What about Blood Diamond, The Handmaid’s Tale, Macbeth, countless shows and films and plays and books involving rape, torture and violence? If we watch or read them, does that mean we are enjoying the rape and murder?
I’m horrified by the insidious spread of violent pornography and the terrible impact it is having, particularly on teenagers. But pornography presents acts of sexual brutality and humiliation as something real, desirable and normal when in fact it is none of those things and is instead filmed abuse.
The rape that has occurred in GoT and the burning alive of children and other shocking scenes of terrible violence haven’t been presented as desirable and I don’t think they have been portrayed as titillating either. I have cried watching them, I have been haunted by certain scenes (more from the books than the tv show). So I haven’t enjoyed them in the sense of ‘ooh, what a great rape, I hope some children get burned alive next!’ They’ve shocked and distressed me. And, most importantly, made me think and debate and analyse and learn. GoT, like many things I have read or watched, makes me grapple with the question of evil and confront moral dilemmas.
I read Classical Studies at university; I immersed myself for three years in Ancient Greek mythology and drama. There was a lot of rape and violence in the stories. I think of the works of literature I have loved and a lot of them are dark, blood-soaked and full of horror - Frankenstein, Dracula, the shows/books I listed at the start of my post... all of them are compelling stories which provoke thought and discussion.
I’d never watch Saw or Hostel or pornography - as far as I know, they just present rape and murder and torture with no moral dimension and very little in the way of any kind of story. I don’t see any value in them and I believe they can be harmful. I do think GoT is very different.