Rape as Storytelling: Why It Is A Cheap Out

[SacremPyrobolum]

Berserk inb4 Casual Shinji.

Why it's handled properly: the most significant rape scene (because there's lots of that in Berserk) in the story is the culmination of the most horrifying event in the manga before or after anything in it. It finally solidifies why the main character is the way he is, and why he wants so desperately to get back at the rapist. The rapist in question

Spoiler

has before said scene quite literally turned into the most evil being in the universe and killed off practically the entire cast of the series, already becoming an irredeemable monster,

I thought it was a horse.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I don't have a problem with rape and sexual abuse in narratives if it's handled sensitively and appropriately.
I thought The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the book and the film, handled the themes sexual abuse and domestic abuse really well. In most of the situations, both the abused and the abuser are portrayed somewhat sympathetically and while it has a profound impact on the characters, it's not sensationalised.

I do think it's something that can be exploited by writers in fiction though, particularly in relation to female characters. I think it has been overused as a plot device as something for a female protagonist to 'get over' to show their strength or resilience. Most protagonists will have some sort of tragic past or will experience a traumatic event, usually violent, that they have to endure but ultimately overcome to show how they've developed and refuse to let said event define them and making female characters the victims of sex, sexual abuse or rape can be the lazy and obvious option.

 

[TheSYLOH]

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.

The same can be said about any tragedy. Lost your parents, lost your brother, lost your wife, city got destroyed, abused as a kid,etc ,etc
It is the mark of a bad story teller to let any single event take over characterization.

An incident of rape is of course a profoundly awful thing to occur, but most rape victims do not choose to have that define them.
It's probably shaped a large part of them, but if rape is the sole defining moment or characteristic of the character, YOU ARE TELLING THE STORY WRONG!

 

[GabeZhul]

snip

Murder is generally seen as the subset of killing that isn't for justifiable reasons and is premeditated. You never murder in self-defense, that's a contradiction. You kill in self-defense.

Even then you're probably right, for most it's probably easier to relate to a premeditated unjustifiable murder than to a rape.

Right, I used wrong terminology. I was too concerned over not using the word "killing" over and over again like a broken record, but you are right, there are different connotations... most of the time.
Sure, usually the heroes of a story don't predetermine that they kill someone, but not always, and it's especially true for game narratives. I can count the games where there was never a situation where the protagonist storms a hideout or pursues someone with the express knowledge that they would have to kill people to do so (or in case of vengeance or "doing it for the greater good", with concrete plans for killing someone) on one hand, and almost all of them had the option of a "pacifist run" as an advertised feature. If you ask me, most of the killing in games (and some in other fiction) is murder in my book, but we don't even bat an eye because we consider these kinds of things justified, some more than others.

Also, if we are that, notice that there is no such distinction when it comes to rape. Whether it is done in the passion of the moment or by predetermination, it is viewed just as bad. In fact the only time a rapist is ever excused is if he/she was under mind control or otherwise impaired at the time (the infamous scene in Valvrave comes to mind), and even then it is usually still treated as a huge trauma and character-defining moment for both the attacker and the victim, much more emphasized than if the attacker, say, "only" tortured the victim or mutilated them.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

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.

Michonne from the Walking Dead? The comic book series, I stopped watching the TV series before she showed up, but in the comics, Michonne is brutally and repeatedly raped by the Governor. Yet later on in the series, Michonne has moved past it and it's never mentioned again. Michonne continues to be a proficient character and one of the most important assets to the group. She's certainly not 'stained' in the eyes of the audience as she's a fan-favorite.

Just like in real life, a character in a story is perfectly capable of being more than just a rape victim once it's happened. There are stories out there that handle it poorly, yes, but that doesn't mean it is something that should be off-limits to a more capable writer, and not every author that writes about someone getting victimized is a hack writer that's 'taking the easy way out' in order to get drama.

If rape gets brought up in a story and isn't handled well, chances are there are a lot of other things in the story aren't being handled well either. A bad writer will still be a bad writer, whether they write something like this or not.

 

[Gigano]

Well, perhaps it's not so much a cheap storytelling device, as it's the general audience having cheap unreflected knee-jerk reactions to it?

Of course one can't write good stories, if they're read by shit people. A good story challenges people to think and reflect, and what better way to do so than to delve into subject matters they don't reflect on?

 

[Hagi]

Right, wrong terminology. I was too concerned over not using the word "killing" over and over again like a broken record, but you are right, there are different connotations... most of the time.
Sure, most of the times the heroes of a story don't predetermine that they kill someone, but not always, and it's especially true for game narratives. I can count the games where there was never a situation where the protagonist storms a hideout or pursues someone with the express knowledge that they would have to kill people to do so (or in case of vengeance or "doing it for the greater good", with concrete plans for killing someone). That is murder in my book, but we don't even bat an eye because we consider these kinds of things justified, some more than others.

Also, if we are that, notice that there is no such distinction when it comes to rape. Whether it is done in the passion of the moment or by predetermination, it is viewed just as bad. In fact the only time a rapist is ever excused if he/she was under mind control or otherwise impaired at the time (the infamous scene in Valvrave comes to mind), and even then it is usually still it is treated as a huge trauma for both the attacker and the victim, much more emphasized than if the attacker, say, tortured the victim or mutilated them.

Most games do feature a narrative of war though, where the line between murder and killing becomes increasingly blurred. That said, the extreme popularity of games like GTA where it is without any question whatsoever murder, premeditated and without any justification whatsoever pretty much proves you right.

However, I would say there's a few distinctions when it comes to rape. Statutory rape, when the 'victim' is very near the age of consent could be seen as such although of course the question is very much whether that's still rape or not. Spousal rape might be a better example, especially in settings where pre-arranged marriages exist it's generally not treated as something worse than torture whilst still being undeniably rape.

 

[GabeZhul]

However, I would say there's a few distinctions when it comes to rape. Statutory rape, when the 'victim' is very near the age of consent could be seen as such although of course the question is very much whether that's still rape or not. Spousal rape might be a better example, especially in settings where pre-arranged marriages exist it's generally not treated as something worse than torture whilst still being undeniably rape.

I will not comment on statutory rape, as I have pretty extreme opinions on that (kids are way more mature and do so faster nowadays than lawgivers could even imagine and I think the laws relating to them need heavy revising in more ways than one, mostly regarding somehow relating age of consent to mental age instead of physical age, but I digress) and I don't want to derail the thread, but in my opinion the spousal rape issue, especially in the arranged marriage version, is not really treated as rape in general because it overlaps another issue that we have long since ironed out (or so we would like to believe), namely human rights issues.

In the case of arranged marriages, the female of the equation (especially in historical settings) is more often than not treated as property. In this case rape by the spouse becomes a means to emphasize the lack of human rights she suffers instead of being the ends in and of itself. Because of that the focus of the "outrage" shifts and rape becomes less bad in comparison to the dehumanization.

In these and all other spousal rape cases you also have to keep in mind that most human cultures are extremely family-centric, and part of this is how the family unit tend to be considered as a separate unit of governance that the outside world should not interfere with. This is the main reason why spousal- and child-abuse is so underreported since people, even the police, often considers it something of an "internal matter" that the family should solve on their own. In this regard rape also falls into this and thus it is often underplayed as just another "internal issue" that the rest of the world has nothing to do with, and leads to weird situations where a stranger breaking someone's bones is a criminal offense while someone doing the same for his/her spouse only warrants some minor warnings. Society is kind of weird like that...

 

[Kyber]

Berserk inb4 Casual Shinji.

Why it's handled properly: the most significant rape scene (because there's lots of that in Berserk) in the story is the culmination of the most horrifying event in the manga before or after anything in it. It finally solidifies why the main character is the way he is, and why he wants so desperately to get back at the rapist. The rapist in question

Spoiler

has before said scene quite literally turned into the most evil being in the universe and killed off practically the entire cast of the series, already becoming an irredeemable monster,

so it's not out of character. And as the character later on in the story becomes something that goes entirely against what his actions in the scene were, it creates a mystery around the character, as to what he really is like. The victim doesn't turn into "trying to cope with it", but instead can't take it and is mentally completely broken and reduced to a childlike state.

I still think the story reasons for the rape are questionable at best, but I can't think of another example where rape would have been so significant to the story from then on, if that makes any sense.

Thinking about it, rape is a big thing in Berserk, Guts got raped while he was a kid and could't handle anyone touching him after that, until he found someone he loved.
Berserk is just filled with love and comfort isn't it.
Also, because Berserk was mentioned, a necessary

Spoiler

GRIIFFIIIITH!!

is in order.
In other news, we might get off the boat soon, that would be nice.

 

[Drizzitdude]

Berserk inb4 Casual Shinji.

Why it's handled properly: the most significant rape scene (because there's lots of that in Berserk) in the story is the culmination of the most horrifying event in the manga before or after anything in it. It finally solidifies why the main character is the way he is, and why he wants so desperately to get back at the rapist. The rapist in question

Spoiler

has before said scene quite literally turned into the most evil being in the universe and killed off practically the entire cast of the series, already becoming an irredeemable monster,

so it's not out of character. And as the character later on in the story becomes something that goes entirely against what his actions in the scene were, it creates a mystery around the character, as to what he really is like. The victim doesn't turn into "trying to cope with it", but instead can't take it and is mentally completely broken and reduced to a childlike state.

I still think the story reasons for the rape are questionable at best, but I can't think of another example where rape would have been so significant to the story from then on, if that makes any sense.

No, this was in fact a perfect model if rape being used completely improperly, as you said yourself, it contributed nothing to his character, he was already thought of the most hideous monster of all time, and the act of rape was only something that further made him seem irredeemable, which as we have already mentioned; was unnecessary by this point. Not to mention what happens to the victim of the rape is the exact thing that the original post was about. The entire act completely destroyed her character, everything about her became completely centered on that one point in the plot and any character development prior to the act was erased completely by the act. It weighed down her character and didn't contribute at all to the story of the rapist either, it was just there.

 

[Hagi]

No, this was in fact a perfect model if rape being used completely improperly, as you said yourself, it contributed nothing to his character, he was already thought of the most hideous monster of all time, and the act of rape was only something that further made him seem irredeemable, which as we have already mentioned; was unnecessary by this point. Not to mention what happens to the victim of the rape is the exact thing that the original post was about. The entire act completely destroyed her character, everything about her became completely centered on that one point in the plot and any character development prior to the act was erased completely by the act. It weighed down her character and didn't contribute at all to the story of the rapist either, it was just there.

Got to agree with this,

it's been a while since I've watched the anime but at least there I remember thinking it greatly detracted from the villain as well.

I mean he's just 'ascended' to some sort of greater demon, granting him the power to do what he's worked his entire life towards and sacrificed everything for, to rule supremely, but he's just going to take a short break here to rape this woman for a while whilst keeping one of the most dangerous men he knows, who's come to hate him like nothing else already, alive to watch just in case some deus ex machina was running a bit late to save them.

He turned from intelligently evil to stupidly evil in that moment for me, which makes him an altogether much less interesting villain.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, there's a few thins. Firstly, rape is a very serious, and widespread social problem, about which there is a lot of very dangerous misinformation around. As mentioned, it's something that affects many people in a way that most fictional violence doesn't.

It's also very gendered. The majority of (adult) victims are women raped by men. In fiction, this is overwhelmingly the case, it's common for women to be raped by men, to the extent that it's par for the course, often claimed unrealistic to not have this going on in totally fictional worlds, but men being raped by men is a serious issue in our society (especially in prisons), and you don't see this anywhere near as frequently.

Also, it's often taken as shorthand for being Grimdark, which is lazy and not nearly as edgy as authors think it is.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I'd also add that, in the case of revenge/redemption/"spiritual journey" stories, the whole "traumatic event completely overshadows the protagonist" thing isn't limited to rape, and is in fact kind of the point. I guess an equivalent storytelling device for male characters is having their wife murdered. Losing a kid is used pretty often for either gender. I'm willing to bet you could name a whole bunch of stories that centre around the hero swearing revenge on someone who did something terrible to them. Don't really see why rape should be singled out for criticism.

I single rape out because there is so rarely a good conclusion to that story. Inigo Montoya slays his father's killer, is satisfied with that, and goes on to become the Dread Pirate Roberts. Most movies that have a child or spouse die have the parent/other spouse eventually come to terms with it, accepting the tragedy and continuing with their lives.

With rape, though, there's not often that closure. The only sense of closure any victim can get is by killing their rapist, and even then it's usually made very clear that they are never going to be fully whole again. With other tragedies, they are worked into a character by the conclusion of that arc; with rape, it's almost always an open wound, constantly being picked at, that turns septic and inevitably defines the character only by that one aspect of their past.

 

[chiggerwood]

I disagree completely. If handled with care, it's just another narrative tool. It doesn't HAVE to define the victim from then on (though it will always be a part of them). That said, it should be used sparingly and for the "right" reasons. Not for shock value or to make us simply sympathize with the victim, but to reinforce the tone of the setting/story or to give something for the character to overcome (emotionally/mentally). I hesitate to use the term "compelling", because obviously there is nothing compelling about rape, but you know, it happens in real life and seeing a character survive/work past such a heinous act can say a lot about a character's growth.

All the above only really applies to stories that can handle such content, however. It simply doesn't belong in most, which goes without saying, and though I haven't seen Maleficent I can see where Bob is coming from in his review. Simply put, there is nothing too taboo for a story, so long as it is handled with the right level of maturity and has a good reason to be there. Rape happens, that will never change. Our culture's fiction is a reflection of our reality and is often used as an outlet to air societal anxieties. I believe such issues being hashed out and explored in a well written/thought out story is preferable to burying our heads in the sand.

The only ting I would add to this, is that one thing that needs to be kept in mind when using rape as a storytelling mechanism is: Rape is not for "carnal pleasure" as the OP implied. Rape (and any other sex offense) is an act of control, an act to exert power over the victim. What most story's that use rape fail to mention is that often times after a person is raped they will often be urinated or defecated on by their rapist as an act to reinforce their power over their victim.

Another thing that I object to is that there is such a thing as an Irredeemable character. Everyone can be redeemed, no matter the action. We as a society cannot be without mercy, even towards the most heinous of offenders, and just in case you're wondering, yes. I have had a lot of bad shit happen to me; I don't like to get into it. And while the actions still sting at times, I hold no ill will towards those who have wronged me.

 

[Eamar]

I single rape out because there is so rarely a good conclusion to that story. Inigo Montoya slays his father's killer, is satisfied with that, and goes on to become the Dread Pirate Roberts. Most movies that have a child or spouse die have the parent/other spouse eventually come to terms with it, accepting the tragedy and continuing with their lives.

With rape, though, there's not often that closure. The only sense of closure any victim can get is by killing their rapist, and even then it's usually made very clear that they are never going to be fully whole again. With other tragedies, they are worked into a character by the conclusion of that arc; with rape, it's almost always an open wound, constantly being picked at, that turns septic and inevitably defines the character only by that one aspect of their past.

Sure, but I agree with the others in this thread who have said that just because rape is often handled poorly in fiction, that doesn't make rape a "cheap cop-out" plot device or something that shouldn't be used. The problem isn't the plot device, it's the writers.

 

[WindKnight]

Well, perhaps it's not so much a cheap storytelling device, as it's the general audience having cheap unreflected knee-jerk reactions to it?

Of course one can't write good stories, if they're read by shit people. A good story challenges people to think and reflect, and what better way to do so than to delve into subject matters they don't reflect on?

I think its more that it requires very careful handling, and a lot of skill, something many writers who just plonk it into a story just don't have.

And lets not get into stories where its used not for horror or motivation, but as an excuse to get some bare naked tittays on the screen for the guys to whack off to.

 

[ChristopherT]

I've been hesitant posting on this because I know nothing. However I feel if rape becomes the main descriptor of a character that's generally bad writing, doesn't always have to be, but if the writer cannot find something else to do with the character, cannot find something else for the character to do other than be related to rape, then I think (baring certain points of story and story length) the writing is not that good then.

There are some stories I'd like to bring up where characters have been raped and I think it was handled well or did not define the character, they where able to move on, but it still affected them in some way.

Veronica Mars - slipped drugs and raped in the opening episode, and it's something the character dealt with, and something that molded her, but I don't think it ever defined her. I think she's been first and foremost a junior-amateur detective.

An oddball - The Raith family in the Dresden Files. A family of succubi and incubi, where the head of the household is determined by rape. And the victor is not demonized by it.

as previously mentioned Jack from Mass Effect 2.

Dexter's Rita - abused, raped, by her husband, clearly defines a large part of her for a while in the first season, but come the second(was it the second?) it's something she has overcame through the course of the show.

I think rape in story telling does a disservice when the victim from then on is only ever a victim of rape. Or, when rape is used more as a blank descriptor, something that I think Mass Effect's Jack avoids for simply having rape be one of the many things she's been through, abused, beaten, raped, thrown away like garbage, experimented on, she went through a lot, and rape is one of those things. For other characters in a similar situation it is their one thing, and I think at times that does a disservice. When rape becomes a throw away, I think it's a disservice. Character X was raped years ago as a throw away line, not to be brought up again, not to show anything about the character, just something to attempt to add something. Yet again where Jack is concerned where rape is a basic throw away for her, so is the abuse, the neglect, and a small assortment of other problems.

 

[deathbydeath]

Why it's handled properly: the most significant rape scene (because there's lots of that in Berserk) in the story is the culmination of the most horrifying event in the manga before or after anything in it.

That only holds up for the first 5-ish pages of the scene. Once ~30 more pages of rape started to roll by, I started to suspect Muira was just drawing this because he was into it. My suspicions were confirmed when he brought out the tentacles.

OP: This could just be my straight, white, cisgendered privilegeness speaking, but I think most (not all) writers use rape as a crutch to cheaply and easily invoke anger/sympathy/shock/horror from the audience. I can think of a scene from a particularly creative author in which some terrible things happened to a young girl, but it wasn't remotely sexual and you'd be hard-pressed to interpret it as a metaphor for rape. It was far more effective for me than most every rape scene I remember (doubly so because this character had been around for a while and now we knew where she was coming from) and in my straight white cisgendered hubristic opinion I would "rank" it as being worse than rape. It all comes down to what the author is trying to do and how they're trying to do it.