Let me just say that I am an animal lover. While I'm not a huge dog lover, I have 4 cats, who I love deeply. I buy them silly toys and those expensive Fancy Feast Appetizers for them. I spent a week watching my new kitten because we rescued her and were worried about her health. I also rescued my cat staying with my dad. I had to put up with my best friend freaking out as he drove us home, afraid she had rabies. I had to walk to Petsmart because my family was on a trip, to buy cans of kitten milk for her. I cried when she wouldn't eat because I didn't want something to happen to her.
And I am not a big dog lover, but I oo'd and awe'd when I saw those cute puppies on Game of Thrones, and I thought, I wouldn't mind one of them. And when Lady met her gruesome, fateful end, I was saddened by it all, hoping Ned would figure something out at the very end.
However, this recent controversy has disturbed me quite a bit. And it's only been a couple hours.
Game of Thrones is causing a little bit of hoo haa after the killing of Lady. Her death consisted of: shot of her face, shot of Neds, shot of dagger, shot of sad puppy dog eyes, shot of Ned's face, doggy yelp. The end.
This subtly violent scene has apparently caused a lot of mad animal lovers, who are enraged by the killing of this animal. Apparently, it's gone as far as letters being sent to HBO to stop the madness.
I love Game of Thrones, so I've been diligently following this story. I actually read the comments from the original EW post that reported on this, and added my own 2 sense. Yet, the more and more I read the comments the more I come to a freakish understanding. Has media desensitized us to human deaths.
Many of the arguments for the animal outrage express hate of animal killings, but seem to be unmoved by human killings.
In fact, one of the comments that sparked this whole thing says:
“[They can] sleep with as many people as they want, but don’t kill [animals]. Or I’m done!”
Comments following the post include some pretty harsh ones.
As I pointed out in my post, one commenter simply shows ignorance in how children are treated, and justifying human depictions of death with a simple:
"Dogs are innocent. People are not."
He then follows up with: "It’s more emotional for a lot of people because animals are mistreated exponentially more than kids are in the world. People are allowed to care about whatever makes them the most emotional."
I would almost respect his opinion if his ignorance wasn't so disturbing.
Other comments include some from an article about the EW article on Sodahead.com.
This commenter mentions a person who is writing/wrote a letter to HBO expressing their rage.
"I agree with the one fan who wrote HBO to complain, saying she'd rather see people killed off than the animals. I'm like that, too. While watching a movie, when characters die, I'm not as bothered as when animals suffer and die in the film. But hey, this is TV -- FANTASY TV, to boot -- so the producers and writers of "Thrones" can always pull a rabbit out of the hat and somehow make it so that the wolf didn't REALLY kick the bucket. Maybe it was all just a dream, like that entire season of "Dallas!"
I really don't understand this person. How can watching people die be less painful then watching animals. They do realize that when they eat a hamburger the animal had to be KILLED for them to eat it. And don't get me started on their delusional hopes of keeping the animal alive...
Back to EW, which has reached 250 comments in a few hours.
"The fact of the matter is a thousand thousand Ladies die every day, butchered by their masters in order to feed human beings. These people who whine about one animal or pet dying in a medieval-style fantasy television show are simply people who are far too protected from the reality they exist in. They’re sheltered from the blood and guts of the butcher shop they buy their meats from, sheltered from the septic tank their crap goes into, sheltered from the pin pricks and starving kids from where their sweatshop clothes come from. These people whining about Lady being killed are a legion of Lady Sansas who think that life is as pretty as a song, only to find out that heroes get their heads cut off and there is no such thing as justice in the end."
I don't know if PETA is going to get involved with this. Honestly, if they do, I will start respecting them less. I don't like the way they go about some things, like throwing flour on celebrities. Good motives, but some shady ways of going about it.
"I’m not really sure why its okay to kill “just an animal” and not a human. Humans ARE “just another animal”. Some humans are civilized and some humans are more savage and cruel than the most savage four legged animal. And in general animals are not intentionally cruel in their kills while humans very well can be."
I don't really know how to react to this. I think she has some good points, but at the same time, this is incredibly insensitive. Humans are cruel because they have emotions. That is what sets us apart from "just another animal" for better or for worse.
"I don’t care about the people being killed, but don’t kill the animals, it really puts me off watching programs and films when animals are killed. If any more animals are killed in the series, unnecessarily, I won’t be watching any more, it isn’t that good up till now, so it won’t be any great sacrifice."
Again. Don't care about people?!?
What is worse is that either these people are REALLY stupid, and think they actually killed the dog, or they really don't care about when people being killed. I know it's all fantasy, but I can't watch brutal shows/movies like Saw. I cringed when Will was decapitated in the beginning of Episode 1. I hate violence of a realistic nature. Silly nonsensical violence that is impossible is one thing. But maybe its scenes like that, that are the problem.
Are we desensitized by the media?
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