What 'The Idol' can learn from how HBO handled 'Game of Thrones' incest controversy
Warning: Graphic content, discretion advised.
The first two episodes of HBO's 'The Idol' premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2023. It was panned by critics for its graphic sexual content and themes. The show is scheduled to start airing on HBO on June 4. It features physically and sexually violent scenes, which have been compared by a source as "torture porn."
Over the years, various controversial TV series have been made, and subsequently slammed by the audience. One such show is 'Game of Thrones', which drew flak for featuring on-screen nudity, sexual content, and incest. Critics began questioning the content almost as soon as the original series premiered on HBO in April 2011.
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The American fantasy drama television series was created by David Benioff and DB Weiss for HBO. The show is roughly based on 'A Song of Ice and Fire' book series by George RR Martin. The series follows various simultaneous plot lines, including a war for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, an exiled scion's actions to reclaim the throne, and the threat of the impending winter. It is set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the continent of Essos.
Female nudity
Critics slammed the show of 'sexposition' scenes throughout the series' original run from 2011 to 2019. The scenes mostly involved female nudity, while male characters would be clothed. Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen, later admitted that she was not always comfortable with the nude scenes.
Clarke revealed that her co-star Jason Momoa helped her deal with some of the difficult moments. “He took care of me,” she said. "In an environment where I didn’t know I needed to be taken care of. It’s only now that I realize how fortunate I was with that. Because Jason had experience; he was an experienced actor who had done a bunch of stuff before coming on to this. He was like, ‘Sweetie, this is how it’s meant to be, and this is how it’s not meant to be, and I’m gonna make sure that that’s the f–king case.’”
Incest
In 'GOT' prequel 'House of Dragons', viewers were disgusted after Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) seduced his teenage niece Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) in one of the episodes. The queen, Alicent, was initially disturbed at the idea of Rhaenyra hooking up with her uncle. However, she later married her son Aegon to daughter Helaena, and the two have multiple children together.
Shireen's brutal death
Viewers were horrified at a scene that showed Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram) being burned alive by her father Stannis (Stephen Dillane), in Season 5 of 'GOT'. Fans took to social media to slam the show and questioned it for going too far.
The Lannister rape scene
The series depicted various rape scenes over the episodes. However, the most controversial one was shown in Season 4 where Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) raped his twin sister Cersei (Lena Headey). She was seen repeatedly saying "no" and "stop" but the episode's director Alex Graves later said the interaction became "consensual" by the end. However, most fans did not agree.
Larys' foot fetish
Fans disliked a scene in an October 2022 episode where Larys (Matthew Needham) comes to Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) with information. However, he refuses to share the information until she shows him her bare foot. Larrys goes on to masturbate at the sight of her feet.
'Game of Thrones,' however, continues to remain popular and attract new audiences. While season 7 averaged 32.7 million viewers per episode, the final season, Season 8, averaged 46 million viewers.
