Last night's Game of Thrones features a major tragic twist involving the death of a beloved character. It also happens to feature a penis — up close. But seeing a dick isn't always all it's cracked up to be, and some are bemoaning that Game of Thrones elected to show this one in particular.
Arya is spying on a company of actors, including one woman she's tasked with murdering. She watches their show, which happens to be a parody of her own family's travails, and then ventures backstage. And, voilà, she sees one of the players holding his penis and freaking out about warts. The camera shows everything, testicles included.
One would think full-frontal male nudity on Game of Thrones would be reason to cheer. After all, the show constantly puts naked women on display, but rarely gives men a similar treatment. Earlier this year, Complex ranked the few times men have bared all on the series and noted that "80 percent of the dicks on this show belong to characters who barely even have lines." Even some of GoT's stars, namely Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke, have spoken out in favor of showing more D.
Indeed, some on Twitter were happy to see this latest member.
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I'm so thrilled we saw a penis on Game of Thrones, it's always tits and ass, so yes this is amazing lol. Equal opportunities!
— Sasha (@LiveBodhisattva) May 23, 2016
yessss full on penis in game of thrones bout bloody time
— Sian (@Sian_Catalina) May 22, 2016
Others, however, were disappointed. Britain's Metro said the moment "didn't really live up to expectations." The Telegraph declared it a "cop out." Female nudity has frequently been employed in the series for the purposes of titillation, but this penis repulsed rather than enticed.
Once again Game of Thrones is like, FINE HAVE A PENIS… displayed in the most unsexy way possible, bc we don’t understand the female gaze
— Sarah L. Tolcser (@SarahTolcser) May 23, 2016
No, Game Of Thrones, showing a closeup of a flaccid penis being examined for genital warts is NOT "equal opportunity nudity".
— WinonaaAARGH! (@actuallywinona) May 23, 2016
We're not advocating for anyone's objectification, but it does seem a little unfair.