Explicit rape scenes in movies

[Mama Soltera]

I would like to have a discussion about this. I am so disturbed when movie makers choose to do this. A lot can be implied. It is seriously damaging to watch things like that and I feel like it's almost porn for predators in a way. I watched a movie last night and had to fast forward through a couple of scenes but they still have really adversly affected me. And I don't agree that you have to show it all to show how bad it is. I just wanted to get others' thoughts on this.

[MyName]

Wow. Luckily, I haven't watched any movies with any in them, but that is something that would deeply disturb me. Just reading your post about it upset me. I have no idea why showing these scenes would be beneficial, most people know it's horrible, they don't need to see it to understand that.

[philomom]

I never felt the same way about Rob Roy after I watched it. The scenery was beautiful, the dialogue and costumes great... but the horror of the beloved wife being raped was just so horrible to me.

Did you have specific movie, OP that you wanted to discuss?

[artekah]

I recently watched Girl With The Dragon Tattoo--it's a really well done, compelling movie by the way--but I was truly shocked at the horrible rape scenes. I was not at all prepared to see that, it was last week and it is still haunting me. I remember thinking, omg, they should have a trigger warning in the movie description--what if a rape victim saw that, with no warning that something like that was going to be shown? Absolutely horrifying!

Rape and other violence against women in the movies is never framed as "okay," but it's "okay" enough to use as a plot device in the story, and it's "okay" enough to show in graphic detail, isn't it? We as a culture are desensitized to it, which is really disturbing.

I think this video touches on the root of the issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DInYaHVSLr8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Mama Soltera]

Thank you so much for your responses. Yes, it was the movie in the above post. I totally agree ---- otherwise, it was a really intriguing and beautifully rendered movie. Why did that have to do that? It's still affecting my body and I feel like it has really ruined some of the pleasure of sex for me, mentally. Like it makes my brain keep going back to that and now certain things may never be fun or good again, if that makes any sense. They could've implied more than enough. I fast forwarded through those and it was still totally damaging to me. The thought of my kids getting exposed to stuff like that really concerns me. I know this is controversial but I feel like it could plant a seed too, mixing that kind of attack and torture with pleasure and things that could turn people on without the rest of it. I'm trying to explain without being to explicit. Am I making sense? I mean, some of that really could've killed a person. Yuck. I guess it's censorship, but they don't show child molestation explicitly ever. Why would this be okay? I honestly think it should not be allowed.

[MyName]

Oh my goodness. Well, I absolutely won't be able to watch that movie now. I heard so many good reviews about it and nothing about explicit rape scenes?! Crazy.

Mama Soltera, I agree. Young people, esp. teenagers are going to see movies like that and it's going to send them really bad messages about sex and what's appropriate/not appropriate when they are just starting to think about that kind of things.

[journeymom]

I couldn't finish reading the book for the same reason. I can't have that kind of thing in my head. It was disappointing, too, because the book was otherwise amazing.

[pammysue]

sorry...crazy phone
Edited by pammysue - 4/6/12 at 11:05am

[pammysue]

I agree the rape scene in the Girl... was over the top. Dh and I saw it in the theater. I had read the book but he didn't. Even though I knew it was coming the rape scene and the revenge scene, honestly, really disturbed me. It took me a while to get back into the movie after those scenes. Dh said, half-jokingly, a few times I took him to a porn movie. He was disturbed by the sex scenes too.

[Mama Soltera]

I do think there is something about images as opposed to the written word. For me, even once an image is stuck there I can never get it out and it really eats away at me. Those were both way too horrible even fast forwarded. You can't take it back or remove it once it's there.

[delfin]

Do not ever watch Irreversible! starts with a 10 min rape to Monica Bellucci. Brutal.

It never occured to me that it should not be allowed. Depends on the context of course. Violence happens in movies, and in life. And some directores are more brutal than others. A warning makes sense.

[Smokering]

I have mixed feelings about this. I tend to react intensely to violence and "icky" stuff onscreen, and have a particular horror of the "torture porn" genre - the Saw movies and the like (to be fair, I haven't actually watched any of them, but I know the gist and tone from my usherette days). The children-axing-other-children-to-death scene in... what was it? That Angelina Jolie movie where her son went missing? I forget the title. Anyway, it was horrible and stuck in my mind for quite awhile.

On the other hand, I don't think a blanket condemnation of rape/murder/torture scenes makes sense. There are circumstances in which showing the horror of things is appropriate. Schindler's List, for instance. I certainly don't think filmmakers should glamorise rape, but I can imagine that in some films, portraying it fairly graphically is the best way to impress upon the viewer that yes, this is a very personal, horrible way to assault someone; and as such that kind of scene could be a powerful anti-rape statement.

Sure, rape can be implied, but it's not the same thing in terms of storytelling. Imagine Tess of the D'Urbervilles with an explicit rape scene, or the curb-biting scene in American History X if that had been delicately implied offscreen. They would have been totally different stories. 

As for not expecting it in a movie; sorry, I can't sympathise with that. Do your research before you watch a movie - if a scene is more than ordinarily disturbing, reading four or five IMDb reviews will alert you to that fact because people will be talking about it. I have certain triggers (phobias, mostly, or issues that get me very upset), and if I'm watching a movie that seems likely to contain problematic elements, I look it up beforehand, so I can either steel myself for the offending scene or decide not to watch it. I've still had the occasional unpleasant surprise, but it's definitely cut down on them. As I say, I used to work at the movies, and it amazed me how often people would come out of an R18 film, advertised with a blood-spattered poster, and say "Oh, I didn't know it was going to be so violent" (or a subtitled film, saying "I didn't realise it would be in French!"; or a war film, saying "I didn't know it would have all that shooting in it"... don't get me started.). This is the information age; you can find out a LOT about a film before you see it.

[AbbyGrant]

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Edited by AbbyGrant - 6/23/12 at 11:09am

[meemee]

first let me say i have not watched that movie yet. 

did they have to show the scene? 

see that scene was so central to the book. it wasnt just about her rape but almost her whole life flitting through her and how she planned her revenge. it was pretty horrific in the book too. not really the description but that a person in that role doing such a terrible thing. that scene changed a lot for her. 

so i dont really have an issue with the scene being in the movie. mind you i havent seen it yet, but i have seen many 'violent' movies or deeply gut wrenching sad and hopeless movies.

i dont object to scenes like that on any issues - if it requires so.

but what i do object to - is all the porn rape stuff. why rape you know?

the movies that get me that i wish i hadnt watched are sinister movies. THOSE stay with me forever and causing a reaction. jack nicholson is not the same for me after the shining. 

[mamalisa]

I won't watch and will turn off any movie with a rape scene.  I would also leave a theater and ask for my money back.  Rape as entertainment makes me ill.  

[philomom]

Originally Posted by mamalisa 

 Rape as entertainment makes me ill.  

I feel this way about killing in general but it seems to be so mainstream. I love to see consensual sex in movies but it is very odd how American parents especially seem to favor their kids seeing violence over sex. I hope my kids have bed rocking sex someday with a loving partner. I hope they never have to live through or endure real violence.

[Smokering]

Quote:

I won't watch and will turn off any movie with a rape scene.  I would also leave a theater and ask for my money back.  Rape as entertainment makes me ill.

Are you talking about Quentin Tarantino-style voyeuristic rape scenes, or any rape scenes? Because there are plenty of scenes, and indeed movies in general, that are not simply "entertainment". "Movie" is not synonymous with "mindless Hollywood blockbuster". Plenty of movies, just like books or other forms of art, are designed to challenge, provoke, horrify, educate, expose and shock. It's the difference between "Nazi chic" movies and Schindler's List. 

[meemee]

so are you saying no one should write about rape too?

or that if there is a rape scene in a book and that is made into a movie one should not include that rape scene in the movie?

[Imakcerka]

Theres a big difference.  Some people have a very hard time watching and reading about such things.  There is nothing wrong with it.  What I find odd is those who have allowed themselves to be desensitized and are ok with viewing those scenes as part of the entertainment factor.  Think on that.

 

Originally Posted by meemee 

so are you saying no one should write about rape too?

or that if there is a rape scene in a book and that is made into a movie one should not include that rape scene in the movie?

[eknuckles]

Rape scenes, like from the girl with the DT or last house on the left really really disturb me. And the sad part is when i tried having a conversation with others about how disturbing it was they just had a blank look on their faces, like they couldn figure out what I meant. There is a huge difference between a woman being raped (which i still hate) or alluding to it compared to a man jumping on her and assaulting hard core. And you, the viewer, are meant to watch and appreciate the good camera angles and great acting. Blech