The controversy over Andrew Klavan’s praise for Game of Thrones rumbles on, and I follow it with the fascination of a reality show fan, except for wishing both sides well.
A few days back I linked to Klavan’s column at PJ Media, “Eyes Wide Shut: Christians Against Art.” In the course of an argument – with which I generally agree – that Christians need to produce art that seriously addresses the real world, rather than some PG world we’d like to believe in, he mentions his own fondness for the HBO series, “Game of Thrones,” seeing it, apparently, as the sort of thing we ought to be trying to produce ourselves (though I’m sure he wouldn’t insist on including all the skin). In my own response, I expressed my own deep disillusionment with “Game” author George R. R. Martin’s books, a disillusionment which has prevented me from watching a single episode.
On Monday Dave Swindle, another PJ Media writer, responded to Klavan’s article in a similar vein:

You’ve known me since not long after I started editing full time. I was 25 and was only a defense hawk and fiscal conservative but still “socially liberal.” Since then, for a variety of reasons (particularly my return to belief in God), I’ve come further in my ideological shift. I’m genuinely embarrassed by some of the socially conservative positions I find myself now arguing. Never in a million years did I foresee myself as the type that would ever side with those cautioning against pornography’s downsides and the “shocking” content in art. You’ve talked in the past about how you disagree with our mutual friend Ben Shapiro about his Orthodox Judaism-inspired approach to culture and sex. I used to also — and I still disagree with Ben from time to time on issues and tactics (particularly on gay marriage. This is a theological difference deriving from an interpretation of scripture. He and I will just have to keep arguing about it). But on the fundamental issue, the social conservatism he explicates from his traditional reading of the Torah is correct: sex is sacred. It’s impossible to have “casual sex” with someone — every sexual act is transformative. I came to this understanding differently than him, though, through first-hand experience and painful mistakes.

I find this whole thing fascinating. I’m generally in the bag for Klavan, as you know. I read his opinions with the greatest respect, and usually with agreement. But in this case I think he’s let his admiration for technical achievement blind him to what I see as the essential rottenness of the Game of Thrones enterprise. It may be in part because, as he himself has stated, he’s not generally a fantasy fan, and so is unaware of how corrosive Martin’s work is of everything that makes classics like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia so wonderful.
Anyway, I wish both Klavan and Swindle well, and hope their dispute yields light rather than heat.
In further Klavan news, and to follow up on Phil’s post about Young Adult novels below, I’ll just mention that several of his excellent Young Adult books will be available for Kindle for only $2.99, through June 23.
The Last Thing I Remember.
The Long Way Home.
The Truth of the Matter.
The Final Hour.
If We Survive.