There isn't enough facepalm...
Mar. 12th, 2012 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakYou know how every now and then the mainstream media "discovers" fanfiction, slash, tropes or whatever fandom at large has discussed and been familiar with since decades? Today's guardian decided to do an article on sexposition.
In which, wait for it, we get this priceless observation:
Let's take arguably the definitive piece of Games of Thrones sexposition, in which the Machiavellian palace fixer Littlefinger engages in a long soliloquy, interrupting himself occasionally to offer direction to the pair of prostitutes whom he is instructing in the art of putting on a lesbian sex show. Classy. But actually, as McNutt explains, it's an example of how sexposition can work to inform us about a character, too. "The Littlefinger sequence is an interesting one in that it has clear thematic implications on his view of power, on the idea of Littlefinger as the prostitute [of the government], always able to convince others that they are in control when it's really a charade."
Great Maker, as my beloved Londo Mollari would say. That scene in Game of Thrones is probably the worst and most ooc example of sexposition in the entire show. I mean, I'm not a fan of either the books or the tv show (read the books, except for the last one, watched the tv show's first season), I'm solely somewhat entertained by either, and thus not prone to get passionate on behalf of characters. But seriously, even someone like yours truly who only read the books once and has no intention of doing so again does renember Littlefinger is the least likely guy to solliloquize his motivations like this, and let's not even go into how two whores who have been in the business since eons really, really don't need instructions on how to put on a show. It was clumsy writing, and I squirmed for all the actors involved.
Which isn't to say you can't actually combine sex scenes and information in a way that doesn't scream "we're doing this for the ratings" from the rootops. Homeland gets namechecked in the article, but what is not mentioned is that the scenes there actually do contain important information about the characters that can't be conveyed in another way. When the pilot early on showed us Moreena Baccharin's character having enthusiastic sex with her lover, I rolled my eyes and thought, yeah, yeah, Showtime, but before long I withdrew my objection completely. It's important that we see the scene with Jessica, not just to get across the information she's intimately involved with Mike (both of them believing Brody died years ago - this isn't a deliberate betrayal, which is important later on), but because of the contrast between the emotional and joyful sex there and the incredibly awkward and painful scene when Jess and the returned and deeply traumatic Brody try to make love, and it ends up with Body masturbating, Jessica realising she might as well not be there; there's no more a sexual connection than there is an emotional one at this point. The fact that CIA agent Carrie Mathison is watching this via secret surveillance system makes an additional point about Carrie, and the system she's part of. The Jess/Brody scene doesn't get less screentime than the Jess/Mike scene earlier on, it gets more, and a less tiltilallting, more disturbing and devastating sex scene you can't imagine. Plus of course the way it is filmed gives us the emotional reactions of Jessica, Brody and Carrie throughout, with a lot of facial close-ups. Whereas the GoT sexposition scene with Littlefinger makes sure we get both actresses in full body throughout and couldn't be less interested in what the women feel.
Going back in tv history somewhat: the opening episode of the original, British Queer as Folk contains an explicit m/m scene. In which there's definitely exposition, not least because the audience is informed along with character Nathan (15 years and determined not to remain a virgin any longer) what rimming is. (Thank you, Russell T. Davies. This scene was useful to many a slash writer.) It also provides character information about two of the show's three main characters (one of whom is played by the same actor who plays Littlefinger, Aidan Gillen), and since it's important for the audience to know that Stuart Alan Jones actually lives up to his reputation and is that good at sex, it's important to convey this in a show, not tell manner.
(And then there's the scene a few eps later where Vince Tyler has sex while watching Doctor Who. Which probably says something about Rusty as well about Vince, but hey. Without that scene, would Stuart declaring his love via naming every single actor who played the Doctor in the season finale - Classic Who Doctors only, since this was shot before RTD resurrected the show - be half as poignant?)
In conclusion: There's sexposition and sexposition. And if you single out the godawful Littlefinger & whores scene for being a good example, you clearly haven't watched enough of it.
In which, wait for it, we get this priceless observation:
Let's take arguably the definitive piece of Games of Thrones sexposition, in which the Machiavellian palace fixer Littlefinger engages in a long soliloquy, interrupting himself occasionally to offer direction to the pair of prostitutes whom he is instructing in the art of putting on a lesbian sex show. Classy. But actually, as McNutt explains, it's an example of how sexposition can work to inform us about a character, too. "The Littlefinger sequence is an interesting one in that it has clear thematic implications on his view of power, on the idea of Littlefinger as the prostitute [of the government], always able to convince others that they are in control when it's really a charade."
Great Maker, as my beloved Londo Mollari would say. That scene in Game of Thrones is probably the worst and most ooc example of sexposition in the entire show. I mean, I'm not a fan of either the books or the tv show (read the books, except for the last one, watched the tv show's first season), I'm solely somewhat entertained by either, and thus not prone to get passionate on behalf of characters. But seriously, even someone like yours truly who only read the books once and has no intention of doing so again does renember Littlefinger is the least likely guy to solliloquize his motivations like this, and let's not even go into how two whores who have been in the business since eons really, really don't need instructions on how to put on a show. It was clumsy writing, and I squirmed for all the actors involved.
Which isn't to say you can't actually combine sex scenes and information in a way that doesn't scream "we're doing this for the ratings" from the rootops. Homeland gets namechecked in the article, but what is not mentioned is that the scenes there actually do contain important information about the characters that can't be conveyed in another way. When the pilot early on showed us Moreena Baccharin's character having enthusiastic sex with her lover, I rolled my eyes and thought, yeah, yeah, Showtime, but before long I withdrew my objection completely. It's important that we see the scene with Jessica, not just to get across the information she's intimately involved with Mike (both of them believing Brody died years ago - this isn't a deliberate betrayal, which is important later on), but because of the contrast between the emotional and joyful sex there and the incredibly awkward and painful scene when Jess and the returned and deeply traumatic Brody try to make love, and it ends up with Body masturbating, Jessica realising she might as well not be there; there's no more a sexual connection than there is an emotional one at this point. The fact that CIA agent Carrie Mathison is watching this via secret surveillance system makes an additional point about Carrie, and the system she's part of. The Jess/Brody scene doesn't get less screentime than the Jess/Mike scene earlier on, it gets more, and a less tiltilallting, more disturbing and devastating sex scene you can't imagine. Plus of course the way it is filmed gives us the emotional reactions of Jessica, Brody and Carrie throughout, with a lot of facial close-ups. Whereas the GoT sexposition scene with Littlefinger makes sure we get both actresses in full body throughout and couldn't be less interested in what the women feel.
Going back in tv history somewhat: the opening episode of the original, British Queer as Folk contains an explicit m/m scene. In which there's definitely exposition, not least because the audience is informed along with character Nathan (15 years and determined not to remain a virgin any longer) what rimming is. (Thank you, Russell T. Davies. This scene was useful to many a slash writer.) It also provides character information about two of the show's three main characters (one of whom is played by the same actor who plays Littlefinger, Aidan Gillen), and since it's important for the audience to know that Stuart Alan Jones actually lives up to his reputation and is that good at sex, it's important to convey this in a show, not tell manner.
(And then there's the scene a few eps later where Vince Tyler has sex while watching Doctor Who. Which probably says something about Rusty as well about Vince, but hey. Without that scene, would Stuart declaring his love via naming every single actor who played the Doctor in the season finale - Classic Who Doctors only, since this was shot before RTD resurrected the show - be half as poignant?)
In conclusion: There's sexposition and sexposition. And if you single out the godawful Littlefinger & whores scene for being a good example, you clearly haven't watched enough of it.
