Red, White & Royal Blue Is Getting Serious Praise for Its Realistic Sex Scenes
A sex scene in Amazon Prime's Red, White & Royal Blue has fans praising the film for its reflection of the reality of sex, especially the decision to have condom wrappers in the 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 onscreen 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 the sexual journey of first son Alex Claremont-Diaz and His Royal Highness Prince Henry (the show's central high-profile transatlantic romance) has been called a “subtle but important message” as well as a “positive story about gay love.”
As 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 onscreen, the inclusion of condoms in a gay sex scene—or any movie 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, sanitized version made specifically for screen.
Prime
The film is adapted from the book, which also describes the use of condoms during sex scenes. Red, White & Royal Blue director Matthew López has spoken about wanting fans to feel “exactly the way they felt when they finished the book,” so it makes sense he would aim to be faithful to the source material.
