TV & Film Rape Scenes in Movies and on TV

[Amy SF]

I've seen my share of these. Even in the context of the story, they make me uncomfortable, especially when they seem to last longer than necessary (What's Love Got To Do With It), or in at least one case (The Accused) it's repeated at another point in the movie. I know they're often there to demonstrate that the persons doing the raping are assholes, but they still make me squirm. I also know that they're going to continue to be shown in movies, so it's not like I can do anything about it other than try to ignore it or fast forward through those scenes, or avoid it entirely by not watching those movies. Unfortunately, without those rape scenes, many of these movies are still pretty interesting to watch.

What's your take on this? Do you squirm also, or just shrug your shoulders and accept that they're just part of the movie?

One of the things that makes me uncomfortable is not just the rape itself but the knowledge that somebody out there actually gets off on watching these scenes.

 

[mlp]

I really have a hard time watching those kinds of scenes, because they elicit a rather murderous rage in me. I can actually feel my blood pressure rise. So, I tend to mute and busy myself doing something else when I encounter such a scene. The same thing goes for scenes depicting non-humans or children or anyone who can't defend her/himself being hurt, terrorized or killed.

In books, I skip those pages.

 

[KLS52]

The movie Death Wish did me in and that was back in the 70's.

 

[thefadedone]

I really have a hard time watching those kinds of scenes, because they elicit a rather murderous rage in me. I can actually feel my blood pressure rise. So, I tend to mute and busy myself doing something else when I encounter such a scene. The same thing goes for scenes depicting non-humans or children or anyone who can't defend her/himself being hurt, terrorized or killed.

In books, I skip those pages.

Same but most of the time I can't even mute them or distract myself. I'll shut it off entirely or refuse to see it if I know ahead of time what to expect. Here's a good list of movies that contain disturbing and triggering scenes:

http://www.pandys.org/escapinghades/triggeringmedia.html

 

[Freesia]

These days I avoid anything remotely violent.

 

[mlp]

Same but most of the time I can't even mute them or distract myself. I'll shut it off entirely or refuse to see it if I know ahead of time what to expect. Here's a good list of movies that contain disturbing and triggering scenes:

http://www.pandys.org/escapinghades/triggeringmedia.html

I've only seen ten of those, and most of those only because the person I was with wanted to see it.

I avoid movies about war, genocide, any story about animals that I know doesn't end well, etc. I also avoid entertainment based on the Mafia or other criminals, just because I find it abhorrent that they be glamorized in any way. I did get sucked into The Sopranos for a couple of seasons because my ex husband was watching it, and Tony's reaction to the ducks in the swimming pool intrigued me.

That being said, I did watch Schindler's List, after years of avoiding it, and Hotel Rwanda, but many scenes from those are still all too vivid in my mind, and both caused me to be depressed for weeks. I avoid those kinds of movies out of a sense of self preservation - for instance, I will never watch Sophie's choice.

In fact, I guess I avoid most entertainment based on real life events.

 

[shyvas]

These days I avoid anything remotely violent.

Same here. I loathe any kind of violence ; physical or mental.

 

[das_nut]

I really don't recall that many movies with rape scenes. Off the top of my head, the movies I've seen with rape scenes are Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, Shawshank Redemption, American History X, Thelma and Louise, Dead Man Walking, the General's Daughter, and Pulp Fiction (was Pulp Fiction rape or attempted rape?).

I'd say for the most part (Pulp Fiction being perhaps the exception) that none of the scenes felt gratuitous or anything like that, and several were critical for the plot, but they did make me uncomfortable.

It's easier for me to see a character killed than raped in a movie. FWIW.

 

[Second Summer]

I don't generally mind "regular" violence and war movies, but I prefer to avoid sexual violence. I see it as a kind of unnecessary mind pollution, and my mind is probably messed up enough as it is. Besides, I'll rather spend my very limited spare time watching something funny, interesting, educational etc. E.g. last night I started watching a program we had recorded about UFOs. Really fascinating stuff.

 

[thefadedone]

In fact, I guess I avoid most entertainment based on real life events.

I couldn't even deal with Titanic. Seeing all those people die. Those families. The children. Horrible. I didn't view it as a romantic story at all. The only thing I thought of was the awful way all those poor people died. It bothered me that nobody seemed to care and they only saw it as a brilliant love story.

I do love ghost stories though. What I don't like is that a good majority of those movies have a huge shock at the end which turns out to be that there actually are no ghosts. Instead it's the main character being haunted by repressed memories of sexual abuse.

 

[shyvas]

I couldn't even deal with Titanic. Seeing all those people die. Those families. The children. Horrible. I didn't view it as a romantic story at all. The only thing I thought of was the awful way all those poor people died. It bothered me that nobody seemed to care and they only saw it as a brilliant love story.

I totally agree and refused to go and see it at the cinema. I watched it for the first time on TV and really didn't
understand what the fuss was about. The story really is about all of those poor people dying due to human error.

 

[Pirate]

I feel like a complete and utter hypocrite because I have no issue with "normal" violence.

But yeah I dont like rape scenes in films. I dont get why they have to be so graphic. Things can be implied so that the plot continues, without upsetting the people watching it. Most recent one I can think of that I watched was the original girl with the dragon tattoo. I havent seen the remake. If ever I see a film with something like that in it, I try to post about it online. Ie here in the movie thread.

 

[RascalsMom]

I really have a hard time watching those kinds of scenes, because they elicit a rather murderous rage in me. I can actually feel my blood pressure rise. So, I tend to mute and busy myself doing something else when I encounter such a scene. The same thing goes for scenes depicting non-humans or children or anyone who can't defend her/himself being hurt, terrorized or killed.

In books, I skip those pages.

Same.

 

[mlp]

I couldn't even deal with Titanic. Seeing all those people die. Those families. The children. Horrible. I didn't view it as a romantic story at all. The only thing I thought of was the awful way all those poor people died. It bothered me that nobody seemed to care and they only saw it as a brilliant love story.

Yes, that's another one I've never wanted to watch, for the same reasons. My mother had told me about the sinking of the Titanic when I was quite young, and the mental picture of all those people dying, and how it must have been for them, had quite a profound emotional impact on me. It's not something I've ever wanted to see re-created, either in a documentary style or as the backdrop for a money making blockbuster (and the latter somehow just seems wrong to me - using a tragedy like that as entertainment, rather than to inform).

 

[mlp]

I feel like a complete and utter hypocrite because I have no issue with "normal" violence.

I don't think you have to feel like a hypocrite - we all have our personal lines of comfort with respect to entertainment.

For example, my favorite light reading is murder mysteries (though I tend to skip over anything graphic). And although I generally avoid extreme or graphic violence in movies, I did end up watching the Kill Bill trilogy and not minding it in there (perhaps because it was so extreme as to be cartoonish?). Kill Bill was something I would generally not have been interested in even taking a look at, but my ex was watching it, and passing through the room, I got intrigued by woman as an indestructible killing machine.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I have avoided films like Deliverance, Clockwork Orange and Straw Dogs but I have seen The Accused. I will watch violent films/TV but I often look away or fast forward any horrible bits.

But yeah I dont like rape scenes in films. I dont get why they have to be so graphic. Things can be implied so that the plot continues, without upsetting the people watching it. Most recent one I can think of that I watched was the original girl with the dragon tattoo. I havent seen the remake. If ever I see a film with something like that in it, I try to post about it online. Ie here in the movie thread.

I haven't seen that film as a guy I know warned me I wouldn't like it.

 

[yally]

I felt awful for weeks after Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

 

[kazyeeqen]

Hound Dog isn't even on that list, but it was a hard one to watch. Sometimes the movies are very powerful despite it, and while I don't want to miss out of the good stories, I hate the scenes and they tend to haunt me for a long time. Mysterious Skin is like that, so brutal and awful and sad, but very moving. It's hard to find a balance. If I know what's going to be in it beforehand though, I generally don't watch it.

 

[yally]

Hard as it is to watch, maybe having graphic depictions of rape helps people realise how **** rape is.

But then if one rape isn't as bad as the most violent rape on film, it's nothing to feel bad about?

I can't make words good, hope I make sense.

 

[hungryraccoon]

I can watch pretty much anything, even if it does make me uncomfortable.

The rape scene in Mysterious Skin sticks in my head for some reason. I don't think that's a very well known film - very young Joseph Gordon-Levitt!

Haven't seen The Girl With Dragon Tattoo films but reading that scene in the book was sickening so I dread to think how it would be to watch it on screen. :/