If you follow a lot of Game of Thrones commentary, you’ll probably hear the occasional complaint about the amount of sex in the series. In fact, critics have even come up with a cute word for it: Sexposition. I’ve never really understood the complaint, myself. Why would anyone complain about having to endure a sex scene? I mean, it’s SEX, people. Priorities.
Even better is the fact that the so-called sexposition in Game of Thrones actually advances the plot. Given the density of the series, sometimes exposition is necessary to help explain things and move it along. The fact that the exposition is married to a sex scene? WHY ARE WE COMPLAINING? Remember that extended scene with Littlefinger in the brothel, where he’s going on about losing Catelyn while Ros and another woman are pleasuring one another? A lot of people complained about that scene. My take? We got to learn more about Littlefinger’s history while WATCHING TWO WOMEN HAVE SEX. We should be celebrating!
I’m sure that every interviewer that sits down with George R.R. Martin eventually gets around to the sexposition criticism, and I can only imagine that the voice inside of Martin’s head throws up its hands and exclaims, “What kind of people complain about too much sex in their backstory?”
Critics, that’s who.
In an interview with Reuters, George R.R. Martin addressed the issue.
I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a penis entering a vagina, and I get letters about it and people swearing off. To my mind this is kind of frustrating, it’s madness. Ultimately, in the history of [the] world, penises entering vaginas have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure. Axes entering skulls, well, not so much.
EXACTLY. Penises entering vaginas is what makes the goddamn world turn. How many shows could be considerably improved with the occasional sexposition scene? If Annie and Britta made out while Jeff went over their Spanish homework, would anyone complain? If Don Draper and his wife banged uglies while talking about their day at the office, would viewers fuss? Of course not. It’s not just a trivial complaint, it’s a complaint that GOES AGAINST HUMAN NATURE.
Perspective, people. Perspective.
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following that logic, he must also think that sex between brothers and sisters is awesome which, ewwww.
People are just stupid, end of story. Our race is founded on sex, violence, and greed and yet so many people want to try and glorify our race as higher and more sophisticated than what we actually are.
Wow, the old “humans are animals” speech.
If you have ever taken a look around yourself for more than a second, you’d realize that it’s not “we are better,” but “we can aspire” to be more than just mindless, violent, and sex craved neanderthals.
But hey, if you want to be left back in the mud with the rest of the animals, go right ahead.
I think people are still way too into their lofty ideals too be humble. I guess I disagree slightly with the both of yous guys. and agree too. yeah. *cough* lasers
what…what time ist it?..it was early morning when I read the Annie/Britta making out and now I see a sunset..
did I just blacked out?…oh man, I would’ve preferred browing out to remember what I saw during that time
I want to complain of the gratuitous resurrections. Stop. Murdering. People. For. Useless. Cliffhangers. I’ve filed a complaint with GRRM but don’t think he cares anyway.
Yeah I love the series but that is my one complaint too. Hate having to go “Wait, are they really dead?” Only to find out later they were dead but came back to life. Infuriating. Just kill them!
There are a bunch of clowns who will read your comment who still haven’t read the books. Try to use the show as a guide when talking about spoiler-type things.
Yeeeah, I’m gonna have to agree with Pams Back Tattoo. This being a TV blog, you may want to stick to discussing what’s going on with the show.
I think you’d have to be overly horny to not even acknowledge that there are many overly gratuitous sex scenes in GOT. I like boobies as much as the next guy, but it tends takes away from the show at times, IMO.
How do you define overly gratuitous? They’re having sex, that’s what people do, and at a MUCH greater frequency than is shown in the series. Not once have I ever been really into the show and thought “damnit here comes some more sex, GET BACK TO THE PEOPLE WHOSE NAMES I CAN’T REMEMBER!”
Just because you CAN show tits and sex on HBO, doesn’t mean it needs to be done every 13 minutes. It rarely adds anything to the show (despite Dustin’s attempt to rationalize it above).
You know there’s like an entire internet worth of porn you can look at once Game of Thrones is over, right?
Has there been TOO MUCH sex? I could probably count only 10 scenes in the whole 20 episodes. Is that a lot? I don’t feel like the nudity detracts from anything, but that’s just like my opinion, man.
Cersei and Jamie scene is central to the entire series, so there’s that.
I’m not saying EVERY sex scene is unnecessary, but you can’t convince me there isn’t gratuitous sex in this series.
READ THE BOOKS. If anything, HBO has toned down the sex/nudity. In Qarth all the women wear dresses that only cover one boob.
Just name one scene that hasn’t advanced the plot. Just one.
Off the top of my head I would say Theon and Ros before she leaves Winterfell.
I thought that was the first insight into Theon’s disconnect with his “captors” at Winterfell and his thirst for power.
And the only way for them to portray this is for us to see his dick?
Overly horny? Is that a thing?
George RR Martin is more awesome every day.
Sentencing criminals to sex with George R. R. Martin sounds like the funnest possible way to punish them.
Great news for my Game of Thrones fanfic! I was gonna call it Game of Throbs, but given current trends, maybe Fifty Shades of Snow.
“…penises entering vaginas have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure. Axes entering skulls, well, not so much.”
The Hound disagrees.
That’s all well and good, but HE SHOULD BE WRITING THE NEXT GOD DAMNED BOOK INSTEAD OF DOING INTERVIEWS!
Agreed. GET BACK TO WORK DUDE!
WRITE LIKE THE WIND, GEORGE!
Baters gonna bate.
Masterfully
I’m all about the sexy scenes in the show – MOAR DANY AND MARGAERY, PLZ – but I can’t say the same about the books. I’m about halfway through the first one and the sexytime is pretty cringe-worthy. (Seriously, I don’t need to know about perfume being applied to the “lips, down there…” of a 14 year-old.)
The worst part of the sex is I can’t help but picture GRRM standing on the set in the background furiously beating off. If you really could go blind from masturbating, he would have been before he finished Chapter 2 of Game of Thrones.
Did you realize that you tried to explain away the “too much sex” criticism in the TV show with Martin explaining why he WRITES about it in his books? Sorry but if you’ve seen the show and read the books, you’d know it’s not the same thing.
Case in point, Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell being gay lovers was a subtly hinted at thing in the books, something you might be able to piece together from things said by or about characters. On the show? It’s a full on sloppy blowjob we have to listen to while they’re talking. Later on, Margary shows her tits for no specific reason and again tells us that she knows that Renly and Loras get it on and it’s all cool with her.
So yes, Martin describes a lot of sex and nudity but it’s HBO who are being gratuitous about it. Sure, one breast in Qarth might be gratuitous but they didn’t even show that and I’d take that any day over having to listen to sloppy blowjobs and watching girls eat each others assholes while a character is trying to explain something.
Hell, even Tyrion in the books isn’t really described as getting any till he meets Shae, yet in the show, the first thing they show him doing is hanging around with some random naked whores, like that’s all he’s doing in his spare time.
The worst part of this article is that it doesn’t even attempt to look at whether there might be a point to the criticism but offers a sort of frat guy view of things “dude, we’re dudes, so tits and sex are always good, no matter the circumstances”. Yeah cool….