Hard to feel sympathy

I encountered an article recently from a supposedly devoted fan of the “Game of Thrones” series on HBO taking them to task for the show’s recent gratuitous depictions of rape and violence against women. Ironically, I won’t post a link to the article because of its gratuitous language. The parallel is clearly lost on the author.

The author eventually places the blame at the feet of HBO itself for supposedly encouraging such pushing of the envelope. But can that really be where the fault lies?

I don’t think so, not when the writer’s complaint is only about how far they’ve been going recently. The show has been rife with sex, violence, violent sex, and sexy violence (even those of us who refuse to watch it can pick up that much from watercooler walk-bys) from the outset, but only now they’re going too far? Up to this point it’s been “artistic” or “symbolic” or “realistic”, but suddenly it’s crossing the line?

The writer goes on to trace HBO’s rising standard of lowering standards from show to show, like “The Wire”, “The Sopranos”, “Deadwood” or “Rome” and concludes that “Game of Thrones” is risking going too far. It’s clearly lost on this person that the fact that the standard has been evolving indicates that someone continues to want more and more of whatever it is these shows are offering, and that maintaining a line is not getting it done. People initially flocked to HBO because of series that weren’t bound by conventional limits.

Do you suppose HBO would continue pushing the envelope if all the viewers suddenly stopped watching? I doubt it.

Sex and violence is like any other entertainment (or dare I say it, drug). Today’s “shocking” becomes tomorrow’s “ho-hum”. People get bored, jaded, desensitized–you name it. They want something new they haven’t seen before. “Game of Thrones” seems eager to provide. You wanted this, dear author. When sex and violence is considered brave, bold, ground-breaking, avant-garde…where does one go from there? Would you like them to try providing the shock-value by suddenly removing all shock-value? No? That doesn’t leave them any other direction to go, especially not on a show founded on being more brutal than anything you’re used to. There’s only three notes to their Song of Fire and Ice, and your only chance for variety is to play them louder–or softer, and you’ve clearly indicated you don’t want that.

So it’s a bit astonishing to hear that our writer is schocked to find, in a show based on a completely amoral, no-holds-barred fantasy world, that there is indeed nothing they won’t do, including bow to our minimal modern standards of decency. Seriously, this is “A Game of Thrones”, where might makes right and anything goes in pursuit of that might, and suddenly you’re squeamish to find they really don’t observe boundaries? “What, you really mean it?! Even MY standards of decency don’t count for anything on this show?!”  It’s a real bummer when your entertainment and your social politics contradict.

In a word? “Waaaaaaa.”