According to Moviebob (I haven't seen it yet), in the new Maleficent movie she got 'raped' by having her angel wings clipped. As he points out, this makes it really difficult to sympathize with any of the humans, and will likely have the audience rooting for her. After all, she got raped; who wouldn't give her anything but support in casting down her rapists?
This reminded me of a recent podcast by Dungeons and Randomness[footnote] a podcast about 3 different groups playing D&D in the same world, masterfully orchestrated by Jason Massey. Odds are good that if you're reading this you like dorky things and comedy, so I recommend listening to it.[/footnote] where rape was brought up. I'll put a decent explanation in spoiler tags, but basically there is a female character who had something awful done to her by a male character, something that was never explained previously. The DM consciously chose to avoid rape, because that would ruin both characters.
As Jason explains a bit at the round table, rape in a story does a disservice to both characters. For the rapist, they are utterly irredeemable, and it cheapens any other motivation they may have; they aren't after power, or glory, or wealth, just vicious carnal pleasure. The rape will permanently stain their every action in the minds of the audience.
For the victim, it turns their life into "how do they deal with getting raped?" Any previous motivations are swept away, and anything else they may want- love, family, control, whatever- are all viewed as responses to the rape. The rape permanently stains their every action in the minds of the audience.
Moviebob reminded me of how cheap using rape in a story can be, and how often it's done incorrectly. Rape is a big lead weight dropped on the rubber sheet of the narrative, one that bends everything around it. Having a female character [footnote]Let's be honest, it's almost always a woman, especially when it's part of an hidden tragic backstory.[/footnote] get raped, or have rape in their past, usually does almost nothing that helps move the story, and wrecks both the victim and the rapist as characters. It says to the audience with the worst form of heavy-handedness: "She's right. He's evil. Anything he does is evil, and anything that happens to him is justified. Also, she will suffer forever as she deals with this, but whatever she does to cope is justified."
Anyways, that's my take on the subject. What do you think? Any stories you know that actually handle rape well? Can it be handled well, at least outside of a drama specifically about the rape (i.e. the rape is only part of a larger story)?
This reminded me of a recent podcast by Dungeons and Randomness[footnote] a podcast about 3 different groups playing D&D in the same world, masterfully orchestrated by Jason Massey. Odds are good that if you're reading this you like dorky things and comedy, so I recommend listening to it.[/footnote] where rape was brought up. I'll put a decent explanation in spoiler tags, but basically there is a female character who had something awful done to her by a male character, something that was never explained previously. The DM consciously chose to avoid rape, because that would ruin both characters.
Basically, there is a girl named Briahna who has magic fuelled by her emotions. There were hints that she had suffered at the hands of the Lord of Winterhaven, Ian Serverus, and a lot of people assumed that the suffering was rape. It turns out that during a battle against an exterior foe, Ian killed the previous Lord in the chaos, as well as Bri's father (who was fighting beside them) in order to take the throne for himself. When Bri confronted him about this (after witnessing from the shadows) he convinced everyone that her magic made her dangerous and unstable, and she was driven from the city.
As Jason explains a bit at the round table, rape in a story does a disservice to both characters. For the rapist, they are utterly irredeemable, and it cheapens any other motivation they may have; they aren't after power, or glory, or wealth, just vicious carnal pleasure. The rape will permanently stain their every action in the minds of the audience.
For the victim, it turns their life into "how do they deal with getting raped?" Any previous motivations are swept away, and anything else they may want- love, family, control, whatever- are all viewed as responses to the rape. The rape permanently stains their every action in the minds of the audience.
Moviebob reminded me of how cheap using rape in a story can be, and how often it's done incorrectly. Rape is a big lead weight dropped on the rubber sheet of the narrative, one that bends everything around it. Having a female character [footnote]Let's be honest, it's almost always a woman, especially when it's part of an hidden tragic backstory.[/footnote] get raped, or have rape in their past, usually does almost nothing that helps move the story, and wrecks both the victim and the rapist as characters. It says to the audience with the worst form of heavy-handedness: "She's right. He's evil. Anything he does is evil, and anything that happens to him is justified. Also, she will suffer forever as she deals with this, but whatever she does to cope is justified."
Anyways, that's my take on the subject. What do you think? Any stories you know that actually handle rape well? Can it be handled well, at least outside of a drama specifically about the rape (i.e. the rape is only part of a larger story)?
