House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel series, debuted Sunday night on HBO Max at the familiar time of 9 p.m. And, to little surprise, it contained the blood, guts, and brutal violence of the original series. Also returning was the completely unnecessary explicit sexual content prevalent in the original series.
As in the original, naked women and passionate sex scenes dominated the premiere episode. It was completely unnecessary, and it’s indicative of the contemporary moral decay that encompasses much of society.
I liked Game of Thrones, as did millions of other people. It featured great plots, suspense, and magnificent character development. But it also featured a lot of nudity and sex scenes that honestly served no purpose. It wasn’t the first show to do this, and it won’t be the last. But it would still be just as entertaining if the show entirely removed the gratuitous nudity and sex scenes.
Granted, the novels that the show was based on, George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice, contained abundant graphic content, even more than the show. So there was probably an attempt to adhere to the original material. That said, the explicit material says more about Martin’s shortcoming as an artist than it does about the actual need to include so much nudity and sex.
Obviously, I’d be foolish if I denied there was an appetite for such scenes in our society. But should there be? Other than fulfilling some people’s perverted desires, there really isn’t a need for such scenes. They added very little to the series. Cinema existed for decades without nudity. The majority of the films considered the greatest of all time do not contain such material.
Some have argued that sexual content is needed to attract a 21st-century audience. However, that argument is poppycock. I would argue those people seek to justify their perversions to see sexualized material. There’s no legitimate evidence to suggest their claims are correct. In fact, quite the contrary.
Consider that none of the top-grossing movies of all time contain the graphic sexual content of Game of Thrones. Only one of these movies, Titanic, was made before the 21st century — eight of them were released in the last 10 years.
In reality, there’s no need for the sexual content in the Game of Thrones universe. Its presence exists to satisfy perversions of a civilization that has abandoned both decency and chivalry. Even though such scenes have the allure equivalent of consuming the metaphorical forbidden fruit, humanity would be better off without the gratuitous nudity in Game of Thrones.
