#wp*

Or rather, Yennefer’s nudity specifically. I rolled my eyes during the djinn scene where her bare chest is visible the entire time for no reason, and I’m sure others cringed. And a week goes by after finishing the last episode, and I remember something. Yennefer was never naked during her sex scenes, and during the pillow talk scene her arm strategically covers her chest. The transformation scene was the only other scene where she is fully naked, albeit covered in blood and grime. Yennefer is only fully naked for the camera when she is gaining power. Power from pain; power from reckless decisions, perhaps.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the books…yet!

You could lay it all down to the studio; that Netflix wanted more nudity, because of ratings, because of marketing to adults, or just because they can. That’s fair, but if a creator of a show is being told by a studio that they must add more nudity, then they have a choice where to add that nudity, and why.

The djinn scene is not inherently sexual; although that’s more subjective. But it creates a narrative link between her power and her body. She sacrificed her former body for power. She sacrificed her fertility for power (I’ve been told that in the books it wasn’t exactly a choice, but I’m unaware of the details on that).

One interpretation of these writing and directing choices could be that Yennefer’s decision to be naked is supposed to be empowering, because it is her decision. They did not write any scenes where her choice to be naked in front of men was taken away from her (kudos for that). She chose beauty as a form of power. She chose power over love (whether you approve of Istredd is somewhat irrelevant to my point). 

A part of me still finds it silly that they picked that scene as the one where she walks around half-naked, rather than the post-sex scene. Perhaps that’s the point; to pick the less obvious choice?