Wendy31
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2005
- Messages
- 5,874
GofT is a gorgeous piece of storytelling, and definitely not "Torture Gore". But it also spends a great deal of time exploring morally grey areas, and most of the characters are complex and not easily defined as either good or evil, which is what in my opinion makes it inappropriate for children (far more than the fact that it contains violence or sex).
I started watching GoT last year & got all caught up w/ the seasons, &, now, I'm waiting for July 16th.
And I would agree w/ the above. The story is fascinating, & the characters are very multi-layered & complex. Much of the dialogue is also quite good & very notable.
However, I think HBO does like to put in some scenes for "shock value" - and, because of some backlash they received over the sexual violence portrayed toward women, I think the later seasons are somewhat tamer than the first seasons.
And, I also agree w/ this -
There is a big difference between being educated about sexual violence and watching it presented as entertainment with a big bowl of popcorn.
Our 2 older children are 17 & almost 16, & they don't watch GoT. Personally, I don't think most (I won't say all) teenagers have the maturity & wisdom needed to correctly comprehend/understand the violence & sex within the context & framework of the show/story. It's not that teenagers can't be mature & wise - it's just that they don't have the type of knowledge & insight that can only be gained through age & experience as one learns to "filter" different things into the right context, if that makes sense. Many of the scenes are disturbing to me, and I would imagine that those scenes would be incredibly disturbing (& even, in a way, incomprehensible) to our kids.
And I realize that every person matures differently & at different rates, & parents have different & varying levels of comfort when it comes to what their children watch or read. However, DH & I don't feel that GoT is right for our teens.
Someone once loaned my daughter a book & warned me about a scene where a little girl comes very close to being sexually abused. I laughingly (but in all seriousness) told the person I'd rather my daughter first read a really good sex scene between 2 consenting adults where love & respect was involved than her first book experience w/ sex be an abuse scene. And that's the way I feel about GoT, I suppose, too.