Rape as Storytelling: Why It Is A Cheap Out

[Lieju]

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.

That's one of my main problems in how rape is often handled. We want sex in this but oh no, we can't have a woman seeking sex, so let's make it non-consensual so she is a victim.

This is way too common in stuff aimed at women as well, due to the double-standard that women shouldn't want sex.
So they need to be coerced to it by the love interest, so they'll stay 'pure'.
(See 50 shades of Gray for example)

Rape is just used way too lightly too often, and in a way that doesn't focus on the victim.
When telling a story, the difference in murder and rape is that with murder (or death in general) it's about those left behind, how they deal, their sorrow etc. Rape leaves the victim alive, and handling it like the person it mostly concerns is the victim's boyfriend/father/brother/etc and not the victim is wrong.

Then there is also the danger of reinforcing harmful preconceptions. 'men can't be raped', 'she deserved it', 'it's only rape if it's a danger jumping at you on a dark alley' etc.

Rape can be used well in a story, but my advice for writers is not to use it unless you're certain.

 

[shootthebandit]

The only movie I can think of that tackles rape differently (well sexual assault) is crash. The victim is sexual assaulted by a cop who later on in the movie saves her life. Its a bit of a moral conundrum

 

[Imp_Emissary]

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.

In addition to what Windknight said, I would also like to ask what the usual depiction of rape actually "challenges" people to think and reflect upon. Besides stories focused on discussing rape and sexual assault rape is never something "challenging" to the audience, it's almost always some villain attacking some woman in a way that lets everyone know that he's irredeemable and she's sympathetic. Unless, "that's horrible!" was the thought/reflection you had in mind, there's little that's actually intellectually provocative about a typical rape scene.

If you want people to reflect upon rape, you should depict something less ubiquitously accepted as evil like spousal or date rape, where those involves might not consider what's happening a crime. Something like that might actually make people think about actual rape instead of just think about how you have to be some clearly horrible monster to commit rape.

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with LifeCharacter. I'm not convinced that you can "explore" rape in narratives as much as you can with other crimes like theft or murder.

That said, it could be used to explore more about how rape is viewed by the public, the victims, and the rapist themselves.

Like LifeCharacter mentioned, a few issues that could be explored would be date or spousal rape.
Until 1970, Spousal Rape was not counted as rape in the U.S. and wasn't made illegal in all states until 1993.

Depicting rape in media is an important thing, because it can help people to learn more about it, which can help to decrease it, and maybe even help out the victims with coping.
However, like most others have said, it should be handled with care and not done just to have it there.

 

[Blow_Pop]

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.

I fully agree with this. The problem lies, however, in the fact that it's almost never handled well. Out of all the books I've read, I don't think I've ever seen a writer handle it well. Most of the time it's just a cheap plot device.

I mean hell, look at half the romance books out there(well what I've read at least). 9 out of 10 times the dashing and exciting and mysterious male usually either coerces or outright rapes the female lead and then she falls madly in love with him through the power of sex. That is so not how it happens. Hell, the most popular "romance" story right now, 50SoG (which I still refuse to call a romance or a love story because it's not) has, at one point, the male lead raping the female (not to mention the countless consent violations).

Out of books, movies, video games, and music I can't think of a single instance in which I've seen it used as anything BUT a cheap plot device. And tbh, it pulls me out of whatever world I'm living in when it happens and makes it not as enjoyable as it was.

Correction...The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've read the book and seen both versions of the film (original in Swedish and the new one that was released a few years ago). IF I am remember correctly of the Millennium trilogy(going to have to re read this now) apart from the mention of it in the first book, it doesn't really define her. It happens, she gets her revenge, then other things happen that aren't related to it. Then again it's been 3 or 4 years since I first read it so my brain's a bit fuzzy on events.

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.

Like hell it's not commonly mentioned in entertainment. Almost every film, game, etc. that has a part that takes place in prison or has someone getting sent to jail has references to "dropping the soap". It's so common that it's become a cliche.

Part of the problem with that is that society still doesn't seem to understand that men can get raped and that it is just as bad as a woman getting raped. Most of the things I can think about have the mention of "don't drop the soap" but that's as far as it gets. Of course then again society still blames the victims of rape instead of the rapists so there's that too....

The only movie I can think of that tackles rape differently (well sexual assault) is crash. The victim is sexual assaulted by a cop who later on in the movie saves her life. Its a bit of a moral conundrum

mother fucker. I forgot about that. Yeah that would have to go on my very short list of ways that rape/sexual assault are handled well in media.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Rape is no more a cheap storytelling tactic than murder. Notice, I did not say killing, I said murder.

Movies will show villains kill the defenseless to set the tone that they are bad. Stories use rape to the same end. Ultimately, murder is as bad or worse than rape. It may seem less villainous when seen on-screen, but it is still a vicious crime used as a storytelling shortcut.

Should film and other stories use more subtlety instead of these shortcuts? I don't know. I suspect the answer to that varies with what the person creating the story wants to do with it. I've heard good things about those books about a woman with a tattoo though, and I've also heard some pretty rapey things about it, so its not as if it never works to use as a plot device.

 

[Lilikins]

Rape is no more a cheap storytelling tactic than murder. Notice, I did not say killing, I said murder.

Movies will show villains kill the defenseless to set the tone that they are bad. Stories use rape to the same end. Ultimately, murder is as bad or worse than rape. It may seem less villainous when seen on-screen, but it is still a vicious crime used as a storytelling shortcut.

Should film and other stories use more subtlety instead of these shortcuts? I don't know. I suspect the answer to that varies with what the person creating the story wants to do with it. I've heard good things about those books about a woman with a tattoo though, and I've also heard some pretty rapey things about it, so its not as if it never works to use as a plot device.

Ill tag along with this one, personally speaking, rape is one of the tabboos for me. Though I do know that many find it alluring in a controlled environment, I just plainly dont like it, so either forced or tolerated, I really dont like it. (each to their own mind you, this is just my personal opinion)

Yet nevertheless, being as it is, I can clearly see the after effects of it being a motivation to the specific character, much as 2012 Wont Happen said.

 

[DementedSheep]

Eh depends on how its done really. It cheap motivation but then so is family murdered or captured. If they throw it in at every opportunity or use it multiple times on the same character (I'm looking at you The Witcher) it's not good.

It has far more pitfalls than murder which is why you need to be more careful about it and not just throw it in whenever. For example being raped out of being a prude or a lesbian which is awful on so many levels. I read a book where a girl who didn't have much interest in sex because of her career and distaste for sex before marriage got raped. She immediately (as in on the same night) fucked the guy who rescued her as well as started sleeping around in general and offering to spread her legs for gain because "oh well not a virgin", her mother later said it was a good thing she got raped because she been a virgin to long and she conceded that her mother had a point. Way to ruin a book. Then of course you get "funny" rape (which how men being raped/ threatened with rape is usually presented) or what starts out as rape but the person enjoys it so it okay now (this is disturbingly common) or the character accepts it because they were being selfish by withholding sex. It also not good when that is the defining reason a "normal" women is now "tough" and join some military or a mercenary group.

 

[eberg]

Sometimes, it seems like writers can't think of anything interesting to do with a female character aside from having them raped or getting pregnant. I'm almost tempted to go through TV shows with female leads and see how many I can find that didn't have them sexually assaulted or pregnant before the show ended.

 

[Thaluikhain]

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.

Like hell it's not commonly mentioned in entertainment. Almost every film, game, etc. that has a part that takes place in prison or has someone getting sent to jail has references to "dropping the soap". It's so common that it's become a cliche.

Sure, it's often mentioned, as a throwaway line, often as a joke. Actually having it be a plot point, something that happens to a main(ish) character is much more unusual.

Sometimes, it seems like writers can't think of anything interesting to do with a female character aside from having them raped or getting pregnant. I'm almost tempted to go through TV shows with female leads and see how many I can find that didn't have them sexually assaulted or pregnant before the show ended.

I can remember where, but someone had written an article about making games of D&D more friendly to female players.

One of the main points was "Don't have the female character raped and impregnated by a m0nster", because apparently that's a thing that commonly happens enough that it's worth advising people not to do.

 

[Darkmantle]

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.

Like hell it's not commonly mentioned in entertainment. Almost every film, game, etc. that has a part that takes place in prison or has someone getting sent to jail has references to "dropping the soap". It's so common that it's become a cliche.

Sure, it's often mentioned, as a throwaway line, often as a joke. Actually having it be a plot point, something that happens to a main(ish) character is much more unusual.

Sometimes, it seems like writers can't think of anything interesting to do with a female character aside from having them raped or getting pregnant. I'm almost tempted to go through TV shows with female leads and see how many I can find that didn't have them sexually assaulted or pregnant before the show ended.

I can remember where, but someone had written an article about making games of D&D more friendly to female players.

One of the main points was "Don't have the female character raped and impregnated by a m0nster", because apparently that's a thing that commonly happens enough that it's worth advising people not to do.

I generally DM for my group, and I pretty much always forcefully leave gender politics out of my games, but I've had to stay the hand of some newer DMs with shit like that. I'm just thankful they came to me for advice before trying to put that shit actually in game in front of everyone.

Some people have weird hang-ups.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I can remember where, but someone had written an article about making games of D&D more friendly to female players.

One of the main points was "Don't have the female character raped and impregnated by a m0nster", because apparently that's a thing that commonly happens enough that it's worth advising people not to do.

Whu- but... why would you... I just... du... da fuq?

How is it people think this is a good idea?!

Eh, the whole mystical pregnancy. How many long running fantasy or sci-fi series don't deal with this in some way (usually without consent of the women)?

I'm thinking that the ones that don't probably are mostly those without female characters.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I believe it?s implied in Aoi Hana that the main character, Fumi Manjome, was a victim of at least statutory rape by her older cousin Chizu (who later marries a man and seems to just forget about it), but since Fumi was already a painfully shy individual before, it doesn?t really define her, and she still enters in a subsequently more healthy lesbian relationship.

And The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She seems to be more angered than saddened at the act, swiftly gets her revenge, and continues being a badass.