Last night I had the misfortune of catching an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. For those of you sans cable addiction, this show is specifically dedicated to sex crimes. Last night's episode was set in a prison where women were being abused by guards. The lead detectives on this staff are played by Christopher Meloni ( remember the guy who seduced everything with legs in Oz? and Mariska Hargitay who I wouldn't know from Christ). Anyways, these two attractive and simpering characters find that their investigative skills suck (possibly because they spend so much time simpering), and so send Mariska in “undercover.” You probably know where this is going, don't ya? The episode basically panned out like a scarier version of that subset of pornography about women in prison. But that brings me to a point that I have bitched about for years while people turned the radio up and made imaginary phone calls- why is rape or sexual humiliation always the inevitable bad ending for women? I am not just talking about this show- I mean, movies, television, and even the back (or front of our minds?). Anyways, I am going to start compiling a list of evidence as I watch movies, tv, etc. Here is the first one I noticed this morning: In Welcome to the Dollhouse: Dawn's sister is kidnapped, then found alive- the first question Dawn asks “Did he rape her?” The first question the media asks “Did he touch you?”
Rape, like violence, or sickening romantic comedies, clearly has its place in entertainment. I mean, without it, we wouldn't have movies like Teeth. Or rape/revenge movies. What is the point of a rape scene? It's not to shock, but to titillate. Generally filmed in a an erotic way- the rape scene attempts to a) give viewers the pleasure of viewing something they cannot admit they enjoy. b) sexualize something which is essentially very un-sexual for the purpose of point a. I would go on with the theory that it perpetuates the idea that the greatest horror for a woman is to be corrupted sexually, but I bet you haven't even made it this far- and I don't blame you. Anyways, there was no real reason to have Mariska's character go undercover to uncover sexual abuse, and I doubt there is much of a precedent for that in reality.
Now that I have ensured that no one will read this blog again, ever, let me say that I was feeling particularly mournful this morning and decided to listen to an album from my pathetic adolescence- and if you can name this without googling it, I owe you a beer
Geeks do not have pedigrees
Or perfect punk-rock resumes
Or anorexic magazines
It smells like girl, it smells like girl
She walks over me
She walks over me
Hold you close like we both died
My ever pressing suicide
My stupid fuck, my blushing bride
Oh, tear my heart out, tear my heart out
She walks over me
She walks over me
I shut my mouth with you for a rag
I use the rest of you for a gag
I shut my mouth with you for a gag
I use the rest of you
Kitty, Kitty
Please come here
Don't, Don't you touch me, don't you dare
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The "she walks over me" gives it away. But I can't have a beer, so I won't say the name. ;)
ReplyDeleteHa! Read your post to the end! Will read the next one too!
ReplyDeleteI don't know about rape scenes. I haven't seen one recently which does anything except revile the watcher (unless you're some sort of sick @*%$) but if I saw one which pandered to sickos, I'd be outraged enought to complain to the broadcaster.
Robert-
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that most of the rape scenes I have seen recently were not filmed so as to revile the watcher, and therefore because it isn't explicitly condemning it, it's sort of condoning it, or at least allowing rape to be the inevitable conclusion for a female victim, which I think says a lot about the opinion people have about women and sexual purity- you might want to consider that these scenes may only seem reviling to you, but are not really filmed in a way that firmly shows rape to be un-sexual
But who knows? It is late and half that time I don't know what I am talking about