The hit HBO series Game of Thrones has won 26 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2015, and has 18.6 million people watching each episode, an HBO record. That’s roughly the same population as America’s third most populated state, New York. That’s a lot of people. That’s a lot of cultural influence.
What draws people to Game of Thrones? Certainly the artistry, the plot, the characters, the intrigue, the battles, the dragons, and, of course, the excessive and gratuitous nude sex scenes (including a graphic, lengthy rape scene that made news earlier this year).
Much like the Fifty Shades of Grey book and movie phenomenon, it brings up the age old question, “When it comes to sex and nudity, where is the line drawn between art and pornography?”
Porn or Art: Where is the line?
What makes a porno movie a “porno” and what makes Game of Thrones a record-shattering, Emmy-winning icon of popular culture? They both have plots. They both have lots of sex. I suppose the difference is Game of Thrones has more plot to it than it does sex, so it’s considered a drama and not a porno, whereas a porno has more sex than plot. And I suppose one would say the purpose of Game of Thrones is art, while the purpose of a porno is sex. Though that’s a very subjective statement that many in the porn industry would refute, at the end of the day, both purposes are money, but that’s another story.
Would the population of the entire state of New York openly admit to watching pornos, loving pornos, discussing pornos at the water cooler at work and discussing the plots of their pornos on their Facebook feeds? Obviously not.
At the end of the day, what is porn? Do you just know it when you see it? If so, what is it you are seeing when you know it? For my personal thought life, I’d argue that the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is porn. For most, if they found that their kids were looking up online videos or photos of naked people having sex (whether acting or actually having it) and/or photos of naked women where they know their kid’s mind is doing the rest, they’d call it porn.
If someone cropped out one of the graphic sex scenes from Game of Thrones and put that single scene online, by itself apart from any of the plot and intrigue, and your teenage son downloaded it, would you call it porn? Yes, you would.
So why is it that when we dress these scenes up with HBO glitz and glamour that all of a sudden they are socially acceptable? Is it because we actually love porn, but don’t want to admit that publicly? We don’t want to surf the dirty websites, but if we can get our porn via HBO (all on Netflix and/or Amazon Prime now, by the way), it’s like having our cake and eating it too. Porn without the social stigma. Porn that your spouse actually lets you watch. Porn you can rationalize.
How We Deceive Ourselves
We are really good at deceiving ourselves and typically jump at any opportunity to do so. What’s so sad and ironic about Game of Thrones is that even though the actresses are much better paid, Emmy-awarded and more famous than the women in “pornos,” they are still just human beings and the emotional effect on them is the same. Most of them will never admit this, but the truth remains.
What’s so ironic and sad is that every once in a while, one of these A-list actresses does admit the disgust she feels about being in these sex scenes, but our culture’s insatiable addiction to porn and entertainment are always too much to consider changing how sex is portrayed.
Earlier this year, GQ and Esquire Magazine’s 2015 “Sexiest Woman Alive” Emilia Clarke made news when she told the Daily Mail she “can’t stand” the sex scenes she’s in on Game of Thrones.
The Daily Mail article by Sebastian Shakespeare reports, “Emilia, who plays the exiled princess Daenerys Targaryen, refused to appear in any more topless shots in the drama two years ago, according to her co-star Oona Chaplin, who disclosed that Emilia had told program bosses she ‘wanted to be known for my acting, not my breasts.’”
There’s obviously a lot of hypocrisy by Ms. Clarke in these quotes. I don’t use the “h-word” as a personal judgment toward Clarke but to again bring out the point that our entire culture wants the best of both worlds when it comes to sex. Being naked on screen is what made Clarke famous and is much of the reason why the show is so popular. It’s very double-minded.
If you want to get to the truth of how things are really perceived, you need to look no further than the wonderful world of website comments. One such comment in the Emilia Clarke article said, “We don’t watch you for your acting, love.” This is what’s really happening when these Hollywood actresses think they are being artistic on-screen with their bodies.
What they are really doing is creating a sexual bond with millions of men, just like Genesis 2:24 and 1 Corinthians 6:16 tell us takes place during sex: “The two will become one flesh.” In Matthew 5:28, Jesus tells us that to think about having sex with someone who isn’t your spouse is the same on the heart-level as actually doing it, so we shouldn’t be surprised by such responses.
Like a one-night stand, you have millions of men only interested in Clarke for her body. The announcement by Clarke that she will no longer be exposing hers is the same as the one-night stand being over. You can dress these episodes up with as much “art” as you want, but they are always going to just be a naked body to most of the men watching them.
Porn or Human Dignity
And if you think you can somehow filter out the porn and only take in the art, you are deceived and double-minded as well. Porn does what porn does: as soon as it enters the scene, it removes all dignity and humanity. All that is left is body parts and the consuming of other humans. You can’t keep someone’s dignity once you have already devoured it.
You don’t get porn and human dignity; you get porn or human dignity.
Choose wisely.
Me as a muslim wouldn’t accept such a show because god tells us to lower our gaze and guard our chasity , i’m really sad because a guy who is proposing to me is watching such a show i’m disappointed and sometimes I feel I want to end everything, but I love him and i’m really hoing and trusting allah to fill my heart and my man’s heart with his love, and may allah make Saif hate sins, hate porn, hate anything bad.
I told Saif that if we want to continue you must promise me to obey Allah an lower your gaze,and never watch nudity, sex, he said ok, but he wants to keep watching the series but skip the sex parts, i’m not happy with that entirely, because I want him to see how bad and sinful is the whole show , our hearts must remain pure😟 oh allah please help me
Praise God, someone has a right mind and heart of integrity!
This post troubles me because it’s not only misleading about the content of Game of Thrones, but it labels something as porn when it clearly is not. The foundation of your argument is incorrect, and that incorrect foundation is that nudity is always pornography.
This is simply logically not true, there are many instances in which we would all agree that nudity being shown is not pornography. For instance, when a mother is in public and brings out her breast in full view of the public in order to feed her child, we would not call that pornography. Why? Is it because her actions are natural? Nonsense. Sex is natural yet you claim that two naked people having sex on the TV is pornography. No, we conclude that a mother breast feeding in public is not pornography because of the context in which the nudity is occurring. Public breast feeding is in the context of caring for a child, and so we do not consider it pornographic. So this equivocation of nudity to being pornography is simply inconsistent and not factual.
Pornography is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as: “the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement.”
The nudity in Games of Thrones does not fit the definition of pornography, because it is not in the show with the intention to cause sexual arousal. Because it fails this test of definition, a test that is critical in being intellectually honest in our analysis of the world around us, the nudity in Game of Thrones is art in the same way that nudity in painting and sculptures during the Renaissance were art—not existing with the intention of creating sexual arousal.
Beginning from an incorrect definition of pornography leads you down a road of exaggeration, clumsy thinking, settling for the low hanging fruit of hyperbole, mischaracterizing Game of Thrones, and in the end writing an article that is not disciplined in it’s thinking nor is it honest in it’s presentation. This is troubling because you have influence over other believers as a leader in an area in which many men struggle, and so you have a responsibility to be disciplined, accurate, and truthful in your analysis of the world around you.
When we as the Church exaggerate, overreact, and are not truthful in how we analyze things in the world then we hurt our witness to a dark and dead world. It sows distrust between us and the world we’re trying to reach. It is vitally important that we are disciplined, measured, thoughtful, and truthful in our analysis of the world around us. This article and many like it are not truthful, disciplined, thoughtful, and measured in it’s analysis. It is instead intellectually clumsy, exaggerates, settles for the low hanging fruit of hyperbole, and simply isn’t honest in it’s analysis.
Taking issue with nudity in shows and movies as not being healthy or wise is Biblical and should be discussed—having thoughtful discussions about the context as well, but calling something pornography when it is not only serves to make Christianity appear unnecessarily foolish and not trustworthy in the eyes of the lost.
It just hurts our witness, in the same way that calling Harry Potter Satanic witchcraft draws a collective eye-rolling. We need to be truthful, thoughtful, and disciplined in our analysis, not give into exaggeration and hyperbole.
At some point the Church and the world will clash on the topic of content in our entertainment because the darkness hates the light, but let that clash happen over truth and not exaggeration.
I think the authors stance on the matter is valid, however, the author ignores the historical timeframe from which this series is based. The reality is that these things happened. Brothels existed, women were raped, homosexuality was present, sex was a prize of battle for many beyond gold. The series is successful for the historical accuracy as well as the fantasy that existed at the time. While the author calls this “porn” isn’t surprising as he compares the SI swimsuit edition as such. Take an painting or sculpture from the same time do the author believe this is porn? Curious to hear his response.
A couple things here. 1. I have never once watched one single episode of Game of Thrones. 2. I did read this article and many of the comments in the comment section. I found it remarkable what people will justify for the sake of good story telling, or this case a good TV show. One of the comments I read conveyed some frustration that the author isn’t as upset about the violence as he was the nudity and sex. Maybe he is but that’s not what this article is about. I know there are families in our church who watch it, kids in our youth group too and some seem very desensitized to it. That to me seems like a problem. I’ve had similar conversations about Fifty Shades of Grey and the popular video game Grand Theft Auto. I know there are many others that depict sex and violence in some sort of “romanticized” way. Where do we draw the line? Isn’t the Bible filled with violence and sex? You can argue with me I guess but I think there is a difference between seeing the Hulk smash a giant make believe alien (which could be construed as violence) and watching a simulated sex or rape scene between two adults. Ephesians 5:8–12 (NIV)
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
I’m appalled at my generation. I’m a 35 (nearly 36 yr old) woman (who most people think is 23 hahaha), and I can not believe the downright lowliness of what we allow ourselves to watch on television. TV-MA is what really did it. I said to someone, “Mark my words, now that this TV-MA is the new thing, it’s going to go downhill real fast…” Boy did it EVER… most R rated films have glimpses of nudity, occasionally, a strip club or a sex scene that’s over the top (I don’t watch those either btw) but TV-MA is straight up an excuse now days to just show pornography.
I see so many people in this thread defending it. I see comments that say, “it’s just boobs” … no, sweetheart, it’s not. Even the guides (IMDB, parents, etc) say “STRONG sexual content, and GRAPHIC nudity…” There are plenty of other sequences with male full frontal nudity, and other sequences of just downright sick going on. Rape, incest, incestrape… Come on… What are you TELLING yourself to allow yourself to watch this garbage? Watch another fantasy show without ALL of this!
It’s utterly disgusting. Americans are OBSESSED with sex, and everyone wants to know why their husbands are addicted to porn secretly, and why their sex lives are so unfulfilling. This is it right here… the glorification of sickness.
Please don’t get me wrong on this front… I’m a writer, and it’s not the STORY that are disturbing. There are rapes and incest relationships in the bible. It’s the CONTENT. You can show these things without glorifying them. You can show these scenes without making them pornographic. I’ve seen many scenes in film that were tasteful, but still left you feeling disgusting because of the way the characters were treated.
And to the people saying that the violence is just as bad. Maybe for small children this is understandable, but as someone who has been an actress for many years (yes, I’m a writer/ actress), let me essplain a thing… Hollywood doesn’t NEED to show nudity… It’s acting. Violence might be frightening but it’s all pretend. We KNOW so and so didn’t lob off so and so’s head for real. It’s all effects. The sex and NUDITY, however? Not.
You can PRETEND to kill someone. You can’t PRETEND to be naked and aroused, if you’re naked and aroused, you’re naked and aroused. I hear people who’ve never been in the acting business say all the time, “Oh, it’s just acting…” REALLY? Would you want your spouse to be nude against some man/ woman? It’s actually pretty real.
This generation needs to get its act together and stop glorifying perverted things.
God is watching, He knows, and you WILL answer for your heart if not your actions.
Isn’t a Christian better off not bothering with watching TV or movies? Time spent in real-life interaction with others is totally meaningful, while watching fake life holds no meaning except degradation of character.
Thank you for taking te time to write about this in such a truthful and intelligent manner. Very well written, no punches pulled but still full of love and respect for the people caught up in this addiction.
Thank you so much for this article. I have struggled with explaining to my husband why it bothers me when we watch TV shows and movies with sex and nudity. We have watched many TV series over the 8 years we have been together and we do get pulled in by the plot or even our favorite actors starring in it. In most cases, eventually the show would contain many scenes with either practically naked women or fully nude women and sex scenes. I personally feel so uncomfortable that I look away. I’ve always been this way. I’ve tried telling my husband how I feel and why it bothers me but all he says is he doesn’t watch it for the nudity, sex, etc. He compliments me and gives me every reassurance of his faithfulness, love, affection and attraction to me. But he still watches the show. Game of Thrones was one show I purposely tried to avoid watching for years. During my pregnancy last year, I was pregnant with our 5th child and had major morning sickness, so a lot of free time was spent watching TV and that’s when Game of Thrones began. It was most definitely the worst time to watch it too. I was already experiencing self esteem issues as is, then to have all my free time with my husband be spent watching that- it was really rough. There was one scene that bothered me so badly, I walked away and cried in the bathroom. Another thing that makes it hard for me is I am a victim of sexual assault. It makes all my insecurities 10x’s worse than ever before. Not to mention watching scenes with rape in them are just awful. Now my husband has started binge-watching ‘Total Divas’ and I’m a mess. Our whole family loves WWE and we watch it every week. That’s fine, but seeing my husband watching a show marketed to women about super gorgeous athletes/celebrities who show lots of clevage and hardly wear any clothes is very hard for me. I’ve tried talking to him about it and all he says is the guys are in it too and it’s not that bad. He’s on season 6 already and in the episode he was watching this morning, 2 girls are wearing thong swinsuits and recreating baywatch scenes for their husbands. So I started season 1 today when he went to work and by the 3rd episode I wanted to cry. Two of the women are in a shop trying on underwear! This drives me nuts because this is a show my husband watches constantly by himself. It’s not a show we are watching together. He works full time and overtime, he is hardly home and any spare moment he has, he is glued to this show. I know without a doubt my husband does love me and is attracted to me, that I know for sure. He tells me and shows me daily. That’s why this hurts so much. I don’t know what to do or how to get him to understand my point of view. I guess it just comes down to wishing he respected my feelings and out of that respect and love for me, he would stop watching this show. It’s making me feel like a whale besides these women and completely unattractive. I already struggle with intimacy issues due to the assault. I struggle even more so because of shows and movies loaded with this content. It doesn’t make me feel like being intimate. I am extremely fearful of being compare to what is on TV or him picturing someone else. I really do believe the best thing to do is to avoid watching things with this content all together. It causes more harm than good otherwise.
Hey Nicki,
This sounds like a boundaries issue to me. It sounds like your husband is rationalizing rather than listening to your concerns and why certain content is painful for you. At some point, it really does become what you are willing to live with or not. Here, here, and here are some articles on boundaries that might help as you think things through. This article from The Gottman Institute is interesting as well, as it addresses the impact to relationships rather than parsing out what’s porn or not porn. Hopefully there’s something in those resources that helps you chart a way forward. Bottom line is that you should live in relationships that treat you with value and respect in every way. If that’s not happening, then change must be made, and we are only responsible for ourselves and our own choices. We can’t force others, but we can choose for ourselves. Peace to you, Kay
Hi Nicki,
I am so sorry to read your comment and could barely get through it because I was reliving my own pain. I think there are SO many women who feel exactly the way we do and most chose to suffer in silence. One reason I feel we see so many resentful wives with self-esteem and emotional eating issues. Men just don’t hear, many of them, unless they are more highly evolved and on a spiritual path. It is not your issue but your husband’s issue that is causing you harm. My ex boyfriend did this to me for 3 years. I set a boundary by asking him not to watch things like this in my presence, then not when I was home and because he didn’t respect this I found myself isolating in the bedroom to avoid seeing him watching other women on TV all the time. Then I kicked him out and I’m much happier and I’m sure he will find a new woman to try and destroy. I am so sorry for what you are going through. Stay strong and you may have to be prepared to leave to save your self-esteem. Men like this rarely change. Be blessed and know you are beautiful.
I am truly relieved to find such a criticizing article and the porn tagging to GoT. GoT aside, american culture has become a sex culture and sex culture. I don’t want to generalize this claim to the western (European) culture. Sex & nudity is not the main driving force in Europe but in United States of America, it is.
Even though my claim or assertion about “american culture = sex culture” may seem vague or insubstantial, there shouldn’t be any disagreement about my next concise claim. Is a burger some ketchup with a meat patty? No, it is the other way around. It is a meat patty with some ketchup (and burger bread or bun). Do you see it now? Is GoT a fictional and historical tv series that includes a large amount of sexual material? No. Instead, GoT is an erotic, pornographic, +18 audience tv series that includes some historical fiction.
You must understand what I’m arguing here. I’m not against sexual (erotic or pornographic) content in the media but the deceptive and immoral presentation or advertisement of it. As long as GoT recieves a “porn” or “erotic” or “+18 adult content” stamp on it, I’m fine with that series. While I’m deeply disturbed by GoT’s all sex nature and content without any porn, erotic or +18 tag on it and I also admit that human GoT hurts human morals & dignity very very severly, I do not put porn and human dignity on opposite sides; i.e., an individual can live virtuously and die with dignity while accessing to erotic or pornographic material in his or her life.
Like the author of this article however, I’m very sensitive about sexual content in movies. Action, horror, thriller or whatever movies with some nudity (no matter how small) become cheaper, less artistic and annoyingly deceptive. The line between art and pornography is very thin. E.g., watch the sexy butt of “Elizabeth Olsen” on Wind River even though not naked but causally exposed which has nothing to do with the movie. She is the sex babe, the Megan Fox on the movie who has proudly served to the sex (american) culture.
My favorite movies, Batman The Dark Knight, Max Payne, Ip Man 2, Hobbit 1, … What’s so special about them? They are packed with a lot of excellence (immersive and unpredictable storyline, great character or hero) but also they are totally cleansed from cheap nudity.