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Michael Smith and Anne Marie Fowler spoke on a “Game of Thrones” discussion panel at St. Dominic Church in San Francisco April 7, along with Dominican Father Isaiah Mary Molano (not pictured.) The panel discussed moral and ethical aspects of the show along with how Catholics should respond to pop culture. (Photo by Nicholas Wolfram Smith/Catholic San Francisco)
April 29, 2019
Nicholas Wolfram Smith
As the final season of “Game of Thrones” premiered April 14, St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco hosted a panel to discuss a Catholic approach to watching the hit television show.
Dominican Father Isaiah Mary Molano, St. Dominic’s parochial vicar, along with the parish’s adult faith formation director Michael Smith and parishioner Anne Marie Fowler, spoke about the moral and ethical aspects of the show, its redemptive value and some themes Catholics can keep in mind while viewing it.
Now in its eighth season, “Game of Thrones” has been praised for its intricate storytelling and compelling characters while criticized for its pervasive brutality and sexual objectification. Anne Marie Fowler said that while concern over “Game of Thrones’” immoral content and how it affects viewers is legitimate – “the show is filled with the seven deadly sins every moment” – it was important to address “whether persons of faith can welcome conversations about characters looking for redemption.”
Michael Smith suggested viewers discern whether they should watch “Game of Thrones” and what purpose they can put it to. “Why watch this show, or shows like it that have consistently explicit disturbing scenes of violence and gratuitous casual sex and abuse? How is this good for us?” he asked.
Drawing on the writing of the mid-century Reformed theologian and intellectual Reinhold Niebuhr, Smith laid out for the audience different models for how Christians approach culture. According to Niebuhr, Christians historically have either set themselves against their culture, subsumed their faith to it, separated the two realms entirely or argued that faith and culture agree on only some points and cannot be completely reconciled. Niebuhr found the most dominant approach one in which Christians evangelize their culture and transform it to bring it closer to Christ.
Smith said a show like “Game of Thrones” offers Catholics the opportunity to take “a sacred look” at pop culture and use it as an opening for evangelization.
“Our mission is not just to come into the world on a solo walk,” he said. “We are called to baptize all nations and seek the good and proclaim the Gospel to others.”
At the same time, Smith cautioned the audience about the effect a show like “Game of Thrones” can have on a person’s moral imagination.
“We’re not impervious where things just glide off us,” he said.
While Smith said he would not personally recommend the show, he encouraged people to discern for themselves whether to watch it and consider how the show could be a bridge to evangelizing conversations.
When it debuted on HBO in 2011, “Game of Thrones” became an instant classic, hooking viewers with its story and its willingness to shock fans. Father Isaiah Mary said part of the appeal of “Game of Thrones” is its reversal of the moral code of typical Western fairy tales in which good triumphs over evil. Westeros, the setting of “Game of Thrones,” resembles a European society that never became Christian, where goodness is often a weakness and “the virtuous are cut down first” because they trust evil men. Father Isaiah Mary said the show also offers an examination of evil, which St. Thomas Aquinas called “a privation of the good.” The scheming of various characters, especially Petyr Baelish, also known as “Littlefinger,” highlight how characters “depreciate the common good” by pursuing their individual advantage.
Anne Marie Fowler discussed how the fantasy world of Westeros can act as a mirror for personal reflection. Three themes of the show are the misuse of personal codes, the dignity and abuse of life and sins of pride and envy, she said. How those characters act can be an opportunity for people to examine their own moral lives.
At the same time, the moral journeys of characters like Jaime Lannister are an opportunity to reflect on the path toward virtue. After he loses his sword-hand, and by extension his identity as a knight, Lannister changes significantly for the better as he builds for himself a new identity. His story “shows that emptying the self can be an invitation to grace,” Fowler said.
Ultimately, she said, watching the show “can make us aware of redemption and its possibilities in the real world, by contrast with a world with no grace or redemption.”