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"Sensationalized Cruelty": FCC Complaints Regarding Game of Thrones

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-a-nice-day-for-a-red-wedding dept.

v3rgEz writes: As a cable channel, the FCC has little to no jurisdiction over HBO's content. That doesn't stop people from complaining to them about them, however, and after a FOIA request, the FCC released numerous complaints regarding the network's Game of Thrones. While there were the usual and expected lamentations about 'open homosexual sex acts,' other users saw Game of Thrones as a flashpoint in the war of Net Neutrality.

10 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Glad they didn't read the books by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pedophilia, incest, multiple non-abrahamic religions, polytheism, zombies, ghouls, various fantasy figures, idol worship, paganism... I mean really I think GRRM went through the list of things that might get a nuns panties in a bunch, and found a way to write them down.

    The TV show might in some ways be considered censored for good taste!

    1. Re:Glad they didn't read the books by timrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's funny because most of those things are also in the Bible, and yet no one (to the best of my knowledge) has ever made a serious campaign to ban the Bible.

    2. Re:Glad they didn't read the books by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Pedophilia, incest, multiple non-abrahamic religions, polytheism, zombies, ghouls, various fantasy figures, idol worship, paganism...

      All of those things are found throughout the Old Testament. While Jahweh seems to get his knickers in a twist over idol worship, paganism and the like, He seems to be down with pedophilia, incest, rape, pillage, slavery, torture, genocide, etc. In addition there are many spectral figures, angels, demons and the like. Other than the religion, there's nothing in GOT that the average Solomonic Era soldier wouldn't recognize. It looks even more like the Middle Ages of the Crusaders and the Teutonic Knights. I don't see a lot of difference between the Red God and the Auto da Fe of the Inquisition.

      If we're going to start banning things for bad taste and hate speech, can we start with CBN and the 700 Club?

      --
      Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
    3. Re:Glad they didn't read the books by mjwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Pedophilia, incest, multiple non-abrahamic religions, polytheism, zombies, ghouls, various fantasy figures, idol worship, paganism...

      I'm pretty sure most of that can be found in the bible.

      Things I've seen in Game Of Thrones is on the same level or more tame than things I've read in books. So why aren't the "moral majority" up in arms about about that?

      Well because books dont get the same media coverage and more likely, these people dont read.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    4. Re:Glad they didn't read the books by vux984 · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you're dead for 3 days and then come back to life, you're a zombie.

      No. If you come back as a zombie you are a zombie.

      For example, the turning of Vampires is usually accomplished by death, being dead, and then a return to undead. Vampires are not Zombies.

      At least, nobody but a pedant brandishing a dictionary definition would try to call them zombies.

      Similarly, in the Jesus resurrection story he is not a zombie. He was simply returned to life, as in properly restored to being "alive" as he was before death, not as in "undead", or transformed by his death into a new being.

    5. Re:Glad they didn't read the books by alhead · · Score: 5, Funny

      Similarly, in the Jesus resurrection story he is not a zombie. He was simply returned to life, as in properly restored to being "alive" as he was before death, not as in "undead", or transformed by his death into a new being.

      So did he get all his experience back?

  2. Theon Greyjoy is for Reeek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You are all Reek. Reek says "Reek". REEEEEEEK Reeeeeek REEEEEEEEK! REEEEK! You Reeeeek!

  3. If you don't like it, don't watch it. by kronnek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FCC should just reply with the following: Thank you for your concern, We have read your complaint and come to a solution, if you don't like it just don't watch it. Regards, FCC

  4. Too much like the real world? by Tough+Love · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In fact, Game of Thrones is arguably even less depraved that what is going on right now in the real world in any number of places. South Sudan, Syria and North Korea just off the top of my head. Compared to the perps running amok in those places, the horrible people depicted in Game of Thrones are just a bunch of lovable kittens.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  5. Re:I just got bored of the bloody thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    as one who has thoroughly enjoyed reading the books, and generally enjoys the show, i'm hardly unbiased. i'm also not going to argue for historical accuracy or realism, since, obviously, it's a work of fiction. but in the sense of depicting a time/place where people were generally assholes, and sometimes did terrible things to each other, i find the sometimes-very-graphic depictions of those things perfectly acceptable.

    i also acknowledge that it's HBO, and there's a fair bit of pandering to people's baser demands for entertainment (T&A, blood&guts). that point means some of it is gratuitous, sure, but it's not in strict conflict with the artistic desire to "accurately" depict a very brutal world.

    YMMV