The Game of Thrones finale gave us the sex scene everyone had been waiting for: Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) finally had sex. Fans were enthralled with the scene, maybe-kinda because Kit Harington's refined posterior made a major appearance. Jeremy Podeswa, the director of the episode, wants viewers to look at the characters eyes, though. The actual lovemaking wasn't the focus of the scene.
"It was shot very, very simply," Podeswa told Indiewire. "It's basically one steady push in shot to Jon and Dany and then that very important look between them at mid-level. And then a one-shot looking at Jon, then looking at Dany." That's film director-speak for "the sex was not important." Podeswa added that he didn't want the scene to be "prurient" at all — that's film director-speak for "we didn't want it to be sexy." This might explain why many, including Refinery29's Anne Cohen, found Jon and Dany's coitus lacking in the oomph department.
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"The the real story within the story...was actually what was going on with their eyes," Podeswa explained. Sure enough, both characters in the scene had a look of pained concern, as if they both knew the reality of their situation. (Dany is technically Jon's aunt. The sex was incestuous, although in Game of Thrones world, incest doesn't appear to mean much.)
Clarke and Harington were equally grossed out by the situation.
"For us as actors, it's just weird," Clarke said in an HBO behind-the-scenes featurette. "The reality of what they are to each other — I don't know how that's gonna..." She then groaned and mock-vomited.
Harington added, "I like looking at [Clarke] and going," — then he also mock-vomited.
Clearly, no one can be mature about the situation. The viewers keep tweeting about Kit Harington's butt, the actors are pretending to vomit, and we here at Refinery29 are upset that the sex scene wasn't more prurient. Podeswa has the right idea, unfortunately. Jon Snow's eyes are up here: Look there, and focus on the story, not the sex.
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