Jaime and Cersei
Twin siblings Jaime and Cersei Lannister were having an incestuous affair at the beginning of the series. The initially sinister and unlikable Jaime Lannister went through a major redemption arc in season 3, becoming a far more well-rounded character, doing things such as saving a woman from a gang-rape. Actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau received a lot of Emmy buzz for his performance but was not nominated (in my opinion, he definitely should have been).
In season 4, Jaime and Cersei are reunited but have not resumed their relationship, in spite of Jaime's wishes. When tragedy strikes, Cersei asks Jaime to kill someone for her. Jaime does not agree to this, but he comforts her and they share a passionate kiss, but then Cersei pulls away from him. After 15 or so seconds of silence, Jaime says "You're a hateful woman. Why have the Gods made me love such a hateful woman?" He grabs Cersei and starts kissing her again. She tries to push him off. "Jaime, not here, please" she begs (let's just say the location is INCREDIBLY inappropriate for a sexual encounter). Jaime rips off her dress as she says "stop it" repeatedly. Jaime responds with a harsh "No!" Cersei keeps saying "Stop it!" At around 15:41 in the episode, she appears to be pulling him closer as he kisses her. Then around 15:47, she puts her arms around his back. But then, Jaime pushes her on the ground and she tries to push him away once more. "Stop, it's not right," Cersei says. It is then implied that Jaime penetrates her. "It's not right. It's not right." Cersei continues to plead. "I don't care." says Jaime. Cersei begins crying, "Don't Jaime, don't." "I don't care." Jaime repeats once more. The scene ends.
The scene doesn't really work as far as storytelling goes because in spite of Jaime being a morally grey human being, he also underwent a lengthy redemption arc in season 3, as mentioned earlier. And even prior to season 3, Jaime still had something of a moral code. Everything he did was in the name of protecting his family. He wouldn't try to murder a child for sadistic glee, but he would try to murder a child to protect his family. Jaime raping Cersei does absolutely nothing to benefit the Lannister family and the whole thing feels completely out of character in my opinion. Apparently their encounter was consensual in the book that the tv series was adapted from (I heard that Cersei is literally shouting "YES" in the novel). The reason for changing it is unclear, though author George R.R. Martin defended the decision to change the scene and claims that their dynamic is different in the books.
The more troubling thing is the large amount of people, both men and women, who seem to insist that what occurred was consensual sex. It's honestly quite disturbing how these people are so insistent that what occurred wasn't a rape, because it obviously was. Perhaps, like me, they just hate the thought of Jaime Lannister being a rapist, because it would make his lengthy redemption arc moot. Or maybe they're just really uneducated on sexual assault and what actually qualifies as consent.
What occurred wasn't even close to the most disturbing scene on Game of Thrones. There was already a disturbing rape in the first episode (once again, it was consensual in the books). A man got his skin torn off and his penis cut off, a pregnant woman got stabbed in the stomach repeatedly, a youth forces a prostitute to beat another prostitute, a woman eats a horse's heart, a lot of people are beheaded, burnt bodies of children are hung on display, oh and a bunch of babies are slaughtered. Now, it should be noted that most of the above scenes did ultimately serve a higher narrative purpose. In my mind, most are not examples of violence for the sake of violence and the show actually does a great job at showing the relentless brutality of the world the show takes place in. But in spite of this, Jaime raping Cersei is receiving more controversy than anything else. Why is this? I'm going to guess it's because there are clearly a fair amount of people who don't believe it was a rape. I don't know the percentage of people who agree that it's a rape vs. the percentage who think it's not, but clearly enough people don't believe it's a rape for the controversy to happen. Though it is possible that even if everyone agreed it was a rape, there would still be controversy due to the alteration from the source material.
The response from the crew is a bit confusing. The director of the episode, Alex Graves, has used 2 contradictory statements. At one point, when describing the scene, he said "and then Jaime comes in and he rapes her". At another point, he said "Well, it becomes consensual by the end, because anything for [Jaime and Cersei] ultimately results in a turn-on, especially a power struggle." I'm praying that this quote was taken out of context or something like that, because at the end of the scene, not only was she still trying to push him away, she was crying. How is that consent? I'm hoping Graves will clarify which one of these comments reflects his actual opinion. If that wasn't enough, David Benioff, one of the show's creators and showrunners, who also co-wrote the episode, said that it's a rape, saying "Cersei's resisting this. She's saying no, and he's forcing himself on her." Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who as mentioned above, plays Jaime also has an answer to the question. While he does explain that Jaime and Cersei do love each other in a really messed up way, he points out that "she goes into it then she pulls away, she goes in then she pulls away, but of course he is forcing himself." So Nikolaj Coster-Waldau seems to agree that it was a rape in spite of her pulling him in briefly. In a separate interview, he said "For some people, it’s going to look just like rape, but the intention is not just that." From what I can gather from that statement, he does agree that it's a rape scene, but feels there's a lot of emotional baggage to it rather than just a shock-value scene. Lena Heady, who plays Cersei, has not yet commented on the scene, but it's been reported that she had "mixed feelings" about it. I'd love to hear her thoughts.
So that leaves it a bit confusing. 3 people have responded. 2 have called it rape. 1 called it rape in one interview and consensual "by the end" in another. George R.R. Martin also appears to agree that it was a rape scene. Although he didn't explicitly use the word, he acknowledged that it was different from their encounter in the books and defended the decision by the writers to change the scene. If he thought it was consent, he wouldn't be talking about how it was changed from the book (many people claiming it was not a rape scene have said it's no different from how it was in the book).
What's even more troubling is the amount of fans who seem so convinced that what occurred wasn't a rape. As I said above, it could be because nobody wants Jaime Lannister to be a rapist after he redeemed himself so much (which, like I said before, included saving a woman from a gang rape). It could be because Cersei is such an unpleasant woman that nobody wants to sympathize with her. It could be because they're just uneducated on sexual assault and consent. So let's talk about some of the really stupid things I've read people say.
One guy said Cersei was saying "No with her mouth, but yes with her body...she wasn't fighting him off."
This is an incredibly disturbing comment. First off, she was fighting him off and if you didn't see that, you're blind. Secondly, even if she wasn't fighting him off, that does not equal consent. In season 3, Jaime initially doesn't think he can save the woman from being gang raped so he simply warns her to not fight them, because that'll only make the rape more violent and painful. The rape ends up not happening thanks to Jaime coming up with a clever lie about who the woman is, but even if she was raped and she followed Jaime's advice of not fighting back, it would still be rape.
A comment from a woman said
"no it wasn't rape. Cersei says no not here it's not right but afterwards gives in to her desire for Jaime. Logic would tell you she could have easily fought off a man with a stump and a weak left arm."
I know this is a bit similar to the previous quote but I'll try to elaborate my point. I explained to her how stupid her logic was but she hasn't responded. The whole logic about fighting off the attacker is dumb and one I've heard before. It seems to be used a lot to act like a rape isn't a rape. It's like how a lot of people claim that men can't be raped by women because they should be able to fight them off (this claim was repeated to death in regards to the pointless rape scene in the film Super). Anyways, I'm not certain that Cersei could have successfully fought Jaime off, she certainly seemed to be trying, but even if she physically could have, the fact that she didn't doesn't automatically make their encounter consensual. It's like if somebody got strangled to death. It's possible the murder victim could have survived if they put in more effort to fight off their attacker, but that doesn't mean what happened wasn't murder.
Another woman gave me this ridiculous comment:
"Alex, rewatch the scene. I did. She's kissing him and pulling him into her body. She most certainly is wanting it. She didn't use the words she used in the book but it absolutely is the same the scenario"
I've rewatched the scene over a dozen times, searching for the consensual part people keep talking about. As mentioned before, I noticed two very BRIEF moments where she appears to be pulling him in. At around 15:41 in the episode, she appears to be pulling him closer as he kisses her. Then around 15:47, she puts her arms around his back. But that doesn't change the fact that at the end of the scene, he pushes her onto the ground and she's trying to push him away from her again, still saying "Stop it. It's not right." Then she starts crying. How is that not rape? Seriously, what does this woman think rape is? Two half second scenes of her apparently pulling him in doesn't suddenly make the whole situation ambiguous. There's no ambiguity here, no implication. She didn't want sex. He forced her. It. Is. Rape.
A guy gave this comment,
"she never really says "no" - she say's stop it, while grabbing him closer and kissing on him --- at the end while he's thumping her, she exclaims "not here". it really is a yes/no ambiguous situation."
I already explained how her grabbing him closer and kissing him is being exaggerated greatly. It is not an ambiguous situation. He is correct though. Cersei never once utters "no" during the scene. But he must live in an alternate universe because I don't know what the hell he's talking about. People who are given roofies and then raped while passed out also don't say "no", but that doesn't mean they weren't raped. And Cersei says "Stop" a total of SEVEN times in that scene. This guy even acknowledges that she says "stop" but still calls it ambiguous. I don't see how saying "stop" is radically different from saying "no." Both words would indicate that she didn't want to have sex with him. She said "Stop" seven times but he didn't listen. It is true that no means no. I think most people have learned that. But the idea that not saying no equals yes is completely ignorant bullshit.
Ok, now this woman said two really stupid comments in one. We'll tackle them one at a time.
"I didn't even consider that rape, Sorry. I mean these two had consensual sex how many times?!? I found the place inappropriate and the obvious fact they're brother and sister. But I think we are past that at this point."
Seriously? Has this crazy lady never heard of marital rape? No, they weren't married but the point I'm making is just because they've had consensual sex in the past doesn't mean rape is impossible. A lot of rape victims are raped by people they know, this can include boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, or siblings with an on again-off again incestuous relationship. Two individuals can have consensual, loving sex together numerous times, but if on a single occasion, one of the individuals doesn't want to have sex and the other individual forces them, it's rape. The past is completely irrelevant.
Ok, here's the second part of the same woman's comment.
"You also hear her saying "no Jaime, not here" (location wise) as if to indicate it would've been okay anywhere else."
Goddamn it. Can you fix stupid? She's not wrong. Cersei does say "not here" which indicated that perhaps she would have consented in a different situation/location, but that doesn't mean she consented in the scene that we saw. It doesn't matter why she said "stop". The point is that she said "stop" and he didn't. It's possible that the refusal was more about location than a lack of desire BUT IT IS STILL A REFUSAL! If someone says that they don't want to have sex with you, the reason is irrelevant. It could be because they're tired, because they're not attracted to you, because they don't want to have sex in that location, because they're busy with something else. It doesn't matter. They point is they don't want to have sex with you and if you force them, that's rape. This is so basic. I don't see why people don't understand.
Seeing these comments honestly frighten me. Both men and women are saying this crap and I wonder if any of them are sex offenders. What I do know is that I don't want any of these men or women having sex because I fear that they're so uneducated on consent that they'll end up raping some poor soul without even knowing it. Ok, maybe I'm going too hard. Perhaps they mean well, but they're still incredibly uneducated and it's important to educate them. I personally do not agree with the claim by some that rape and sexual assault in America is something that is accepted as being morally ok and not a big deal. I mean, Law and Order: SVU is one of the most watched shows on television and at its core, the message of the show is rape is the most horrible thing ever. People hate rapists. You ask the majority of people if rape is bad and they'll say "yes". You find a news article about a convicted rapist and all of the comments say this person should burn in hell. That said, these comments show that people are still not educated enough on this very serious issue and if we learn to educate people on what consent is and isn't, maybe we can progress further as a society.
Like I said before, I don't know the majority opinion on this issue. There have been no polls obviously. One of my favorite tv critics, Alan Sepinwall, agrees that it was a rape scene. He also said that "the reaction I've seen on Twitter, in emails and on other blogs suggests nobody is agreeing with Graves' interpretation of the scene (referring to Graves' comment about how it was consensual by the end) and are viewing it as rape, plain and simple." That's a relief to hear but it doesn't change the alarming amount of comments I've seen on facebook and IMDb not calling it a rape, so Sepinwall is wrong when he says "nobody". There are enough people calling it consensual to concern me and perhaps their intentions are not bad but it really shows how we need to have an upfront discussion about sexual assault.
Written by Alex Bauman
