The Media’s Strange Addiction: Incest

Incest—it is one of the few notions considered to be wildly taboo on a global scale. Even the mere thought of romantic or sexual relations existing between two siblings or a parent and his or her child is enough to make one gasp in horror. For obvious reasons, incest is looked down upon in virtually every culture across the world.

For many people, the immensely popular HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’ comes to mind when incest is mentioned. The infamous romantic relationship between twins Jamie and Cersei Lannister has been the object of the media’s attention—as well as viewers’ shock—from the second their relationship was first shown on television (source). As one might expect, the reveal of this incestuous and at times abusive relationship caused an uproar all over the internet. People were outraged that such a disturbing concept was being represented in mainstream media (source). Little did they know, incest had already established itself as a popular trope in media many centuries ago.

Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, for instance, is a play about Oedipus who is deathly afraid of a prophecy that predicts that he will grow up to murder his own father and marry his mother (source). Despite all of his attempts on escaping his fate, Oedipus unknowingly commits both crimes and is completely horrified when he discovers the true nature of his relationship with his wife, who is actually his biological mother. Oedipus’ ignorance and later his realization about the incestuous nature of his marriage is a key part of the plot, one that leads to his downfall and ultimately causes him to stab his own eyes due to his own guilt and horror (source).

More recently, there was a Korean TV series called 하늘에서 내리는 일억개의 별(The Smile Has Left Your Eyes), which is a remake of the Japanese series: Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi (source). The original series is known for its shocking and tragic plot twist in which the two main romantic leads were revealed to be biological siblings. The Korean series, however, actually chose not to include the incest plotline (source). This raised several questions by the viewers: Why did the Korean remake decide to exclude the very scene that shot the original show to nationwide popularity? Could it have been due to the strictness of the types of content deemed acceptable in Korean media? Or could it be due to certain cultural values or norms of Korean society? Whichever it may be, this definitely brings into question the significant role that culture has on the portrayal of topics as taboo as incest in mainstream media.  

In conclusion, although we might not like to admit it, it seems that we have an odd fascination with exploring the idea of incest, whether it be through fictional plots in television or provocative song lyrics. The question is: Why?

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