House of the Dragon star Matt Smith slams trigger warnings for “dumbing down” movies

Matt Smith, known for his role in House of the Dragon, has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to trigger warnings, as he believes they do more harm than good to movies.

When he’s not riding dragons or being the most lovable villain in House of the Dragon, Smith is often dipping his toes into other genres, like his upcoming scary film Starve Acre.

While doing press for the horror movie, Smith took a big swing when it came to weighing in on the discourse around trigger warnings.

“Isn’t being shocked, surprised, stirred the point?” Smith explained to The Times of London. “Too much policing of stories and being afraid to bring them out because a climate is a certain way is a shame. I’m not sure I’m on board with trigger warnings.”

He continued, “It’s OK to feel uncomfortable or provoked while looking at a painting or watching a play, but I worry everything’s being dialed and dumbed down. We’re telling audiences they’re going to be scared before they’ve watched something.”

Despite being not being a fan of these kind of warnings, the actor did concede that maybe this concept could’ve been useful during his time as a youth consuming media.

“I used to go to a local video shop and get Slither, Basic Instinct, Disclosure — all these erotic thrillers,” Smith said. “I was way too young to be watching them. I watched Friday the 13th when I was nine. Actually, that scarred me. Absolutely ruined me.”

While some TV and movie lovers may feel like the concept of trigger warnings came out of nowhere, they have actually been around since the 1990s, as the idea originated on feminist message boards as a way to warn readers to avoid any books that mention graphic depictions of rape.

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From there, trigger warnings were translated into other mediums such as TV, movies, and music so people could be aware of any projects that would negatively impact their both physical and mental health.

These kind of warnings are not granted to all pieces of media; just to those that could potentially cause harm to the viewer.

Although Smith won’t be the last Hollywood member to vocalize their disdain for this practice, trigger warnings are becoming more commonplace in intense movies and TV shows, so they’re not going to disappear any time soon.

For more, check out the best new movies streaming this month, every TV shows streaming in September, and our guide to the most binge-worthy TV shows you can watch right now.