Even just the plot synopsis can be a page and a half long for each book. There is a certain amount of vicarious living with the characters also. People identify with them , which I think is particularly powerful. If you just have one main protagonist, you'll appeal to a certain set of people, but if you have a very varied and diverse ensemble of characters, people can pick their favourites, and that does help. SM: I do like Tyrion Lannister. For those who may not know the books, Tyrion is the son of Lord Tywin Lannister who is the closest thing that Game of Thrones has to a 'baddie' in all of this, since he is the chief cause of complaints among the other main characters.
Tyrion is also a dwarf, not a separate species like in several other fantasy novels, but just a person with dwarfism, a small person. He's played in the television series by Peter Dinklage.
He is more or less disowned and discounted by his father, but he still wants to try and please him, yet he slowly and painfully comes to the realisation that that's never going to happen. In all of the stories so far, Tyrion is very much the underdog. He's always pushed out to the margins where he has to carve a place for himself out of sheer force of will, because he can't use force of arms. CT: What do you say to Christians who would object to reading or watching Game of Thrones because of the nature of its content, the levels of sex and violence present and so on?
SM: Martin is quoted as saying that he has taken inspiration for the books from the Hundred Years War. You have the King of England who believed that his position was God-ordained, and the King of France who believed something very similar. Those beliefs didn't stop them knocking seven bells out of each other for a very long time in history. There were all kinds of atrocities and terrible things going on.
Yes, you could argue that Christians don't want to read this because a lot of the goings on are simply entirely amoral at best, with kingmaking in the oldest sense of the world. But Martin argues that what he's written doesn't have the extremes of what is present in our actual history. CT: But there are many people asking the question, why would we want to entertain ourselves with a fictionalised version of a period of history that is full of so much blood and gore?
Why would we choose to watch and read about something so unpleasant for fun? SM: This is a difficult question. It does depend a great deal on personal taste.
Some things will be beyond the pale for some readers. That's true for me, just like most other people. At the same time, the artistry in keeping all these separate and individual threads together is intense. Also, it is not a story without redemption , even though there are some people who are hopelessly compromised, and death is commonplace among characters who you might really love and want to see go further.
I think you'd read it for the same reason you'd read any fiction, or watch it in the cinema or on stage, or anything like that. It is because it provides an emotional engagement. I perfectly understand that people may not want to read that sort of thing, but then again I don't particularly enjoy reading detective stories, like P D James for instance.
Some of that stuff is far too close to home for me, yet my Mum loves reading that stuff. I can't do it, I just can't, I baulk at the crime. CT: How do you think the wider Christian community should be engaging with Game of Thrones, a series that has more 'objectionable' content than most?
SM: I don't think there is, or should be, a single Christian reaction to something like Game of Thrones. That does a disservice to the many different points of view a Christian might have on this issue. I know what some of my Christian writer friends would do, which is to try and write a Christian version of Game of Thrones.
That would be a big mistake in my view, because Martin does what he does so well. You could do Tolkien with a more evangelical message, or Lewis with a more overt message, or a Christian Fahrenheit , but that misses the point.
The best way for Christians to engage with Game of Thrones is to read it, read it critically. Still, some have also detected a genuine theological framework behind the show that does not reject Christian teachings but instead reflects them in important ways.
The Rev. Jim McDermott, a Jesuit priest who is studying screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles, also pointed out that in Game of Thrones , raw power and high birth provide no guarantee of protection. The realism that McDermott finds in the show is the gospel truth that life is often hard and unfair — but everyone shares in that fate. Strong characters and unpredictable narratives are sure to keep coming, and to keep viewers glued to the screen.
Can a Christian Watch Game of Thrones? Follow Crosswalk. What Exactly Is the Power of Prayer? For viewers who can tolerate these incidents, the merits of the series may win out, but it won't be for everyone. Families can talk about the impact of sexual violence on television. Is the sex depicted in Game of Thrones appropriate for the story?
What messages do viewers take away about sex from watching this series? Does the show's violence go too far? Is it too graphic? Why, or why not? What are women's roles in this series? Are they important players, or accessories? What about people of color? Where do they fit in? Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
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