there are so many subtle nuances that she uses that shows us what Cersei is feeling at that moment. There's also Charles Dance as Tywin, who was perfect for the role. He made Tywin into the feared presence all of Westeros holds him to be. Even Kit Harrington as Jon. He portrays Jon's serious nature so well that I can even see Ned in his acting. The expression that holds his emotion inside because of all the crap he's had to deal with in his life. These actors all sink into their roles and more importantly, they become their characters. When I look at Emilia Clarke, I see just Emilia acting. I don't feel convinced that she is Daenerys Targaryen.
Anyway, that's what I think. Whether it's the writers fault, or Emila's acting, Daenerys is a boring, one-dimensional character today, and that's pretty sad, considering where she began.
Comments
I don't particularly care about Daenerys' story, but I like Emilia and I don't really mind her acting.
I think it's not about the actress doing a crappy job, but about the character itself.
(!) Personal butthurt alert:
Daenerys' character is so unrealistic it has become tacky and almost impossible to bear; I find her frustrating and annoying with her neverending list of names and titles... It's funny how GoT fans hate Joffrey for being cruel little shit, but forgive Dany (after she did the same - tortured and murdered people), just because her excuse is vengeance. At this point, if she'll ever reach Westeros and become a real queen (oh God please no), she won't have anything left to rule. She will most likely turn everything into ashes in order to march through the dust with her stolen eunuch army until the dragons eat them all up.
Ending credits.
I actually haven't seen complaints about Emilia's portrayal, it's just the way the character is written. I personally don't think it's bad writing, I just don't find Daenerys very likable.
She plays her like an annoying highborn brat who hasn't actually done anything to get where she is. I believe it.
She should be played more as a 13 year old girl but really who cares? She's so fucking beautiful I couldn't care less about her acting
I've never really cared for her much or found her compelling. I'm a book reader so I'm looking forward to what happens with her eventually, but I'm not interested otherwise.
I'm straight, but damn, I really love watching her on screen. She has such an ethereal beauty about her, I feel bewitched just looking at her.
I liked her acting in S1, but I became less interested in her story arc after Khal Drogo and Viserys, who I felt helped give more variation to her scenes.
Eh, it's not so much that Emilia is a bad actress, as it is that Daenerys is a ridiculously foolish character in the first place.
How do you play a character like that without sounding/looking like a complete tool?
Why you no like little Arya
I think she plays the character she is given well, the character is just shite.
I think the character is interesting, and Clarke's acting is pretty good. But that's just my personal opinion.
arya is by far my favorite character
My username is just a play on how in the books, she's always saying " ..... you stupid!", or calling things stupid. It's kind of a rhetorical joke. ie: are you stupid? (Not you personally Clemenem)
I think Emilia does a decent enough job, personally. I also don't understand why people dislike Daenerys so much... as in specifically what has she done to incite so much hate? I mean... I guess she's kind of ruthless in a sense, but that only applies to her enemies (who have all pretty much been complete scumbags up to this point). She's a little no nonsense in general, but I don't really see a problem with that.
Word! If she really cared about the people she claims as the rightful subjects of her precious Iron Throne, she would have left for Westeros when Illyrio Mopatis sent her those ships. I hate reading her chapters. Maybe I'll get lucky and Tyrion will take over her POV's.
I don't know why people pick on her so much. I think she's just fine.
I haven't read the books and I don't think I've seen Emilia Clarke in anything else, so can't judge what kind of actress she is, but she's the worst thing in the show. The character has very little depth and Clarke's acting stretches as far as that "Ooh look at me and how powerful I am" face. She's deadly dull.
In fairness, Dany does get quite a humbling in A Dance with Dragons.
Agreed. I honestly just don't like Dany's moments of arrogance, but otherwise she has done nothing wrong in my book, and deserves the throne far more than Stannis does IMO.
Watching her in the commentary was hilarious. She is so endearing. I highly recommended watching the commentary anyway. It is so funny.
I never really had a problem with the actress, at least no more than most of the others who are new to the career. However her dialogue is dreadful and the showrunners are kind of making her the writers pet
"IM GOING TO BREAK THE WHEEL"
Oh shut the fuck up
I loved Daenerys' S1 story, with interesting conflicts, her 'innocent' personality/mindset against the cruel world, and having to choose between Drogo/Viserys. However, she slowly began fading into an obnoxious, boring stuck-up brat beginning mid S2.
She hasn't done anything particularly memorable in the past season. IIRC she spent most of her screentime sitting around and helping smallfolk with a permanent look of snobbishness stuck on her face. I also think it was a stupid move to banish Jorah.
At this point, whenever she appears on screen I'm just like
I would say that the writers are not partially, but most to blame in this matter. A lot of side stories and characters where removed and, in Daenerys case, this erased many chances to show her as a person (and not as a Queen). I can’t blame that on the actors (especially if, when given the chance, the show acting qualities).
But we should also consider, as a partial defense for the writers, that most of Daenerys conflicts are represented, in the books, by internal monologs. This isn’t always easy to include in a movie.
I will agree that Emilia isn’t the best actor/actress in the show, but she is not a bad one either. I mostly blame the writers and the direction they gave to the Daenerys character in the show (and that they will keep giving, if I understood the trailer correctly).
Two reasons:
Daenerys' storyline is moving very slow and without sense of direction and riddled with cheesy dialogue.
She won't do nude scenes any more.
Also lol at how the OP thinks Kit Harington is a considerably better actor than Emilia Clarke.
How come she won't do nude stuff? I'm nit complaining...it does not really add anything to the book or show. Just curious?
I don't know if this is just me, but I want to see Dany get to Westeros with an army, and I want to see her get absolutely slaughtered and torn to pieces and learn what it's actually like - I want it all to be for nothing.
She's never fought a battle, hell, her army have never fought a battle. They've taken cities from slavers - that's it. The unsullied wouldn't stand a chance against knights on horseback, let alone in the field.
No I disagree I want dany to take the throne and show just how bad she is, following this she goes crazy like the mad king and ends up the same way as him. If dany doesnt turn out to be a "villan" in the books I'll be pretty dissapointed. If she does become a villan she might become one of my favourite characters in the series however if we really are meant to root for her I'll be annoyed.
All the actors on the show are amazing and Emilia is a very good actor, but she is definitely one of the weaker parts of the show.
Jokes aside I just don't think the character is interesting. It's not Clarks fault
He is better than Emilia. Jon is a very conflicted character and always struggling with inner turmoil, which Kit portrays well. What Kit does is accurate with Jon Snow's character and he's also the best action-actor on the show today. Kit has progressed far from Season 1, while I feel Emilia has regressed.
We get to see her in Terminator Genisys this summer, so we'll see how she handles Sarah Connor.
I agree with the other posts about the fault being more in her writing than her acting. She was a well developed character in the first season, conflicted, scared--and she pulled it off well. Then she took on a leadership role and has perhaps come off too confident. But she's cool in my book.
While Bran has retained his place as my least favourite character in both the book and the show, I would say that Daenarys is almost equally as boring in both cases. One of her only redeeming qualities is sharing screen time/chapters with characters like Jorah and Barristan Selmy who are actually interesting characters.
I can't really judge if Emilia Clarke is a bad actress as I haven't seen her in anything else, but the character she has to play doesn't offer many opportunities to do any real acting as she is stuck with some of the most boring plot lines in the show, that no one really cares about anyway.
He’s accurate with book Jon? It’s interesting you say that, cos I don’t remember him to be so gloomy, lethargic and slow-witted. I don’t really mind book and series differences (eg. Lena Headey’s Cersei differs quite a lot from her book counterpart, yet I like it), but he still bores me and lacks presence, all the more since he should show some kind of growth in his expressions by now. Instead, he chooses to look constantly perplexed.
But I guess it’s useless to argue about our preferences, right? And I don’t want to say he’s far worse than Emilia Clarke, rather at eye level. And I actually agree about him having progressed since season 1.
Well, it does add something to the show, you can’t argue it away. However, I didn’t mean it’s a reason for me personally to pick on her performance. It was just an educated guess as to why people like her less than in earlier seasons. That's the spoilt viewership of GoT. Give them an inch and they will demand a yard or something like that.
Well to each is their own, I guess? I don't really like Jon's character in the books or the show, but he's where all the actions going to be and where the most interesting things happen, so that makes up for it. Plus, I'm interested in who his true parents are.
Well Jon is a constantly perplexed character lol, so that's pretty accurate.
Don't you know the Iron Throne is cursed? Anyone who takes it dies early. Aerys, Robert, Joffrey and next Tommen
King Jaehaerys I ruled over 50 years. Well, he was known as the Wise so I guess it's just being stupid or greedy etc. that kills kings, rather than some curse
The books don't have much movement either so they're doing what the can. As for the second, we've already seen her go almost full frontal twice. I'd say she's paid her dues there. The horn dogs in the audience need to get over it.
I sort of wonder if the fans who dislike Daenary's personality are the same ones that like Stannis.. who actually carries the same "bad" personality traits that Dany has, but to a more extreme. Just a thought.
What does it add to the actual story itself though..? It's completely unnecessary to the story and also to the environment, for the most part. Its really way over the top, and I honestly don't think that it's meant as anything more than a sexual side to the show. I'm not sure if it's meant to be a draw for more viewers or what... but it's pretty annoying.
I kind of doubt that fans dislike Emilia as an actress because of her refusing to do additional nude scenes, but if they do, that's incredibly ridiculous.