I watched all of Game of Thrones, but must’ve gotten more sensitive as I’ve gotten older. I couldn’t make it very far into House of Dragons. The violence and shock factor was just too much for me at this point. I didn’t enjoy it at all.
Manipulative fiction pisses me off
I am old enough that when I am reading a book or watching a tv show, unless it is by a very skillful creator, I can pick out when I am being manipulated.
The trick I most hate is using extreme violence or gore. A couple years ago I started watching House of the Dragon. I made it to the end of the first episode, when the king orders that his wife undergo a primitive C-section to try to save the baby that is trapped in the birth canal. It was horrifying and gross, and also ahistorical. Midwives often did their best to save the mother if she was in a distressed labor. In fact, all of the Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon franchise is a bit repulsive to me because of the overuse of rape as a character development plot point. Which is a shame, because otherwise, these are really excellently created novels/shows.
Discussing
Comments
My recollection is that game of thrones used nudity as their hook to keep audiences interested. My very tiny sample of HoTD is that they were using more gruesome violence.