Game of Thrones is always finding new territory to put on film, adding Spain to their list of countries and further exploring Northern Ireland.
Osuna, Spain, has long been known to be a shooting location for the show’s fifth season, with the town’s bullring a notable site. A few other areas around Osuna were scouted as well, without any being officially confirmed.
According to this Twitter user, the show’s preproduction in the area has been begun (or will begin soon), and interestingly, her tweets appear to confirm the use of Las Canteras, the old Roman quarries reported among the scouted sites a few months ago. The building showing in the distance in this photo is La Colegiata, one of the other scouted sites.
This tweet from August includes a (non-original) photo of Las Canteras, and mentions Dorne.
Back in Northern Ireland, it looks like Game of Thrones has moved to another rural location for filming: the Binevenagh/Magilligan region.
Game of Thrones filming outside my hometown soon… pic.twitter.com/f81j7vZFhO
script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js">
— Shann (@shannmcnicholl) September 21, 2014
Filming will take place in the woods at Benevenagh Mountain. Trucks being kept on the grounds of St Aidan’s church. pic.twitter.com/72jVcs50l1 — Dean McLaughlin (@Dean_Journalist) September 22, 2014
St Aidan’s parish hall in #Magilligan being used by #GameofThrones crew too. Fr O’Hagan said: “This is brilliant”. pic.twitter.com/fcoQs1Szef
— Dean McLaughlin (@Dean_Journalist) September 22, 2014
It’s not known at this point which storylines or characters will be filming in the Binevenagh Mountain location.
Nodor!
Well, nowhere seems to spring to mind immediately! N Ireland Woodland could be
I’m SO happy people will finally have an alternative view of Dorne, one that doesn’t look like a stereotypical Arabian Nights setting. Dorne’s not all supposed to look like a desert of sandy dunes and Arabian fortresses, not only because it’d be boring but because that’s not how GRRM actually describes Dorne, nor how his visual inspirations for Dorne (southern Spain and Northern Africa) actually look like. The Sevilla province will be just perfect: the architecture that will probably feature in Game of Thrones is a mix of Arabian and Spanish, which makes more sense for Dorne; and while the landscapes are dry and there are even some deserts, they don’t look like sandy dunes all the way to the horizon. There are more intriguing ways to portray a desertic place such as Dorne, and I’m sure they’ll make good use of Sevilla.
It only recently came to my attention that the Osanu bullring is still being used for actual bullfighting (the kind where bulls get brutally massacred for entertainment purposes). I must say that I’m massively disappointed by GoT’s decision to support such an inhumane practice.
Especially since there are many other bullrings that aren’t in active use (or only have bullfights where the intention isn’t to brutalize a poor animal for entertainment sake). This isn’t very ethical at all. I thought HBO would have learned its lesson after what happened with those horses on that ill-fated ‘Luck’ show of theirs.
Luka Nieto,
And yet people will complain endlessly when the images they had in mind is shattered.
“Why is X not shown wearing a turban and cape?!”
um, cause he never did
Luka Nieto,
To be fair, the desert in the interior of Dorne is probably a more stereotypical sandy desert. There is a lot of sand related imagery to the Dornish in the books. For example the Dornish bastard name is Sand, the famous Dornish horses are called sand steeds, there are the Sandy Dornishmen and I seem to recal a passage about an Uller of Hellholt talking about the bones of some reach army burried in the sands somewhere. You do have a point about the rest though.
Luka Nieto,
I distinctly rememeber a lot of dunes in book Dorne, but fine.
And I really hope the Benevenagh Mountain stand for Deepwood Motte. I can’t think of any other storyline that happens in a forest, all it needs is some fake snow and it will be perfect
Veltigar,
Well, just the fact that they’re filming there doesn’t mean they’re supporting anything. It’s just a filming location. No need to overreact.
Renly’s Peach,
For me, it’s just a bit disheartening to see how pretty much all portrayals of Dorne and their characters truly fall into the worst fantasy-Arab stereotypes. It’s more Aladdin fan art than an attempt at portraying a real culture, which most artists at least try with the other Westerosi cultures. Honestly, it borders on cultural insensitivity, not only for Arabs but for southern Spaniards as well. I’m just happy we’ll at last get a Dorne that looks like a real place.
Of course, Dorne is sandy and the Dornish desert is full of dunes, but that’s not my point. My point is Dorne is not the Sahara desert with a few cartoon Arabian palaces. It should be less like this:
http://images.mapsofworld.com/travel-blog/sahara-desert-facts-603×452.jpg
… and more like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Altiplano_de_Granada.jpg
… or this, for the non-desert locales:
http://watchersonthewall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/osuna.jpg
jentario,
There are dunes in Dorne, but thats in the interior of Dorne, not near Sunspear. That’s why the Martell are “Salty” dornish, and the people from the desert. the “Sandy”
franco,
It’s outright stated that the quarry will be Dorne by someone involved in the production, but I do agree that the look is more Meereeny.
On the forest thing, that can be part of any number of storylines:
If a fight scene would take place here I’d imagine they’d be shooting for more than two days.
franco,
I remember dunes on the way from the Water Gardens to Sunspear
Renly’s Peach,
Why is Cho Chang Asian? That’s not the image I had in mind!!!!!11one
You do hopefully realize that the bullring isn’t opening its doors for the show for free. It’s a business after all, so GoT will have to pay to film there. That’s already supporting it.
Even worse is that GoT shooting there will bring a massive amount of exposure to the bullring. It’s one of the arguments the production crew uses to get great deals for filming in certain areas.
Look at how GoT has positively effected the economy in Northern-Ireland and Dubrovnik, because many fans want to see the locations of the show or are simply inspired by the show to have their vacation there.
That will generate even more income for something like bullfighting, which is really unethical. A spokesperson of the bullring has pretty much confirmed that that’s what they’re hoping for.
What makes it even worse is that there are apparantly many bullrings that aren’t in use anymore or where only non-lethal bullfighting is done that could be used for filming. Heck, with a bit of CGI it’s perfectly possible to create a pretty convincing arena. Spartacus did it on a much smaller budget than GoT did.
I would like HBO or GoT to make a statement about this. Like what happened to the horses on Luck, this kind of unethical screw-up should never happen.
Is it official though? It won’t be the first time the leaked info is wrong
Veltigar,
I think that for some reason this was the perfect bullring for them (probably for both financial and technical reasons) or else they would have dodged the controversy. The show could actually make the practice look bad in the scene, though, by showing some form of animal torture in the reopening of the pits.
franco,
Well we can’t know for sure, but it makes sense that it is Dorne. I think most of Meereen is shot in Split, with the Pit being the only scene they really can’t shoot in the area.
Veltigar,
Having a ton of horses die during filming is very different from filming somewhere where bulls are killed. The production isn’t actually doing the killing in the case of GoT s5. Also I’m pretty sure the PETA complaints were used by HBO as a pretext to cancel Luck, which they likely regretted renewing because of its low viewership. Apparently it also cost them more to shoot than GoT s1 and didn’t stand to make as much back as a show like GoT or Boardwalk Empire did. If it had more viewers I think they would have bit the bullets and trusted that people would ignore the controversy. Because of all of that, I don’t think Luck is a fair parallel to draw.
Pretty sure that technical or aesthetic reasons had nothing to do with the decision to film there. It’s all about the money. Obviously, Osuna bent over backwards to get GoT to film there. The economic situation is pretty desperate in the region, so they were prepared to provide the best financial deal, in the hopes of raking in those tourism dollars.
Which is all sweet and dandy of course, no problem with the city. But using an active bullring, which happened to be there, is blatantly unethical. HBO should have had the decency to use a different non-active arena or just CGI it. It is our duty as fans to speak up against these types of immoral decisions by corporate bigwigs.
And filming a scene that makes animal torture look bad is pretty hypocritical, because by filming there, the show by definition supports animal cruelty. After all, it pays for using the arena (which hosts these barbaric events) and it brings in more tourists (and thus more money for the bullring).
It also lessens the impact of the scene that they’ll most likely be filming there. If it really is Daznak’s pit
Ideally, filming would be stopped and moved to another location. Or GGI should be used to create an arena, Spartacus did fine with that. Of course, it is probably to late for that. But HBO and D&D should issue a statement, in which they strongly condemn bullfights and promise not to use the bullring in the future. And if they are decent people, they should make a donation to an organization that is dedicated to protecting animal welfare.
Greenjones,
Since both shows are now (in)directly supporting a violation of animal welfare, the parallell is more than apt. All the rest is beside the point.
Mads Mikkelsen should do a movie in which he plays a bloodthirsty one-eyed matador and it should be filmed entirely in Osuna’s bull ring.
…Anyways, how about that show spec?
It is hard to tell which of these will be Meereen or Dorne. Of the pictures linked in the article this one and this one look like Slaver’s Bay whereas this palace looks very Dornish.
I guess if this person IS involved in preproduction they’d be in a position to know what they were prepping for, right?
I don’t think it’s 100% guaranteed that the Canteras are part of Dorne- the preproduction local could’ve just been guessing. But they could also actually have knowledge that it is Dorne. Hard to say.
Veltigar,
I do think a statement and a donation on HBO’s part would be a good choice. Problem is there really isn’t much of a controversy about it. A couple of people complained about it, but it never really exploded.
Maybe it’ll happen when the filming actually begins.
What are we to make of this tweet btw? I think this guy’s in Spain but I don’t know if he means future filming or current filming (which I know isn’t supposed to be going on yet).
Massive loss of respect for him then. But you do raise a good point. You see, some of the actors who will be filming in the pit are active supporters of PETA. Seems strange that they are okay with filming in such a hellhole.
Hell, the actor I’m talking about even goes as far as stating that the horses drawing carriages in New York are being abused. I would love to hear his opinion on bullfighting. I’ll include the interview in question
People aren’t aware I think. When I first heard they were filming in Osuna, I just assumed it was an inactive bullring like La Monumental in Barcelona or one where they only do bullfighting of the non-lethal kind.
It didn’t even cross my mind that HBO would be so daft as to actually film in an active bullring. I really feel like they need to adress this issue. That’s why I’m talking about it on here, to raise awareness. If enough people are decent enough to be bothered by this. HBO will have no choice but to issue a statement and hopefully donate to animal welfare groups.
Veltigar,
So… were you there complaining when they filmed in Morocco? I mean, unless you care more about animal rights than women’s rights, or human rights for that matter. I know one should “pick their battles” in these things, and one thing doesn’t make the other less important, but still, in the context of the show —did you protest too? Of course, I’m being a bit facetious, but I hope my point still comes through.
As for bull-fighting, it is a horrible practice, but let’s not pretend we don’t do worse everyday, everywhere, to many animals that feel as much complex pain as bulls. The only difference is it’s not a public spectacle, which is more distasteful, granted, but morally the same. Unless you are a strict vegan, I don’t see how you protesting this is consistent with anything in the real world.
Those wounds are still fresh; keep your salt shaker away from them.
Renly’s Peach,
I still have Faith 😛
You do realize I hope, that Morocco, for the region, has a very progressive stanze on women’s rights. It’s not up to the level it should be, that’s true, but the Moroccan officials are actively working on improving the situation of their people. In stark contrast, the bullring is just sitting back and organizing the same old bloodsport it has done for years.
I don’t go around torturing bulls if that’s what you mean. I hope you don’t as well. Of course this is all besides the point since it isn’t in the context of the show, which is the issue here.
Actually no, I assume you are talking about our meatproduction. Producing veal, mutton and porc is done to feed the population. In contrast to what some people wrongly believe, meat is an essential part of the human diet. It’s really hard for a vegan/vegetarian to get all necessary nutrients.
In contrast with that, killing a bull in the bloodiest, goriest way possible is purely done for the sake of entertainment. It is therefore more immoral than raising cattle for meat, milk and cheese.
Of course that doesn’t mean that we should close our eyes to the horror’s in the meat industry. By all means, go out there and protest against it. People in my country a few years back were still castrating piglets without anaesthetics, nowadays that is illegal. And this because people spoke out against it.
In the context of the show however, it’s bullfighting which is being promoted, not the meatindustry. Therefore we have the moral obligation to ask of the billion dollar company behind it to not support an unethical “sport”, which is deemed barbaric by the majority of the Spanish population themselves btw.
I cheer for the bulls. Every once in a while, they win.
Speaking of inhumane and GoT, would you prefer dwarf jousting at Osanu instead? It’s sort of difficult to justify criticizing an inhumane cultural event within the context of GoT, which has more than a few inhumane elements to it. 🙂
I can’t see how this comment makes any kind of sense.
I didn’t want to intrude into this argument, but this is my last comment. It’s sort of difficult to compare fictional events with real world ones.
Agreed.
If you’d make the tally you’d find that for every matador who gets injured, hundreds (if not more) bulls are brutally massacred. Not exactly fair is it.
That was sort of my point, kraken lover.
Then we sort of agree, bastard.
I went to a bullfight in Spain several years ago to see what all the fuss was about. I was honestly horrified. It wasn’t so much the violence that got to me but the baying of the crowds for blood, it was pretty confronting.
But, I am not an animal rights activist, it’s not for me but I don’t see it as my place to force my point of view on others and it’s culturally acceptable in the south of Spain. I personally don’t see a problem with a bullring which would be an impressive arena being used for filming something. I wouldn’t complain if they used a whaling ship for filmwork either as for me it’s about the scene, the art if you will, and the two are separate.
Just a couple of thoughts on the subject of the particular bullring where they’re filming, Veltigar:
It is possible HBO or D&D already have some sort of statement planned, perhaps to air with the episode in Daznak’s, or maybe in the behind the scene commentary? I think it’s highly unlikely there is no awareness. Peter Dinklage, who presumably will be filming there, is well known as a long-time vegetarian, and I believe has done some work for PETA. Given his clout, I’d think if it were quite as cut and dry and you seem to think it is, he would have said something. Perhaps, if there is some sort of statement, he will be the reason why. I just can’t imagine he’d willingly film in an active bullring without saying anything, or doing anything to raise some sort of awareness, or make sure donations are made to groups who work to protect animals.
I’ve already said this on other articles, but I’m so looking forward to seeing Dorne realized on screen!
I guess it took me too long to add my edit…oops.
I was just saying to Veltigar that I hadn’t seen the link he posted of Peter Dinklage making a statement for PETA when I made my post. That he actually did do something for PETA, though, reinforces my idea he wouldn’t just decide to put all his beliefs regarding animals aside to film in that bullring. I’d guess he made some sort of condition…if I have to shoot here, then this action needs to be taken to make the fact we’re shooting there less completely against that for which I stand.
I just hope if it’s in the form of donations, those donations are not to PETA, but some sort of program which supports no-kill shelters and education, or something along those lines.
My feeling on the Osuna issue is that while it would be better if the show didn’t film there, you should be blaming Spain for continuing to allow the allow the practice of bullfighting (why hasn’t the EU banned it?), not HBO/D&D for filming in the arena.
Also, given that Spain allows bullfighting, wouldn’t the natural corollary of it being wrong for the show to film in Osuna be that it is wrong for the show to film anywhere in Spain?
I completely agree that filming in a bullring is unethical. PET isn’t any better in my opinion though. They kill any dogs and cats given to them instead of adopting them out. Apparently, animals who have been domesticated for millennia are better off dead than living happy healthy lives as pets.
ctid,
Agree.
WeirwoodTreeHugger,
It is not easy to find a family for dogs and cats. Keep them alive is really expensive (vets, food, keepers), moreover, they’d have two options: 1) buy a huge land to let them be happy (at the expense of the loss of habitat for native species), 2) keep them in cages. The fault lies on the people who do not sterilize their pets, not on PETA (although I don’t see PETA as a clean association, as it is not Greenpeace).
About the Osuna’s bullring… better not say anything, because it is becoming an atheist/catholic discussion that will not get anywhere.
Iron Islands????
Please 🙁
Your statements aren’t true. There are a ton of no-kill shelters in the US, and virtually every other organization makes and effort to find animals homes. PETA doesn’t even need to deal with unwanted animals — there are more than enough organizations that will care for those animals.
PETA drives a truck around, lies to those people who they collect the animal from, and kill them before even bringing them back. It’s completely unnecessary, but that organization is hypocritical and awful.
That said, I’m no fan of bullfighting. And I’m frankly shocked that the production would make this potential PR mis-step. (However, I don’t agree with the statement made by another poster that the choice was made solely for money; most location decisions are made based on budget, availability, aesthetics and practicality and to claim this is all cash is to claim knowledge you don’t have.)
Veltigar,
I’d just like to point out that you’re incorrect about meat being a necessary part of the human diet. It doesn’t necessarily matter where we’re getting our nutrients from, so long as we get them. I have been a strict vegan for years, and I always go to get my blood tested to check my nutrition, and I am very healthy. I am not deficient in anything. If meat was truly necessary, I think I would probably be deficient in something at this point.
Anyway, you can’t justify the brutality of factory farming because it feeds humans. Even if meat was a necessity, cruelty is not. If you are so horrified by bullfighting, then you should probably look into the methods regarding meat production.
I do admire your efforts for bringing attention to the fact that bullring at Osuna is active. I was not aware of this, and it is truly disgusting. Thank you for trying to raise awareness regarding the issue.
Your outrage at the treatment of the animals there is justified, but at the same time I encourage that you consider a broader application of your noble sentiments. There is a difference between killing with mercy, and killing with brutality.
Veltigar,
Rosmond Ravenwood,
Omnivore here. I’m commenting only because I see an interesting link to my area of study, biochemistry.
Rosmond is essentially correct about being able to get the right nutrients without meat. For instance, Tryptophan your body digests from beef is the same tryptophan your body breaks down from seeds, nuts and oats. One can have a complete and healthy diet without meat.
The only major exception I’d make to that argument, however, is with highly processed foods. That is, Sugar obtained from processed cookies, like Oreos, is worse than sugars obtained from, let’s say, veggies. Here’s why: the Oreo sugar is already broken down to its most basic unit and bypasses the catabolic pathways your body normally uses to extract that basic unit of sugar from more complex molecules (which are present in veggies). Molecules that bypass these processes can cause problems because they aren’t “dealt” with in the correct way. But Oreos aren’t meat so it’s a non issue here.
Makes sense if you think about it from an evolutionary perspective too! Before agriculture and processed food, our bodies evolved to become really really good at extracting nutrients we need from complex molecules laying around in what was available: meat and veggies.
Oops got all science-y on a fantasy centric website haha.
Veltigar,
It’s really not as big of an issue as what you’re making it out to be…
Veltigar,
I see what you’re saying, and I also very much don’t support bullfighting or any other sport that harms or endangers animals for entertainment. But I think GoT filming in the Osuna bullring might not be completely terrible, for a couple of reasons.
For starters, while it’s being used for filming (probably a lengthy process given the complexity of the scene probably being shot there) it can’t also be used for bullfighting. Not much of a consolation, but it’s something.
Second, while I agree that more people will want to visit the ring in the future because of GoT tourism, I disagree that this will necessarily lead to more people attending bullfights. Wanting to see a GoT site and wanting to see a bullfight are two different things. I’m sure the ring will benefit from the visitors even if they don’t want tickets to the bullfight, but maybe that will actually point the owners towards using the ring for more different things and less for bullfights.
And finally, while I don’t think it would be very cool of GoT to publicly bash the place they’ve contracted to film at, I do think that the scene being filmed there will probably cast a very bad light on entertainment killing of all varieties, so it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of what the building is normally used for.
King DBC,
Well it was big enough to take over this thread, it seems. Ah well. Let’s hope there’s some more news to talk about tomorrow.
Blind Beth,
Alan,
Nice comments. PETA kills way more animals with their misinformation than bullfighting – if they win, pets will cease to exist, as will all domestic livestock. As long as you don’t actually enjoy animals in any way… PETA is fab.
That said – who’s in favour of bullfghting? Not even huge carnivores like me…
Luka Nieto,
To all those people complaining about Dorne being stereotypical arabian desert:
Have you seen the finished product? Do you know what kind of CGI buildings/landscapes/things will be added in general? Half of the things you see in the real filming place can be modified and in the end it can look absolutely different.
Its like complaning about the Ireland studio rooms that they have too much green screen in them and they dont look like any of the locations in GOT.
Is this Game of Thrones discussion or discussion for the rights of animals? Stop the off-topic please. There are plenty of other forums where you can find many like-minded people who would like to discuss it with you.
Well if they’re still shooting there next week, they might get more than they bargained for 😉
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/magilligan-military-training-exercise-to-test-reservists-1-6313432
Jordan,
I think you’re mostly right. But I do hope HBO addresses it at some point.
StandOzone,
How is this related to religion?
The bullring “controversy” is stupid. They don’t practice the sort of bullfighting where drugged bulls are killed for show in Osuna. There are multiple styles of bullfighting, the one generally objected to where the bulls are killed is corrida. Osuna does bull-leaping, the matadors are not armed and they simply dance around the bulls, dodging and moving around. It’s a modern version of an ancient ritual worship of bulls in competitive form. Best dancer/evader wins.
Bulls It,
Some would argue that being all uppity in a bull’s face and getting him mad for entertainment purposes is still cruel- but it’s definitely a lot better than wounding and killing the poor thing. Maybe this is why GOT chose not to use the big Seville bullring?
OH MY GOD, I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON 5!
¡VIVA ESPAÑA Y VIVA NORTHERN IRELAND!
Veltigar,
Are you a vegetarian? If not, then you have no grounds to complain about ethics. The real unethical behavior is not how we kill our meat-providing animals, but how we raise them – battery cages, CAFOs, routine rape (errr, “artificial insemination”), disease, filth, and darkness are the norm. The final killing – which is tightly regulated – is essentially an act of mercy. Your factory-farmed meat consumption is a thousand times worse than some second-order “support” HBO is providing by using a bull ring.
Veltigar,
Who cares about bulls? The meat is used to feed the hungry and I would LOVE a bull burger right about now at 9:00am…too bad there arent any bull burgers in Manhattan
Chad Brick,
What gives a vegetarian the right to complain about ethics over a non-vegetarian? I personally love eating animals (cooked). That doesnt mean I like to see animals abused.
Greg,
Bulls aren’t just meat though. They feel pain and fear just like any human. Torturing them to death in a bullfight just to entertain a crowd of bloodthirsty monkeys is cruel and unnecessary.
This discussion is getting out of hand, though. Straying way off topic.
Somewhere back at the Game of Thrones conversation…
Here are some pics from the filming in Ireland today:
http://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/2h80dj/no_spoilers_game_of_thrones_filming_today_on_the/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
https://twitter.com/Desmond_kelly7/status/514377849135198208/photo/1
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-29322053
Bulls It,
Unless this change away from corrida’s is a recent one, a simple google search shows that corrida bullfighting at Osuna was still active a little over a year ago.
But I’m of the opinion you don’t actually create change by burying your head in the sand. Avoiding the use of the Osuna bullring because of this practice, would simply allow the sport to continue. The show has a chance to shine a big spotlight on the horrors of bullfighting. Avoiding the controversy isn’t a solution to ending the controversy. That is simply running away from it.
The goal shouldn’t be to stop the show from shooting in the Osuna bullring , it should be to end bullfighting in the Osuna bullring. More attention on the problem IMHO is a good thing.
jentario,
Could be the Vale? Or even somewhere in the Iron Islands (although I hop on every potential for Greyjoy stuff not matter how slim it is!).
Awww, I guess you’ll have to put your money were your mouth is and quit watching the show, then. So sad :,-(
I still can’t believe that GRRM killed that boar for Roberts entertainment. Or dat bah fer dat fookin mattah.
Anyone like to read Hemingway?
Mine is the Furry,
The only thing GRRM’s killing is his career
jentario,
Pretty sure he’s wealthier than he’s ever been and his books are being read by more people than ever before.
TheTouchOfFrost,
And he has a spiraling out of control shitstorm that will take a miracle for a cohesive and fulfilling finale. Selling out was the best decision ever. Unless you’re U2, in that case its just sad.
jentario,
I remember an off topic discussion about the Dubrovnik’s Cathedral forbidding filming a scene some weeks ago.
jentario,
I can’t see the first pic, but the seconds one looks like a
to me. A man can dream.
I stopped reading the comments after the 18th rant about the bullring, but nice pics!
Mine is the Furry,
Ye of little faith.
After the U2 album fiasco, I only found out the other day that the icon for artists on iPods/iPhones/etc is a silhouette of Bono’s head (surprised they could fit it all in!). I feel dirty.
Well, there has been a nice discussion about bullfighting already. Glad to see that people still care, I can’t answer everyone individually, so I’ll cherrypick a little from over the thread.
As fuelpagan pointed out, that change would be very recent and I haven’t seen that come up on other forums. So, you’re probably wrong.
Yeah, I agree. If GRRM is ‘killing his career’, than I’d like to be able to kill my own career in the same manner. The man can probably fill a swimming pool with his money, like a real life Scrooge McDuck.
My thoughts exactly
I do actually. The Sun Also Rises is however a novel from 1926. Hardly relevant for a discussion on what’s (un)ethical in 2014.
As I understand, this is a moot point. Corrida’s aren’t held at that time of the year anyway, so GoT is hardly pushing the bullfights out of the arena.
By all means continue with these kinds of enlightening posts. I always heard that vegans and vegetarians had to take certain types of supplements to ensure that they get the right ammount of nutrients. It’s nice to get some scientific feedback to alter my misconceptions.
I’d like to point out that I haven’t actually endorsed the industrial meat industry. I live in a country with quite good standards for animals held for the meat industry. Still, I try to ascertain the origin of the meat I eat, to make sure that they are kept in the best possible circumstances. I also try to cutback on my own meatconsumption.
The majority of Spaniards is actually opposed to bullfighting. Something like 81% actually, with 29% for (and only 13% strongly supporting it). Of course, even if it was the other way around, it would still be unethical for an American company (and a mostly British cast) to go about and do it.
Veltigar,
My point about Hemingway was that I need a drink. You and your bulls. Tut tut.
TheTouchOfFrost,
And he is killing his career, aside from a few hobby projects like Wild Cards the man just can’t and finish up anything in a timely fashion. Luckily for him, he has shitloads of money.
Just to make things clear, I am Spanish and against bullfighting. This being said, i don’t see how filming in the bullring supports animal cruelty.
First of all, the arena is not a private venue, it actually belongs to the city, so the money would go to the city council and not to the bullfighters.
Moreover, I don’t see how HBO’s filming in the bullring would make the tourists want to see the sadistic show. It is true that they would probably enjoy visiting the venue, but that doesn’t mean they would enjoy watching how a bull is tortured and killed. If they actually enjoy that, I definitely don’t think we can blame HBO for it.
I completely agree with you. It’s the bulfighting that’s wrong, not the place where it is held. The Colosseum in Rome is an example of an awe-inspiring building where all kinds of horrors used to be performed.
HBO should use this chance to raise awareness on the subject. I don’t see how refraining from filming in there would help the cause, that would just be hiding the problem, not helping make it disappear.