[Music]
sex position say it with me all one word
sex position I am the god of kids in
line welcome to watchmojo.com and story
devices that won’t go away
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content in this episode we’re
taking a look at sex position scenes
where characters can dump information ad
nauseam and still hold viewers attention
because there’s naked people in the
frame
typically it’s expository language that
aims only to flesh out some backstory or
set up a plot point in the future can
feel tedious boring overly long and
ultimately uninteresting but shove all
that into a scene with attractive people
roaming around in their birthday suits
and voila
people start paying a lot more attention
a portmanteau of sex and exposition many
many many shows have been guilty of this
trope in the past but the term was only
coined in 2012 by critic Myles McNutt in
a review of an episode of Game of
Thrones specifically the seventh episode
of the first season you win or you die
why don’t you join us – I’m saving
myself for another since then the term
has taken on a life of its own with many
critics going back and reevaluating the
use of this trope in older shows
primarily cable shows where nudity is a
okay namely The Sopranos some of the
most crucial and memorable scenes of the
series played out in badda-bing a strip
club owned by the mob a few wise guys
would be planning a hit or fighting
amongst each other in the foreground
while naked women danced to 80s hair
metal in the background yah applause
that’s right oh yeah and guys I can’t
man I love that today or Deadwood with
Ian McShane Al Swearengen delivering
countless info dumps during one-on-one
sessions with his employees in his
review that gave the term legs
McNutt focuses on a specific scene one
in which the audience gets to learn a
lot about Littlefinger his past his
motivations we get a glimpse inside the
mind of the character who up until that
point was something of an enigma don’t
tell anyone I have a reputation to
maintain all of this takes place in his
brothel as he instructs two of his
prostitutes on the proper way to fake
passion with a customer as we listen to
his monologue we watch as two naked
women rub up on one another to the naked
women add anything to the narrative well
not really they’re really just there to
make sure the audience too
zone out halfway through little fingers
big speech and that’s an important piece
of narrative information I learned about
never win not that way
that’s bad game a number of criticisms
have been thrown it shows that are
guilty of overusing this trope
particularly Game of Thrones most
critics who have a problem with the
trope tend to agree that it’s a sign of
laziness on the right affect appealing
to our most basic desires to keep our
attention where it would otherwise be
lost so why is sex position so
commonplace in the era of peak TV and
the height of the our long cable draft
well modern TV dramas have gotten more
and more complex since the golden age of
television began with all that added
nuance character backstory and in a lot
of cases convolution a lot more
information needs to be delivered to the
viewer in order for them to be expected
to keep up with who’s who and what’s
what to keep up with the high demand for
information sex and nudity is just one
of the tricks writers can use to hold
your attention
these scenes aren’t inherently bad and
can even offer some crucial character
and plot moments but they’re quite
effective at covering up what would
otherwise be a snoozer of the scene and
when they’re overused they make the show
ripe for parody counting up Adam gives
us a glimpse of next week’s episode
want more from WatchMojo check out other
great clips on our youtube channel and
be sure to take a look at our special
feature of the top 100 movie moments of
the 90s
[Music]
sex position say it with me all one word
sex position I am the god of kids in
line welcome to watchmojo.com and story
devices that won’t go away
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content in this episode we’re
taking a look at sex position scenes
where characters can dump information ad
nauseam and still hold viewers attention
because there’s naked people in the
frame
typically it’s expository language that
aims only to flesh out some backstory or
set up a plot point in the future can
feel tedious boring overly long and
ultimately uninteresting but shove all
that into a scene with attractive people
roaming around in their birthday suits
and voila
people start paying a lot more attention
a portmanteau of sex and exposition many
many many shows have been guilty of this
trope in the past but the term was only
coined in 2012 by critic Myles McNutt in
a review of an episode of Game of
Thrones specifically the seventh episode
of the first season you win or you die
why don’t you join us – I’m saving
myself for another since then the term
has taken on a life of its own with many
critics going back and reevaluating the
use of this trope in older shows
primarily cable shows where nudity is a
okay namely The Sopranos some of the
most crucial and memorable scenes of the
series played out in badda-bing a strip
club owned by the mob a few wise guys
would be planning a hit or fighting
amongst each other in the foreground
while naked women danced to 80s hair
metal in the background yah applause
that’s right oh yeah and guys I can’t
man I love that today or Deadwood with
Ian McShane Al Swearengen delivering
countless info dumps during one-on-one
sessions with his employees in his
review that gave the term legs
McNutt focuses on a specific scene one
in which the audience gets to learn a
lot about Littlefinger his past his
motivations we get a glimpse inside the
mind of the character who up until that
point was something of an enigma don’t
tell anyone I have a reputation to
maintain all of this takes place in his
brothel as he instructs two of his
prostitutes on the proper way to fake
passion with a customer as we listen to
his monologue we watch as two naked
women rub up on one another to the naked
women add anything to the narrative well
not really they’re really just there to
make sure the audience too
zone out halfway through little fingers
big speech and that’s an important piece
of narrative information I learned about
never win not that way
that’s bad game a number of criticisms
have been thrown it shows that are
guilty of overusing this trope
particularly Game of Thrones most
critics who have a problem with the
trope tend to agree that it’s a sign of
laziness on the right affect appealing
to our most basic desires to keep our
attention where it would otherwise be
lost so why is sex position so
commonplace in the era of peak TV and
the height of the our long cable draft
well modern TV dramas have gotten more
and more complex since the golden age of
television began with all that added
nuance character backstory and in a lot
of cases convolution a lot more
information needs to be delivered to the
viewer in order for them to be expected
to keep up with who’s who and what’s
what to keep up with the high demand for
information sex and nudity is just one
of the tricks writers can use to hold
your attention
these scenes aren’t inherently bad and
can even offer some crucial character
and plot moments but they’re quite
effective at covering up what would
otherwise be a snoozer of the scene and
when they’re overused they make the show
ripe for parody counting up Adam gives
us a glimpse of next week’s episode
want more from WatchMojo check out other
great clips on our youtube channel and
be sure to take a look at our special
feature of the top 100 movie moments of
the 90s
[Music]
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