I KNOW, I know...I'm late. Sorry, this week got away from me. But I'm here now, and I've been looking forward to writing this post all week long, so beware. It's a long one and I'm diving in now.
Would you agree that there is an art to telling a story? As soon as the storyteller starts going off on bunny trails, or using incorrect grammar, or throwing something in that doesn't belong, I get sidetracked and the story loses its Oomph. Which brings me to our topic of the day: HBO. Now I can probably hear the wheels turning in your head.
"WHAT? She said 'HBO'...and she talks about Jesus on her blog!!!!"
Ok, the two aren't mutually exclusive. Yes, I do love Jesus and I talk about him A LOT because He's the most important person in my life, but have you read the Bible? Some of the people and stories in that book could have been plucked straight from an episode of a Showtime drama. Don't believe me? Go read about Dinah, Rahab, David, Bathsheba, Paul, Noah! Those stories were just as intense (and occasionally racy) as the stuff featured on cable. So, let's not call HBO "Hell's Broadcasing Organization" just yet. We have some stories to tell.
What are we talking about? Storytelling using television. Honestly, I don't watch much television anymore because my life has gotten crazy busy. So when I do watch television, I want it to be quality. I want to come away with something valuable to apply to my life. Growing up we never had cable, so I had no exposure to HBO or its sister networks. Then Netflix happened to me in college. One day, I found this miniseries on Netflix that pretty much demanded that I watch it.
"Pillars of the Earth" was a historical fiction detailing the political and religious undercurrents as England and France waged war, and a humble priest tried to build a cathedral to honor God. With actors like Matthew McFayden, Ian McShane, and Donald Sutherland, I thought it was going to safe...I mean, it was British and historical!
PROBLEM: No one told me Showtime was a cable network. You can imagine my shock when the really graphic scenes did not cut away. I was at my computer nervously fast forwarding and muttering "Ok...ok....ENOUGH NOW...um....what's wrong with this show? Oh, it's CABLE?...thanks for that Netflix."
Cable tv is not required to adhere to the strict censorship codes that network tv does. We know this...or at least, I do now. As a result, the content of their shows can be much more graphic, and it is usually done in the name of "authenticity." Ok, cool...we like things to be authentic. But what happens when we sacrifice the story for the sake of visual authenticity?
HBO gets a lot of things wrong, but when they get something right, they get it right. Back in the early 2000's, they produced a series called "Band of Brothers" which followed a battalion of soldiers through WWII-devastated Europe as they marched towards Berlin. Featuring interviews with the real men of Easy Company at the beginning of every episode, we were able to see not just the performances of top-grade actors, but also hear the emotional accounts from the men who lived through the most horrendous war in Western history. How's that for authentic? By the end of the series, I was in tears, missing my veteran grandpa like crazy, and feeling very grateful for my freedom. Yes, it was violent, but the producers never went over the top. In this case, authenticity took a gentle approach, opting for the testimonies of the men who were part of the greatest generation to tell a true, relevant story.
Then there was "John Adams." Based on the best-selling book of the same name, HBO narrated the most turbulent years of the American Revolution as seen through the eyes of our second president. This series was exquisite, I must say. It was violent, but never gruesome. However, there was one scene that threw a hitch in this colonial wagon. Reunited after years apart, President Adams and his wife Abigail engage in rather graphic sex...and the camera never cuts away. Forgive me if I sound like a prude, but I have to ask why this was necessary? Authenticity again? Really? I understood without a visual that the Adams were an affectionate couple, and can only imagine the agony of being separated from your spouse (with no communication) for years. I did not need to see everything.
Naturally, this will bring me to the point you probably came here to see: "Game of Thrones." I know, I want to love it too. Based on the book series by George R. R. Martin, this fantasy sets five kings against each other, all warring for supremacy and the one throne (to rule them all...cough cough). This gem of a narrative has one key issue, though. If you're a sensitive tv-viewer, you won't last ten minutes. I mean, this series gets downright Biblical with all the violence, betrayal, sex, and gore. It gets really, really nasty, and quickly!
I tried to watch it...I really tried, but every five minutes someone was getting their tongue ripped out, or head knocked off (complete with all that projectile gore), or they were being brutally raped, or twins were having some graphic incest all over the screen, or someone was using language that frankly shouldn't exist in a fantasy world. The more I tried to hang on to the threads of a great plot woven throughout this grisly narrative, the more stuff got thrown in my face. I'm sure it would have been an insanely great episode...if I didn't have to keep fast forwarding. Likewise, I'm itching to watch Jeremy Iron's new drama "Borgias," but can't get through the over-the-top, graphic sludge that detracts from a really great story.
Ok, so who cares? If I'm gonna be such a prude and a baby about a little violence, language, and sex, I should just not watch it! I knew what I was getting into, and the shows are given their ratings for a reason. So, just don't watch if you don't like it, right? Of course, that's an option, but we're missing the real marrow of the issue: why.
Why do we need to actually see all of this violence, sex, and brutality in such graphic detail? Think about it! If someone was getting beheaded in your living room, would you sit with your bowl of popcorn and not bat an eye? Probably not. If someone was raped right in front of you, would you casually sit there? I hope not. If any of the graphic scenes we observe on cable were happening in front of our eyes we would be in counseling for PTSD in a heartbeat. So, why are we watching it in great detail at the end of a long day?
Don't get me wrong, I know we're telling stories here. Sometimes stories are brutal. People do get killed, tortured, raped. But do we need the details? What about a the art of suggestion? Remember Hitchcock, the master horror film director? He terrified his audiences, but only showed them a little. How about the sexiest woman of all time, Marilyn Monroe. Go through the film archives, and I guarantee you will never find her in a role where she is engaging in some graphic encounter with a costar. Sometimes the art of suggestion is more powerful than showing us everything because we are allowed to fill in the blanks. The story then becomes much more personal to us, because we've had a hand in telling it to ourselves.
In conclusion, yes I'm probably a bit of a prude, but everyone has something they are sensitive to when watching television or movies. Some people can't handle profanity, or situations where children are abused, or shark movies. In my case, I feel uncomfortable with graphic sex and violence on the screen. I mean, who really wants all that junk floating around in your head. Your memory is incredible, and unless you have a brain injury you won't lose the images you put in there. I'm not saying these stories and these shows are bad and you should never watch them. I'm saying we should ask ourselves why. Why do we select the entertainment we do, and why is our culture insisting on constantly showing us more than we need to see to tell stories.
Feel free to leave comments, disagree, state your opinion. What shows do you like, and why? Always ask yourself why.
Thanks peoples!
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