🤬🎬 Is a "realistic" rape scene necessary?

There is a difference between portraying sexual assault in a responsible and sensitive manner and using it solely for shock value or as a cheap plot device.

When sexual assault scenes are depicted through a male gaze or voyeuristic point of view, it can serve to further sexualize and objectify women's bodies, rather than educate or raise awareness about sexual violence.

Moreover, it's important to consider the impact these depictions may have on viewers, especially women who may have experienced sexual violence in their lives.

1 - Rape scene and the male gaze

• If a scene is painful for half of the audience and the perception is strongly related to gender, is the scene allegedly sexist?
• Is it appropriate to present the sexual violence that women may experience in real life in a straightforward, horrific way?
• What is the role of the rape scene's existence? Can we remove it?
• Is the presence of sexual assault scenes that women feel uncomfortable watching necessary in the film?

Rape is a frequent scene in movies. Sometimes it is because the whole story revolves around a sexual assault, sometimes to highlight the experiences of the female protagonist and explain the formation of her character. A large number of works choose to present rape scenes in a brutal, visual way, in a straightforward and distorted manner. The women in these works are heavily exposed, with the camera panning to their breasts, asses, pained expressions, and heartbreaking cries and yells.

Not only does the director shoot the rape exceptionally horrific, but also erotic. The women often look sexy, with a pained but still beautiful look. Ambiguously lit, and very atmospheric. It seems that this is not sexual violence women suffered, but porn with a plot of rape. And in this porn, women are humiliated, commodified, and catered to male sexual fantasies.

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Lisbeth Salander (by Rooney Mara) is shown with her hands and feet handcuffed, lying on her back, exposing her entire back and ass, while the rapist is fully clothed.

The shot is from the male perspective, and the viewer sees Lisbeth's body and her struggling movements. If we take the viewpoint of the female victim, we should see the perpetrator's sheets, pillows, and faces. This scene is considered a prime example of a deliberately brutal scene. Director David Fincher said that he wanted to enter the adult film business through it.

The poster reveals the nature of the film of using the female body as a gimmick

The story of The Accused (1988) is based on a real rape case. The film does a great job of countering the argument that the victim is guilty, but despite this, the six-minute gang rape scene in the film is controversial. With Jodie Foster's breasts exposed and the rapists still fully clothed, it's a very long, breathless time.

It is a typical Hollywood drama with very distinct dramatic passages. With victim Sarah Tobias (by Jodie Foster) and prosecutor Kathryn Murphy (by Kelly McGillis) as the main characters, the story questions both the law itself and prejudiced moral opinion in the limited creative space.

The rape scenes in some productions are simply useless and deliberate. There was a rape scene in Game of Thrones's fifth season: Sansa was raped by Ramsay Bolton while Theon watched. The audience was outraged by this scene because the essence of this worthless rape scene was that the director was trying to create a gimmick and attract attention by trampling on and insulting women.

According to the development of the plot, the character of Sansa and Ramsay by this time is already very distinct and does not need to be shown through the rape scene. Moreover, this rape has no significant impact on the future development of the plot, and is not directly related to Theon's revenge.

There are a large number of similar rape scenes in film history. They are generally from the male gaze or voyeuristic point of view, treating the suffering of women as a kind of erotic, violent "spectacle" to be viewed on the big screen, to satisfy the voyeurism and sensual enjoyment of some male audiences. The seriousness of sexual violence is not noticed after viewing, and the pain of victims of sexual violence is not cared for.

2 - On and off the screen of rape scenes

Off-screen, female viewers get nothing but pain from sexual assault images. Overly explicit images of sexual assault cause intense sensory stimulation and provoke emotions of disgust, anxiety, and fear in the audience. For female viewers, the emotions are fiercer. After all, the medium depicts reality, and women are the vast majority of victims of sexual violence in reality.

When a woman watches images of sexual assault that make her uncomfortable, she suffers a short-lived shock. But the impact can also stay long, allowing her to relate the film to real life and suffer ongoing hidden pain. If the viewer is a woman who has been through sexual violence, this is tantamount to pulling her back into a nightmarish scenario that can result in severe secondary victimization.

Sexual assault images are often only part of the rape plot. There are often depictions of male violence, masculinity, male homosexual social desires, slut shaming, and other behaviors before men sexually assault women. This narrative structure overlaps significantly with the real world, and some male viewers may feel less pain when they see images of sexual assault and instead find it exciting and even 'sexually arousing'. They may imitate sexual violence in the reality and become new abusers.

On-screen, actresses are also suffering sexual violence as they play painful victims of sexual assault.

Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) tells an erotical story with Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando contributing bold sex scenes. In one scene, Brando pins Maria to the floor, rubs butter on her private part, and tries to assault her from her back.

According to Maria's interview, the scene was not in the initial script. She was not told about it until the shoot was over. She had not received any consolation or apology from director Bernardo Bertolucci or Marlon. She wept during the scene, and those tears were real, as she felt the sensation of being raped. In 2013, Bertolucci admitted that the idea was improvised by Marlon that morning. They purposely did not tell Maria because they "wanted her to feel the anger and humiliation, not to act it out".

Maria Schneider: "I like to see friends and go to the market and cook. but I never use butter to cook anymore."

Japanese actress みずはら きこ (Kiko Mizuhara) has also made tearful allegations of the sexual violence women face during filming. She acted nude in Ride or Die (彼女, Kanojo). At first, the producer did not say that the scenes would be too much. However, when she arrived at the scene, she was asked to show her private body hair in front of the camera. She also revealed that one of her friends was doing a passionate scene when she met an older actor who refused to cover his private parts and even started filming with his penis erect. Although her friend felt unreasonable, forced by the situation on the scene, but still shot.

The male gaze does not refer only to the viewing relationship between the gaze and the viewer, but also to the power relationship behind the viewing. If a shot is criticized as a "male gaze", it means that the character in the shot is showing her body to satisfy the viewer outside the camera. Thus, the power relationship is transferred from inside the screen to outside the screen.

Women already feel uncomfortable, but still cannot shout to stop. Whether in the industry or the view of the audience, shooting passionate scenes is part of the performer's job. It is believed that only those who can perform openly and comfortably in the nude are professional. But do these scenes have to exist? If its presence is essential, must it make the actress filming feel humiliated?

The humiliation extends even beyond the screen, as women are judged more intensely by moral judgment after filming passionate scenes. People look at women's bodies as if they were johns, and then reduce them to sluts to show off their innocence.

3 - Are sexual assault scenes essential?

Sexual assault images that do not contribute to the plot or characterization are, of course, the product of the creators' selfishness and are full of contempt for women. But even in stories that revolve around sexual assault, detailed depictions of the violence are unnecessary, as was the case with Netflix's Luckiest Girl Alive (2022), which drew criticism.

In the story, Ani FaNelli (by Mila Kunis) was gang-raped at the age of 14, a traumatic experience that has shaped her life and the fate of others. The story builds on the heroine's experience of sexual crimes, and the sexual assault plot is necessary. But the three-minute sexual assault scene still stung many audiences, and even those who had suffered sexual violence said the scene triggered their PTSD. The audience called on Netflix on Twitter to add Trigger Warning at the beginning.

The film is based on Jessica Knoll's novel of the same name, in which the plot of gang rape and school bullying is the author's real-life encounter. However, the revenge in the movie did not happen. In reality, the bad guys were not punished, and Jessica found inner peace by writing the book. Others did not learn the truth of what happened until the novel was published and understood her lifelong struggle.

We do not deny the importance of bringing sexual violence to the screen, showing and discussing the damage it causes to women, but is it necessary for the damage to be authentic as it happened? There are a hundred ways to artistically represent the brutality of sexual violence, metaphorically, symbolically, and vaguely, and it is humiliating to women to choose the most hurtful one.

Unbelievable (2019), another drama related to sexual violence produced by Netflix, handles this better. It tells the story of a girl who is sexually assaulted by a stranger and is not trusted by the police, her family and friends, or the public.

Like Luckiest Girl Alive (2022), this show is adapted from a true story, but Unbelievable (2019) chooses a flashback approach, showing the sexual assault in a few quick seconds and using a lot of female perspectives. The final impression of the whole show is not the few seconds of sexual assault footage, but how the victims are stigmatized and how we should understand the trauma they suffered, which is what stories of sexual violence should tell.

Without exposing women's bodies, without any sexy or erotic expressions, people can empathize with the victimized women and not trigger panic.

Director Sarah Polley purposely erased the violence from the sexual assault-related film Women Talking (2022), saying, "I feel uncomfortable every time I see a straightforward sexual assault scene in a movie. The display of sexual violence is not necessary. Show the trauma of the victims and how they move forward is more important.

Coincidentally, Rooney Mara is also the star of the film. But in this film, she no longer has to be on her back with her ass showing but has her mind and words to escape bravely.

The violence doesn't make people think but only stirs up useless emotions. Sexual violence scenes should try to change people's perceptions of rape by abandoning large-scale images of sexual assault. What audiences need to see more is what happens after sexual assault: the traumatic memories, the shame, the moral judgment of public opinion, and the defense of rights ... It helps people understand the structural problems of sexual violence occurring and breaks down the stigma against the victims.

We don't want to see women's suffering reduced to eye-catching nude scenes anymore. Sexual violence is a crime, not eroticism. We want all episodes of sexual violence to be serious and thoughtful so that it is a work that respects women.