(no subject)
Jul. 13th, 2011 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
von_geisterhandI had a thought about the presentation of male-female rape in motion pictures. It is, as so many things here, not really worked out and far from comprehensive but I just felt like sharing it. Furthermore, having since rewatched the film that set off this particular train of thought, I no longer feel that this particular criticism really applies to the film in question. Nonetheless...
Two warnings: First of all, as already mentioned, this is about male-female rape in films, although quite frankly none of this is getting a lot more explicit than statement of this fact. Still, if you want a content warning, this is it.
Secondly, I will not name the film that inspired this thought (thus avoiding spoilers) but if you have some knowledge of modern film, it should be reasonably easy to guess which film I am talking about. IMHO the piece of plot I am giving away does not spoil "enjoyment" of this film (and in a way, that is exactly why I am writing this), but again, if you are very strict in terms of spoilers, this might not be for you.
The film in question has at its very heart an absolutely horrifying sequence of a young woman getting raped by a man. There is never a point where the film portrays this as anything other than violent and horrifying and to a major extent everything that happens in the film is inspired by or pointing towards the rape. Which is to say that this is already hard to watch as it is.
And still the film feels the need to later reveal to the viewer that the woman was pregnant at the time.
As if the horror a woman had to endure wasn't enough, this just had to be shoved into the "OMG-how-horrible-think-of-the-children"-category. I find this somewhat cynical and coldhearted, and it reminded me of a well-known american thriller of the 90s where a similar revelation was supposed to be the pinnacle of terror, too.
Two warnings: First of all, as already mentioned, this is about male-female rape in films, although quite frankly none of this is getting a lot more explicit than statement of this fact. Still, if you want a content warning, this is it.
Secondly, I will not name the film that inspired this thought (thus avoiding spoilers) but if you have some knowledge of modern film, it should be reasonably easy to guess which film I am talking about. IMHO the piece of plot I am giving away does not spoil "enjoyment" of this film (and in a way, that is exactly why I am writing this), but again, if you are very strict in terms of spoilers, this might not be for you.
The film in question has at its very heart an absolutely horrifying sequence of a young woman getting raped by a man. There is never a point where the film portrays this as anything other than violent and horrifying and to a major extent everything that happens in the film is inspired by or pointing towards the rape. Which is to say that this is already hard to watch as it is.
And still the film feels the need to later reveal to the viewer that the woman was pregnant at the time.
As if the horror a woman had to endure wasn't enough, this just had to be shoved into the "OMG-how-horrible-think-of-the-children"-category. I find this somewhat cynical and coldhearted, and it reminded me of a well-known american thriller of the 90s where a similar revelation was supposed to be the pinnacle of terror, too.
