A sex scene in Amazon Prime's Red, White and Royal Blue has caused fans to praise the film for reflecting the reality of sex, due to the decision to have condom wrappers in shot.
It's refreshing for so many reasons, not least because movie and TV sex scenes can feel unrealistic and devoid of the messier, authentic elements of sexual acts. This is why sex on screen is a big deal for so many of us – we not only want to see it, we want to see it reflected as how we experience it in real life.
The decision to promote safe, relatable sex by including the use of condoms in First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz and His Royal Highness Prince Henry (the show's central international, high-profile, transatlantic romance)'s sexual journey has been called a “subtle, but important message” as well as a “positive story about gay love”.
Kim Cattrall is reprising her iconic Sex and the City role as Samantha Jones for one scene only.
One fan tweeted: “Everything in a film frame is there for a reason. The condom wrappers send a subtle, but important message. On a larger scale, stories plant the seeds in our collective consciousness about what is possible.
"This is a positive story about gay love, and it comes at a time when gay love is being delegitimized around the world. This is an important story coming at a significant moment. Let’s celebrate this.”
Like with any decision about what stories are included on screen, the inclusion of condoms in a gay sex scene – or any sex scene, for that matter – reflects not only a safe sexual dynamic, but one that we should be seeing in real life, instead of a squeaky clean, sanitised version made specifically for screen.
The show is adapted from the book, which also describes the use of condoms during sex scenes. And seeing as Red, White & Royal Blue director Matthew López has spoken about wanting fans to feel "exactly the way they felt when they finished the book", this makes all the sense in the world.
While some have called the show's sex scene “the most realistic sex scene I've ever seen on film”, others have questioned whether it does, due to the amount of people not using condoms during sex IRL. One tweeted: “the most unrealistic part of the movie isn’t that it’s the president’s son and the prince of england, it’s that they used condoms”. Whichever way you slice it, though, about the reality of condom usage when it comes to sex, this is an excellent example to set.
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Others have praised the "filmmaking" around the sex scenes, emphasising their “importance”, as well as the specifics of the intimate act. One tweeted: "At the first sex scene in Red White and Royal Blue…probably the best technical filmmaking in the thing so far djndmdmddkf also showing how important sex scenes are!"
Another fan brought attention to the “softness” and “tenderness” of the scene. They posted: “the softness of the sex scene in red, white, and royal blue was so nice. the way henry just tenderly pushes alex's lower back down, they're looking at eachother the whole time, it was so nice”.
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López has opened up about his aims of making this scene “true and accurate”. “From the beginning, I told the studio that we were not going to shy away from the scene,” he told Digital Spy. “There would be no tricks. It was going to be true and accurate to the way that two men have sex together.”
He elaborated that he wanted the scene to feel “emotionally resonant”, something that he feels we don't see a lot on screen when it comes to two men sleeping together.
“In the book, their sex life is such a powerful part of their connection," he said. "And I really wanted to show something that I hadn't seen much of in mainstream movie making, which is sex between two men that is loving and connected, and that is emotionally resonant. So we took great care with that scene.”
Is it one of the most important and sensitive portrayals of sex on screen out there? We think so, not least because it's started an important conversation about what we expect from sex IRL, as well as how we want to see it in the TV shows and films that we watch.
