'It's the biggest taboo': an expert discusses the shocking portrayal of incest between siblings in White Lotus
What shocks works
Well, they really did. If anyone thinks that television doesn't push any boundaries anymore, one of the latest episodes of White Lotus brought something you really don't see anymore - incest between siblings. In one of the last episodes, brothers Saxon and Lochlan Ratliff (played by Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola) briefly kissed during a drinking game organized by a young socialite named Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon). The internet exploded over it.
"In a shocking twist, Lochlan is the more predatory brother," wrote one user on Reddit. "Exactly! He makes his brother do drugs... and then kisses him? I don't think he's gay. He's just a pervert," agrees another. Even Schwarzenegger himself commented on the scene, admitting that he almost felt sick to his stomach after filming. And who could blame him - episode six went even further, though, adding a group orgasm in which Saxon was being sexually serviced by his own brother. In other words, what the hell is that?
And what's the worst part? The hints were there from the beginning. After two episodes, viewers were already noticing that there was a suspiciously large amount of sex in the Ratliff family. "No, they wouldn't dare do that to that character, would they?" someone wrote on Twitter after a scene in which Patrick Schwarzenegger (as the nepo-bro Saxon) stands naked in the bathroom, watched by his brother.
Readers, they did it. In terms of a way to get attention, this is hard to top - but why did the creators decide to include this in the show in the first place? There could be several reasons. "Storytelling has always been about crossing boundaries, and television offers a safe space to explore this," says Professor of Television and Media Studies Beth Johnson from the University of Leeds.
It may be nasty, but that's also part of the appeal of a show where bad things happen to bad people. "We watch White Lotus partly because it's about 'eating the rich'. We're watching beautiful settings, beautiful people, but underneath the surface everything is corrupt and twisted."
At the same time, it's not just about that. According to Johnson, the show's creator Mike White, it may also be about a deeper analysis of the Ratliff family and its warped world. "Mike White has a fascination with the depravity of the world of the rich and powerful," he explains. And the incest story, she says, isn't so much about incest itself as it is about power. "What can you buy when you already have everything? When you have so much money and influence that you can afford anything - where do you stop? What else actually turns you on?"
And then, of course, there's the question of toxic masculinity. The Ratliffs represent the traditional family: Saxon's remarks about women and trans people are deeply unfair - and his mother clearly enjoys it. "Saxon is trying to be like his father - testing the idea of what it means to be a man who has absolute power," says Johnson.
At a time when Donald Trump has risen to power, bringing with him an image of ultra-conservative patriarchy, it's interesting to compare his vision of masculinity and love of nepotism with what White Lotus shows. There is no doubt that incest has become more common on screens in recent years. The biggest culprit, of course, is House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones spin-off where members of House Targaryen routinely marry each other.
There were similar scenes in 2010's Boardwalk Empire, where Jimmy Darmody's character slept with his mother Gillian. And we can't forget the original Game of Thrones, whose pilot episode showed the incestuous couple of Jaime and Cersei subsequently throwing a baby off a tower. And then there are the so-called incest-close stories - where the characters may not be blood siblings, but they still feel very out of place. The 1999 film A Very Dangerous Acquaintance showed a relationship between half-siblings, and in the TV series Dexter, the main character fell in love with his adopted sister Deborah - and it's still hotly debated to this day.
But why are directors so keen to reach here?
"I think incest is the very biggest taboo," says Johnson. And that, of course, is a magnet for filmmakers who want to shock. But it's also helped by the rise of streaming platforms, which are always looking for something new. "We see murder and violence on screen so often that it doesn't even excite us anymore. But this? This is shocking."
Whichever way the plot of White Lotus season three unfolds, controversy is guaranteed. And maybe that's the point. "This is exactly Mike White's style. He knows what he's doing - as with Saltburn, where the intimacy was uncomfortably physical. Sometimes it can be just for shock value, but I don't think that's the main reason here."
Or at least not the only one. Keep watching - it gets even more interesting. You can watch White Lotus on the Sky and NOW platforms.
