Aphrael (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverthunder) wrote2012-01-01 09:40 pm
silverthunder) wrote2012-01-01 09:40 pm
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Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I went and saw the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie today with my parents and one of my sisters. I was the only person in our group who hadn't yet read the book. After the movie was over, and we were out in the theater lobby, my sister asked me if seeing the movie made me want to read the book.
I told her that, honestly, it didn't really. And I enjoyed most of the movie. The mystery was cleverly developed, the characters were decent (the main female was actually fairly interesting), and I didn't look at my watch even once during the two and a half hour runtime. The story engaged me.
The thing that turned me off was the graphic rape.
I'm not exactly prudish. I had no issues with the other sex scenes, but the rape? Nearly made me physically ill. And it was frightening! She ended up dealing with it on her own terms, but at the time I was sick with how easy it was for him to impose this. How much power he had over her, extorting sex for food and rent money. The fact that her helplessness and vulnerability turned him on more. I just can't keep that reality at an abstract distance; it's too real, and it's too awful.
This is the sort of thing I don't like seeing in my fiction. The world is a sick place, yes. It's probably a sad reality in far too many cases. But why is it here? Why is it in my entertainment? Why do I need to be delivered this kind of thing for "shock" value, or to provide an explanation for the victim to have developed psychological issue? The story wouldn't have suffered for its exclusion.
I don't mind sex in my fiction (in many cases, it's welcome). But not this. Not as graphic violence. Not when there's a perpetrator and a victim involved.
This is probably one of the many reasons why, if I were to ever try to get a story published, it would never be mainstream adult-oriented fiction.
I told her that, honestly, it didn't really. And I enjoyed most of the movie. The mystery was cleverly developed, the characters were decent (the main female was actually fairly interesting), and I didn't look at my watch even once during the two and a half hour runtime. The story engaged me.
The thing that turned me off was the graphic rape.
I'm not exactly prudish. I had no issues with the other sex scenes, but the rape? Nearly made me physically ill. And it was frightening! She ended up dealing with it on her own terms, but at the time I was sick with how easy it was for him to impose this. How much power he had over her, extorting sex for food and rent money. The fact that her helplessness and vulnerability turned him on more. I just can't keep that reality at an abstract distance; it's too real, and it's too awful.
This is the sort of thing I don't like seeing in my fiction. The world is a sick place, yes. It's probably a sad reality in far too many cases. But why is it here? Why is it in my entertainment? Why do I need to be delivered this kind of thing for "shock" value, or to provide an explanation for the victim to have developed psychological issue? The story wouldn't have suffered for its exclusion.
I don't mind sex in my fiction (in many cases, it's welcome). But not this. Not as graphic violence. Not when there's a perpetrator and a victim involved.
This is probably one of the many reasons why, if I were to ever try to get a story published, it would never be mainstream adult-oriented fiction.
no subject
Also while I don't think rape should always be kept out as a topic in media all too often... it's so badly done. Very badly done. Even if its not shown graphically and maybe just mentioned or they do the 'fade to black' deal. At its very worst, its victim blaming. Or involves the bloody male main character protecting a female one from the bad men simply to push the male characters story along. Joss Whedon is pretty piss poor at covering the topic from what I gather for instance- and sex in general when it comes to women even without the idea of sexual assault.
Sometimes its just covered for shock value, to raise a male characters status/gain character development or what have you. All too often it feels majorly exploitative. It's horrible. And I hate it.
It probably can be discussed or used in media in better ways, in ways which while dark aren't exploitative but I've really yet to see it in all honesty for myself. And its probably triggering as all hell for a good many people who have gone through it. I mean warnings are sometime pretty damn bad: they may mention sexual situations and violence.... but not that rape is somewhere in there.
no subject
The movie falls into other tropes I didn't like, such as the older man/younger woman romance - coming very close to this trope, except that she doesn't need his help, he needs hers, and she does all the saving. I wasn't turned off of the story by this, by any means.
The rape scenes turned me off, and a lot of it was because I couldn't stand that they were clearly there for shock value. You can argue that it was just necessary, because it totally explains how fucked up the main female character is and why she has issues, and blah blah fucking blah. But there are people who have issues and are fucked up who have not been raped; it is not necessary. The author made a conscious decision to use sex crimes here, and a lot of it most likely was for "shock". Also: if she were a male character, his issues would not be caused by rape.
Another thing that I didn't mention in my original post: sex is EVERYWHERE in this movie. The main male character is sleeping with his married co-worker, something which had wrecked his marriage. The main female character has a pretty pointless lesbian sex scene which I think is only supposed to show that she is promiscuous. There is sex between the two main characters, which had no build-up and (in my opinion) contained no chemistry whatsoever.
And then there's the whole murder mystery, which involves a serial killer who rapes and brutally kills young women. Not to mention the girl they were looking for... I won't say much here, in case you wanted to read/watch this, but yeah. Rape was involved.
And yeah, I really wish there was a better warning for this movie than "sexual content". It's ridiculous that they don't warn for rape, especially since most rape survivors would likely be traumatized by those scenes.