I absolutely do not mind if you have a dissertation to post, as I'd love a lively discussion! Have you seen Rosario Dawson's 2007 film, Descent? It turns the standard rape/revenge film on its head, with the premise being, "An eye for an eye will leave us all blind." I keep wondering how a male audience would receive such a film, as it would most likely make a good majority of them uncomfortable. And we just couldn't have that, now could we? But to alienate the female audience is absolutely acceptable. I recently watched Peter Fonda's Fighting Mad, which was highly entertaining drive-in cinema; Lynn Lowry's character was the best written female role I've ever seen out of that genre. When I looked up the poster on moviegoods.com, the tagline horrified me: What They Do To His Woman Is The Most Shocking Crime Of All! Nowhere in the film was Lynn raped or humiliated, yet the film's promotion insinuates she does, and for what? To lure in more viewers? I'm not certain whether I should be bothered or amused, as whoever was lured in on that premise would instead be presented with an independent, level-headed young woman who competently defends herself and saves Fonda's ass (not to mention the totally consensual sex between the two of them and his very close to full frontal nudity)!
You know, I hadn't even HEARD of Descent (but I bet my hubby has) until now, and I like Rosario. It's probably because my tastes in movies have changed since I was part of any "target audience", but I can also wonder if the reasons you cite here are part of the reason I hadn't heard of it.
I find the rape genre to be an interesting thing. It's been my experience that when female characters are raped, they rarely get to exact revenge themselves if indeed there is any revenge involved; usually there's some avenging male character who "rights the wrong", as it were. Male rape is so uncommon; Deliverance and Pulp Fiction being the only two films I can think of at the moment that even have those scenes, and in Pulp Fiction it is the victim (Ving Rhames) who is allowed to take revenge. Of course, this also brings up the subject of race: Ving's character is black and he is the one who is raped; Bruce Willis's (white) character is the one who sets their escape and revenge in motion, even though they are both in the same situation at the beginning of the scene. Sometimes I just wonder about that stuff, perhaps too much, maybe not enough. In any case, I do not like films where there is just plain torture for the sake of torture (Hostel springs to mind), and it's been decades since I watched I Spit On Your Grave or much of anything similar (but then being a survivor of sexual assault myself, I tend to avoid it anyway).
Now, if you want a truly astounding feminist movie, I suggest Sheba, Baby starring Pam Grier. A woman of color just being her badass self, with nary a rape in sight (it was rated PG), truly amazing considering the timeframe. I've written a review of it here, in case you're interested:
I love Pam Grier so very much! I've seen quite a few of her films, but not Sheba,Baby, so I'll definitely look into it (and thanks for the link!). Descent went into particular, touchy areas I've not seen explored in such films before: it follows Rosario's character after the fact and how she recovers, as well as showing the perpetrator and his regular, mundane, frat-boy life continuing on as usual. Their paths converge by fate one day, and she has a slight window of opportunity to exact revenge; it's a little more than a split-second decision and if she doesn't go for it, they'd both continue on their separate paths. A good part of Rosario's scenes are nearly silent as she communicates mainly with her facial expressions and eyes. Her silent expression at the end speaks volumes. A flawed film to be certain, but a labor of love for all involved, as they found something of merit in the material (and that really comes across). A lot was required physically and mentally with the male actors in particular, which is quite a change from the way such demands are made from the women in films. As for the rape scene in Pulp Fiction, I viewed it as: Take the dominant, physically threatening male and punish and humiliate him for it. My father views many of those rape/revenge films with women like that, that the woman must be humiliated and hurt for being beautiful/different/independent/just for being a woman. It all has a strong sense of How dare she!. Now I love Tarantino, and I've found his views on women to be interesting and a huge change from most male directors who make those types of films. He was raised by a single mother and has an older sister, which may have had such an effect on him; he's stated in interviews that he prefers the company of women over as men as they're (we) are more open, more honest. Tarantino was so upset over the implications of what happened to The Bride when she was comatose in Kill Bill that he proposed a scene to Uma in which Buck is shown in hell, getting raped by devils with pitchforks. Death Proof, as he claimed in Fangoria, was his version of a rape/revenge film. The independent, sexually liberated women are punished for being so by the insecure Stuntman Mike; the second, very similar group of girls exact revenge on him for trying to do the same to them. When my father and I saw Grindhouse in the theater, Death Proof received the more positive reaction; the audience was clapping and cheering (as were we). In comparison though, how is it that male rape is more favorable to see over female rape? I'll be open and say that when I see it depicted on film, I'm not generally offended by it. Perhaps that's due to me thinking that they're getting a taste of their own medicine. There's a scene in Myra Breckinridge wherein Myra (formerly Myron) takes it upon herself to challenge, destroy, and ultimately reform the patriarchy by taking it out on Rusty, an All-American macho cowboy acting student by raping him with a strap-on. After ruining him, her plan is to then seduce his All-American, overtly feminine girlfriend (played by Farrah Fawcett), whose only aspirations in life are to be a housewife. But then, even Myron (who still exists within Myra's psyche) finds that Myra's going too far. Okay, I'm rambling on here, but there's so much going on in my brain at the moment. I view myself as a feminist, but I admit that I still have a ways to go, particularly since I espouse equality.
As for the rape scene in Pulp Fiction, I viewed it as: Take the dominant, physically threatening male and punish and humiliate him for it. An interesting point, and I believe you're right there. Ving was certainly more menacing than Bruce ever was (Ving being the crime boss and all). And I certainly agree with the whole "How DARE she?!?" mantra: see House Of Whipcord (or don't, it's pretty bad).
Oh, wow...Myra Breckinridge...it's hard to find people who've seen that one, it'll pop up every once in awhile on TCM (which is where I saw it). But I think male rape is such an anomaly that it's more a curiosity than anything else. Even in films about notorious serial rapists/killers of males (Dahmer and Gacy), this is glossed over or only implied, with none of the graphic scenes reserved for films featuring female rape scenes.
Keep it coming, I can talk movies til the cows come home!
I ♥ Myra Breckinridge so darn much. It's the type of film that entertains some people and alienates the rest. I have yet to read Gore Vidal's novel, but I did look over the Time article at work. It was all, "Will Raquel remain a sex symbol after playing a gay man?!"
There was a French film released in the past couple years, and I cannot remember the title for the life of me! I've not seen it, but the plot involved a feminine young man getting stranded the French equivalent of a backwards, American smalltown deep down south. Throughout the whole thing, he gets abused by the make townfolk and they even make him wear a dress. I know I should avoid imdb forums, but the people there were freaking out over it. I think it's probably the most graphic film to feature male sexual assault; but as a male poster had stated, seeing a feminine man getting abused doesn't hit quite as hard as seeing it happen your average/more masculine male.
On a lighter (or not so light, it depends)note, I rented The King starring Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt and Meet Bill starring Aaron Eckhart. Whilst there are many actors currently working in Hollywood that are worthy of praise, I think Gael and Aaron are some of the finest and most underrated. The same goes for Michelle Williams as well, and though I recently bought I'm Not There for her and Heath Ledger, I don't quite have the heart to watch it yet. I'm a bit of an emotional sap.
Have you seen Rosario Dawson's 2007 film, Descent? It turns the standard rape/revenge film on its head, with the premise being, "An eye for an eye will leave us all blind." I keep wondering how a male audience would receive such a film, as it would most likely make a good majority of them uncomfortable. And we just couldn't have that, now could we? But to alienate the female audience is absolutely acceptable.
I recently watched Peter Fonda's Fighting Mad, which was highly entertaining drive-in cinema; Lynn Lowry's character was the best written female role I've ever seen out of that genre. When I looked up the poster on moviegoods.com, the tagline horrified me: What They Do To His Woman Is The Most Shocking Crime Of All!
Nowhere in the film was Lynn raped or humiliated, yet the film's promotion insinuates she does, and for what? To lure in more viewers? I'm not certain whether I should be bothered or amused, as whoever was lured in on that premise would instead be presented with an independent, level-headed young woman who competently defends herself and saves Fonda's ass (not to mention the totally consensual sex between the two of them and his very close to full frontal nudity)!
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I find the rape genre to be an interesting thing. It's been my experience that when female characters are raped, they rarely get to exact revenge themselves if indeed there is any revenge involved; usually there's some avenging male character who "rights the wrong", as it were. Male rape is so uncommon; Deliverance and Pulp Fiction being the only two films I can think of at the moment that even have those scenes, and in Pulp Fiction it is the victim (Ving Rhames) who is allowed to take revenge. Of course, this also brings up the subject of race: Ving's character is black and he is the one who is raped; Bruce Willis's (white) character is the one who sets their escape and revenge in motion, even though they are both in the same situation at the beginning of the scene. Sometimes I just wonder about that stuff, perhaps too much, maybe not enough. In any case, I do not like films where there is just plain torture for the sake of torture (Hostel springs to mind), and it's been decades since I watched I Spit On Your Grave or much of anything similar (but then being a survivor of sexual assault myself, I tend to avoid it anyway).
Now, if you want a truly astounding feminist movie, I suggest Sheba, Baby starring Pam Grier. A woman of color just being her badass self, with nary a rape in sight (it was rated PG), truly amazing considering the timeframe. I've written a review of it here, in case you're interested:
http://mercystars.livejournal.com/26932.html
Reply
As for the rape scene in Pulp Fiction, I viewed it as: Take the dominant, physically threatening male and punish and humiliate him for it.
My father views many of those rape/revenge films with women like that, that the woman must be humiliated and hurt for being beautiful/different/independent/just for being a woman. It all has a strong sense of How dare she!.
Now I love Tarantino, and I've found his views on women to be interesting and a huge change from most male directors who make those types of films. He was raised by a single mother and has an older sister, which may have had such an effect on him; he's stated in interviews that he prefers the company of women over as men as they're (we) are more open, more honest. Tarantino was so upset over the implications of what happened to The Bride when she was comatose in Kill Bill that he proposed a scene to Uma in which Buck is shown in hell, getting raped by devils with pitchforks.
Death Proof, as he claimed in Fangoria, was his version of a rape/revenge film. The independent, sexually liberated women are punished for being so by the insecure Stuntman Mike; the second, very similar group of girls exact revenge on him for trying to do the same to them. When my father and I saw Grindhouse in the theater, Death Proof received the more positive reaction; the audience was clapping and cheering (as were we).
In comparison though, how is it that male rape is more favorable to see over female rape? I'll be open and say that when I see it depicted on film, I'm not generally offended by it. Perhaps that's due to me thinking that they're getting a taste of their own medicine. There's a scene in Myra Breckinridge wherein Myra (formerly Myron) takes it upon herself to challenge, destroy, and ultimately reform the patriarchy by taking it out on Rusty, an All-American macho cowboy acting student by raping him with a strap-on. After ruining him, her plan is to then seduce his All-American, overtly feminine girlfriend (played by Farrah Fawcett), whose only aspirations in life are to be a housewife. But then, even Myron (who still exists within Myra's psyche) finds that Myra's going too far.
Okay, I'm rambling on here, but there's so much going on in my brain at the moment. I view myself as a feminist, but I admit that I still have a ways to go, particularly since I espouse equality.
Reply
As for the rape scene in Pulp Fiction, I viewed it as: Take the dominant, physically threatening male and punish and humiliate him for it. An interesting point, and I believe you're right there. Ving was certainly more menacing than Bruce ever was (Ving being the crime boss and all). And I certainly agree with the whole "How DARE she?!?" mantra: see House Of Whipcord (or don't, it's pretty bad).
Oh, wow...Myra Breckinridge...it's hard to find people who've seen that one, it'll pop up every once in awhile on TCM (which is where I saw it). But I think male rape is such an anomaly that it's more a curiosity than anything else. Even in films about notorious serial rapists/killers of males (Dahmer and Gacy), this is glossed over or only implied, with none of the graphic scenes reserved for films featuring female rape scenes.
Keep it coming, I can talk movies til the cows come home!
Reply
There was a French film released in the past couple years, and I cannot remember the title for the life of me! I've not seen it, but the plot involved a feminine young man getting stranded the French equivalent of a backwards, American smalltown deep down south. Throughout the whole thing, he gets abused by the make townfolk and they even make him wear a dress. I know I should avoid imdb forums, but the people there were freaking out over it. I think it's probably the most graphic film to feature male sexual assault; but as a male poster had stated, seeing a feminine man getting abused doesn't hit quite as hard as seeing it happen your average/more masculine male.
On a lighter (or not so light, it depends)note, I rented The King starring Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt and Meet Bill starring Aaron Eckhart. Whilst there are many actors currently working in Hollywood that are worthy of praise, I think Gael and Aaron are some of the finest and most underrated. The same goes for Michelle Williams as well, and though I recently bought I'm Not There for her and Heath Ledger, I don't quite have the heart to watch it yet. I'm a bit of an emotional sap.
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