Game of Thrones is notorious for more than just its complicated plot and sprawling, fantastic world. Since the show began, it has gained notoriety for its copious nudity. Even in 2012, Saturday Night Live took a stab at the show for its obsession with cramming as many naked women on screen as possible with a skit that showed a 13-year-old boy working behind the scenes to ensure as much nudity as possible.
As silly as the SNL skit is, it points out a very real problem with Game of Thrones: While it often features sex and nudity, it’s almost always from the women of Westeros, rather than the men.
Actor Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow on the show, recently threw his support behind equal-opportunity nude scenes in an interview with GQ.
“It’s only right, if you’re going to make a show where nudity and sex is a large part of it, that you be a part of that,” Harington said.
Even though Harington used a body double for his nude scene in a season three episode because of an injury, his statements have shed light on the imbalance of naked scenes in the show. While most of the show’s recurring female characters have been fully naked on-screen, the men are rarely seen in the buff. Too many naked, overtly sexualized women can alienate female viewers, and this is where the show runs into some issues.
From queens to courtesans, it’s become so common to see the Westerosi women exposed that the sexuality in the show has become almost comical. A season one episode, “You Win or You Die,” became particularly notable for its luridly pointless sex scene in which one character gave a monologue explaining his motivations while “auditioning” two prostitutes to join his brothel. It inspired blogger and TV critic Myles McNutt to coin the term “sexposition” to describe the sex scene’s function in the context of the show.
Though McNutt believed the scene was an effective means of providing exposition, it was beyond absurd. Even to less prudish viewers, trying to learn about the story over the moaning of prostitutes could be a bit uncomfortable.
HBO does not shy away from risque content in its original programming. True Blood was featuring steamy sex scenes featuring vampires long before Game of Thrones premiered, while The Sopranos pushed the envelope long before either show. HBO seems to revel in its ability to air almost anything without worrying about censorship; there is nothing off-limits for HBO, and Game of Thrones milks that freedom.
Of course, much of the nudity and sex in the TV series is faithful to George R.R. Martin’s source material. While the novels are full of naked people and detailed sex scenes, it’s a strange experience when converted to the screen. And in many instances, this translation is not balanced between genders.
Hunky male characters are frequently seen shirtless, but they are rarely completely naked. While women such as Melisandre and Ygritte bare all, only three male characters have exhibited full-frontal nudity in the series, including simple giant Hodor and an unnamed character in season one. While the brothels of Westeros are full of highly sexualized, barely dressed women, the men go to war — and to bed — in trousers.
By no means does Game of Thrones need more nudity, although Harington told GQ to expect plenty more in season four. If it has to be there, though, the producers could at least keep it fair.
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