| rdfs:comment
| - What made this all the more baffling is that the sexual encounter between Jaime and Cersei in this scene in the books is presented as consensual. TV-first viewers were offended, while book-first readers didn't understand why the TV show was, apparently, changing it into a rape scene – particularly because it simply didn't fit with Jaime's overall storyarc of redemption and trying to be a better person after losing his sword-hand. Moreover, Jaime in particular is a character who as a result of his backstory is horrified by rape: at King Aerys II Targaryen's court, he was forced to stand guard outside the doors as the Mad King raped his wife Queen Rhaella; later on and in the show itself, he saves Brienne of Tarth from being raped by Locke's men even though she was his captor and he could ea
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| abstract
| - What made this all the more baffling is that the sexual encounter between Jaime and Cersei in this scene in the books is presented as consensual. TV-first viewers were offended, while book-first readers didn't understand why the TV show was, apparently, changing it into a rape scene – particularly because it simply didn't fit with Jaime's overall storyarc of redemption and trying to be a better person after losing his sword-hand. Moreover, Jaime in particular is a character who as a result of his backstory is horrified by rape: at King Aerys II Targaryen's court, he was forced to stand guard outside the doors as the Mad King raped his wife Queen Rhaella; later on and in the show itself, he saves Brienne of Tarth from being raped by Locke's men even though she was his captor and he could easily have just let it happen. The TV writers were slow to respond to such massive outcry, and what few statements they did make were very vague, leaving reviewers and critics even more confused and to draw their own conclusions. As the premiere of Season 5 neared, it became obvious that the implication that Jaime was raping Cersei was never intended by the writers, not in the script, and was the result of unusual camerawork and editing. Both the actors and director have publicly stated that they were never told this was intended as a rape scene nor did they play it as such. This is confirmed by closer freeze-frame analysis of the footage. Even George R.R. Martin wasn't informed that the scriptwriters ever intended such a massive change. It is unknown why HBO did not simply re-edit and re-release the episode as soon as possible, as has been done in the past in Season 1. Apparently, one of two scenarios occurred: the first is that Benioff and Weiss were embarrassed by the bad editing, and somehow felt it was more embarrassing to admit the mistake happened on their watch, than to simply pretend that it was a controversial artistic choice they made on purpose - then they avoided making any further comment on the controversy, just hoping that with the passage of time it would fade from public memory without the need to give a clear answer. The second scenario is that Benioff and Weiss simply became honestly frightened that anything they said in response, i.e. "we never intended it as a rape scene", would be taken out of context and they would be accused of rape denial - in which case, apparently it didn't occur to them that while merely saying an explanation was no longer sufficient, re-editing and re-releasing the episode was still an option. Many critics were outright more upset and bewildered that the episode was not re-edited and re-released, and few if any said that re-editing it would be rape denial.
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