Game of Thrones utterly repulsive--John Gresser

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimG
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
puppson said:
Hollywood is an open sewer.
Click to expand...
The hypocrisy of the entertainment industry knows no bounds. We have had a resurgence of protection for women in the “Me Too” movement by a business which feeds misogyny in entertainment’s depiction of rape and violence. I found those rape scenes particularly appalling. If men are fed rape fantasy, some will grow in their sexual boldness toward women.

Yes, I know the show was trying to show the evil people, but that only brings me to the biggest problem I had with this film. It moral compass was out of whack. There were a lot of evil people, but there was no moral people, with the one possible exception of Ned Stark who served as a type of absolute morality, quickly dispatched to pave the way for the evil of moral relativism. Just as with Lord of the Rings, the beauty of the faith of the author shines through without conscious effort, so with GOT, the author’s lack of faith, along with the moral relativism of Hollywood, comes through. It is this latter problem I find more troubling than the excessive nudity, extended simulated sex, and rape scenes.
 
As a preface, I’ll state that I’ve only read the books, and have watched perhaps a half an episode. That being said, Stark’s death is clearly modeled on the execution of Sir Thomas More. And honestly, it is episodes like that that probably inform the philosophy of Martin’s work. History is, sadly, replete with good men punished for being good, or at least for standing their ground.

I’m a far greater Tolkien fan than Martin fan. Honestly, as detailed as Martin’s world is, Tolkien’s was richer. And really, Tolkien’s is a more hopeful work, that good can not only triumph, but can triumph and still has some degree of goodness left. But let’s be honest, Martin’s view of history and of human behavior is probably a great deal more accurate than Tolkien’s.

It’s precisely the same reason some Star Trek fans dislike Deep Space Nine, because it shows the utopian idealistic Federation in a darker (and probably far more realistic light). They prefer the Roddenberry-esque hopeful future where we’ve solved all the big human problems, rather than the more Machiavellian reality of human conduct.
 
LawyersGunsAndMoney said:
What gets old is any time the show is mentioned, people will feel the need to come out of the woodwork (both here and in real life) to announce that they don’t watch it and it’s so depraved and pornographic. Leaving aside the obvious issues with someone having a strong opinion a show that, by their own admission, they’ve never seen, it just has this weird, holier-than-thou, self congratulatory air. It’s basically just virtue signalling.
Click to expand...
IDK, I’ve noticed that when people have a negative reaction to a show with edgy sexual content or say that they won’t watch it because it’s smutty, there are a handful of posters who rush to put down those posters. Now I can understand it if somebody is being unreasonably prudish, for instance if they’re seeing too much sex in Disney’s “Dumbo”, but it’s undeniable that GoT contained graphic nudity and sexual content. You could find that out by reading reviews even if you never watched the show or a clip of the show (I have seen one episode and a few clips over the years). Why is it bad for people to state that they don’t watch that stuff because they think it’s immoral? There’s a good argument that it’s an occasion of sin for many people and that it further objectifies women and doesn’t exactly portray sex in a “Theology of the Body” type light.

Also, your sports enthusiast comparison isn’t on point. The original article in this thread was by a reviewer trashing GoT because he thinks it’s trashy. This wasn’t a fan thread for everybody who likes GoT to discuss the ending. It’s a thread about a reviewer finding the show repulsive. And sports team playoffs are not full of content that the Church generally considers objectionable and an occasion of sin.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
Also, your sports enthusiast comparison isn’t on point. The original article in this thread was by a reviewer trashing GoT because he thinks it’s trashy. This wasn’t a fan thread for everybody who likes GoT to discuss the ending. It’s a thread about a reviewer finding the show repulsive.
Click to expand...
No, that’s fair. I should probably have taken my own advice and just ignored the thread, but I was responding to the reviewer who felt the need to do some outrage farming. I found it extra ridiculous because it’s a case of

A) no duh. The conduct portrayed in Game of Thrones isn’t in line with Catholic values? Knock me over with a feather and B) the show is over anyway. It’s just pointless culture war sniping at this point.

I don’t mind people drawing moral lines in the sand for the media they consume, but I could do with less of the reviewers preening about it. It just rubs me the wrong way, is all. It’s got an undertone of “look at me, aren’t I so brave for speaking truth to the cultural juggernaut?”
 
niceatheist said:
But let’s be honest, Martin’s view of history and of human behavior is probably a great deal more accurate than Tolkien’s.
Click to expand...
Perhaps that is a difference between us. I really believe that human behavior leans towards Tolkien’s view 😉.

I’ve read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit as well as 4 1/2 of the game of thrones books (song of Ice and fire). While both Tolkien and Martin are very creative, Tolkien is a profoundly better writer compared to Martin.
 
Last edited:
I don’t justify sexually explicit scenes in the show… but the incest was clearly depicted as something vile and disgusting within the context of the story. This was an evil family. The Old Testament also relates accounts of incest, rape and perversion.
 
“While I rarely watch television, when I do it’s [insert 1950s sitcom]…”. It feels like a form of virtue signalling… that’s popular here on CAF.
 
21st century TV is routinely killed by weak writing. Sadly, the more adulation a serial entertainment product receives, the weaker the ending becomes.

ICXC NIKA
 
twf said:
“While I rarely watch television, when I do it’s [insert 1950s sitcom]…”. It feels like a form of virtue signalling… that’s popular here on CAF.
Click to expand...
I know I said I was gonna bounce, but…yeah, exactly. I’m emphatically not here to demean anyones choice. Discerning where the moral line is in the sand is a prudential judgment for each person, and if someone decides that they can’t watch something in good conscience, hey, I’m not here to try to talk them into anything.

What gets old is the dramatic posturing. It feels very judgmental and self-congratulatory, and often carries the implication that anyone who isn’t similarly scandalized isn’t a real Catholic. That’s what I was reacting to in the review and some of the comments here. If someone were to say, “eh, little raunchy for my taste but to each his own”, I’d have no beef at all. It’s the high horse sense of superiority that gets me.
 
twf said:
“While I rarely watch television, when I do it’s [insert 1950s sitcom]…”. It feels like a form of virtue signalling… that’s popular here on CAF.
Click to expand...
Whenever I hear/read the opposite version of that kind of virtue signaling (“let’s all point and laugh at the pearl clutchers!”) the following image pops into my head…

In an episode of The Middle, two young teens were trying to sneak into an R rated movie, so they dress in their mothers’ business suits and high heels, carry coffee, and have the following conversation:
“Remember when we saw 127 Hours? I think it could have used more sex and violence”
“Yeah. I could have totally handled it!”

To be fair, I don’t come across this attitude much on CAF, but I do find it a lot on the interwebs, especially in sites where teen and young adult males tend to have a significant presence, and the conversation turns to bewailing the lack of nudity in American television.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top