In an interview with Radio Times, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington defended the show for being “gory as hell,” comparing the series’ violence to conflict seen around the world every day:
I don’t see a problem with it because you mostly always feel the consequences of that person dying. In Thrones it’s war, and awful, awful things happen, as we see on the news daily. And if we’ve got an appetite for watching these things on the news then you can’t shy away from it on cable drama. […] In Thrones, as much as they bury the dead they see very quickly there is an impact that those deaths have which I’m constantly playing. People are always dying around me in Thrones.
Although personally I agree that Thrones depicts death with appropriate gravitas, the show’s treatment of violence is less sensitive, specifically its portrayal of sexual violence towards women. Although Harington wasn’t speaking specifically about the show’s treatment of women, his thoughts on audiences’ “appetite” for awful events are interesting in light of last season’s controversial “Breaker of Chains” rape scene. Rape culture is a reality, but there’s a crucial difference between depicting that reality through a critical lens and glorifying or condoning it.
Harington also spoke briefly about the upcoming fifth season of Thrones, which recently wrapped shooting:
It was phenomenal this season. They’ve seriously overreached themselves […] They’ve built it in the right way – it could have got a lot sillier a lot earlier and it hasn’t. It’s progressed in the right way story-wise. It’s so brilliant this year.
What do you think, gang? Do you agree with Harington that Game of Thrones‘ bloodshed is justified?
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
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