'Game of Thrones' and the rise of prime-time violence

It’s so strange to me that you can’t show a nipple, can’t show breastfeeding, yet you can see someone’s neck get slashed

It's very strange indeed. Murder is illegal, yet TV programmes in the US are full of depictions of it. But the slightest glimpse of a female nipple causes uproar and outrage. Showing hunky, topless men is OK for some inexplicable reason.

A fantasy war epic with violence? What were they thinking?

Yeah, i agree with the Author, stop watching this evil stuff and watch the uncensored news, of the war in Syria, terrorist bombing, police officers shooting unarmed citizens, Rapers getting light sentences, it is good to know that reality is much better, oh wait.

"If you think this will have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention", that's what get me hooked on this show, you literally never know what's coming. Compare that to the cliche of "hero struggles a little bit, then after all odds are stacked against him, he wins ... always". I fall asleep every time I watch one of those super hero movies.

...don't overlook all the gratuitous nudity and sex...

Since its debut in 2010, the fantasy epic—which has now hauled in 38 Emmys in total, including best drama for two years running—has been the target of criticism for senseless violence and, more controversially, its pervasive use of rape as a dramatic device.

What utter garbage. Do these people even know the kind of world in which GoT is set? And does not violence and rape exist today as a way to exert power and influence? I expected better from AFP that this tripe.

Things like this are on HBO and not accesible from people who do not want access.

I would love to meet the author of this article just to see what kind of person they are.

I watch Walking Dead which is fairly gory. Is Game Of Thrones any worse?

It’s so strange to me that you can’t show a nipple, can’t show breastfeeding, yet you can see someone’s neck get slashed

Prudish Christian values.

This is not a new thing as video games already being accused of the same thing years ago.....

It seems a bit ironic to me for a Japanese news site to be attacking American TV violence considering how violent anime is.

If the only appeal of Game of Thrones was the violence, it wouldn't have been successful as it is. Violence alone will not reach the level of popularity, and get the number of awards, that GoT has achieved.

I watch Walking Dead which is fairly gory. Is Game Of Thrones any worse?

NSFW & Spoiler (not whole scene though which is more gruesome) & (not for the faint of heart) https://media.giphy.com/media/10mrbehO3YD9E4/giphy.gif

I think it's wonderful that HBO have given so many northern English actors gainful employment.

GoT has been a boon for young up and coming and older over the hill a bit UK actors. Setting, magic, violence, some good looking boys and gals, a bit of gratuitous nudity. P:erfect escapism from our current mess of a world. I wonder why it is popular?

I wonder why it is popular?

Because it's a great story that invests you in the characters, and it doesn't pander to expectations. It's a different story to any told previously. Usually with these fantasy stories, you can guess the arc of the story pretty quickly. Whatever character they introduce who is a 'nothing' or a little person at the start, will face some adversity of some sort, then eventually go on to save the land or world or something. The only variable is whether or not they live or die when that happens. Game of Thrones cast off that expectation in its first season, and people have had no clear idea of where the story will go or how it will end ever since.

Even at the end of six seasons, with only about 15 episodes remaining, it's still unclear exactly how it will end. All the pieces are in place, but there are still multiple ways the story could end.

It's excellent storytelling.

Love the books! Love the drama! Love the cast!

Long live GRRM!

Please! the "violence is on the rise, and this show promotes it" argument hasn't changed for decades. War movies and TV shows have been on Prime Time since pretty much TV started broadcasting for a main stream audience, and shows were FAR worse in terms of sexism and racism way back when.

TV is nothing short of fantastic in NA and Europe (and Western countries) at present, and far superior to the movies even. The quality is stellar, and the story-telling in many cases outstanding. GOT, while it has its down moments, is one of the best shows on TV, and there is a reason it is so popular (not the violence, but the story-telling, which includes it).

I could pick apart all the critics arguments and if I knew their television preferences, or those of their families, I could no doubt point out hypocrisy, but it's pointless -- the argument is old, and tired, but it will always find a home with the people unhappy with the current generation. Doesn't matter if its computers, video games, smart phones, movies, or TV.

The reasons your grandparents don't care for grotesque visual material is just as valid today as it ever was. Sick may sell, but ultimately the audience member is left with nothing that show's them another world. Comic books and video games have never equaled Whitman, Joyce, Kant, Dickens, Woolf, Conrad, or Welles, Huston, Eisenstein, Hitchcock, Mann, Kurosawa. There's more. But you might have to risk not knowing. The wisdom of insecurity.

The real issue is whether the show glorifies violence more than the book, which has been raised as a problem by readers. George Martin is an anti-war pragmatist.

How about a Japanese version made by Terebi Asahi with various clans in the southern islands and an Ainu bogeyman coming down from the north....?? With lots of swordplay and nudity and violence and deviousness. would be a nice update to all of the samurai fodder that local TV used to make.

As a writer who writes graphic, horrific violent stories, I think the one thing this article leaves out is how violence, when used correctly, can vastly impact the reader's reaction on many emotional levels. Same with tv shows, and especially true for tv shows that get it right when they adapt a series of novel that is a complete world for tv. I think hbo is incredible for showing the GoT world as George Martin has given it to us, complete with all the gore and nudity. That's the world he created, and every single thing that happens in that world happens for a very good reason. To call any of it gratuitous means only one thing: The person who wrote this article obviously hasn't read the books or seen the entire tv series. If they had, they would realize that all the violence depicted also has is shown with the consequences of that violence. This is storytelling for adults, not for children, and definitely not for article writers who obviously want to promote the idea that we should all go back to the Hays Code Era of television where even showing a bellybutton on television was considered beyond immoral and wrong. Because look how well our society turned out with that kind of censorship in place, right? Long live GoT, and kudos to George Martin for giving us all a great, beautiful story that is full of unexpected emotional storylines bathed in blood and sex. I've loved every minute of it!

correlation does not imply causation. Stupid humans

The same logic on games... "games make kid go violent", "games make people kill".. NOT!. If gruesome is not your thing then you don't watch... I had to stop watching the Walking Dead because after 4 seasons i kind of lost interest in it... and my wife did not like it so much.

As entertaining as GOT is, it and other shows set a bad precedent for the intense level of graphic violence that is shown.

Many American parents see nothing wrong with allowing their young children view such violence and justify it with 'theyre old enough to know it's make believe' type of thinking.

Such intense, graphic violence absolutely has a negative impact on young impressionable minds and sends the message to children that physical violence is justified to get what you want.

It's no wonder violent crime is so high in countries like the US/UK/AUS with so many kids watching this stuff on a daily basis.

The violence of American TV programs is truly disgusting, the product of sick, sick minds. After a night of watching that stuff, is it any wonder Americans the next day are full of road rage and hatred for their co-workers?