The Kickass 2 rape joke (Spoilers? Not really)

[A Weakgeek]

So yeah, Im pretty suprised there isn't a thread about this seeing how much people love talking about rape here.

So without spoiling anything, theres a scene in Kickass 2 where a character threatens to rape another character, while having his friend restrain her. This is played pretty much seriously until the rapist isn't able to get an erection and hilarity insues. What follows is the still restrained woman makes the rapist feel bad by commenting harshly on his penis, and instead of rape the woman is beaten up and hospitalized.

I found myself unable to laugh at this, somewhat to my own dismay. I guess the socialcrusaders finally got to me on some geniouine level.

So I ask you, fellow escapists, did you find the scene funny? Or, alternatively, for those who havent seen it, does my description sound offensive to you?

 

[The Wykydtron]

"So yeah, Im pretty suprised there isn't a thread about this seeing how much people love talking about rape here."

Most unintenionally funny sentence i've read for awhile. So glad you didn't phrase that any more tactfully

OT: That sounds hilarious. When does Kickass 2 come out in Europe again? I was going to watch it anyway but this is even more of a hook.

 

[A Weakgeek]

"So yeah, Im pretty suprised there isn't a thread about this seeing how much people love talking about rape here."

Most unintenionally funny sentence i've read for awhile. So glad you didn't phrase that any more tactfully

OT: That sounds hilarious. When does Kickass 2 come out in Europe again? I was going to watch it anyway but this is even more of a hook.

Well in Finland, which I consider to be the arse end of Europe when it comes to movies premiered it yesterday. Id assume its out everywhere else too.

I didn't find it funny, but in comparison to the actual comic it's much better.

Spoiler: Kick-Ass 2 Comic Spoiler

In the comic the gang rape goes through, complete with the girl shivering and bloodied while the gang stand above her and sip up their flies after the act. How does this progress the plot you ask? Develop the characters? It doesn't. It exists to show that the bad guys...

...are bad. And people wonder why Mark Millar is detested. The guy is obsessed with rape scenes for shock value.

I don't know, which do you guys think is better? Having rape happen and use it for shock value, or have attempted rape and laugh at it?

 

[Genocidicles]

The butt of the joke is the rapist, not the victim. So there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Montezuma's Lawyer]

The butt of the joke is the rapist, not the victim. So there's nothing wrong with it.

This.

The entire point of the scene is to show that he isnt as evil as he thinks he is, that he's just a sad pathetic kid.

He cant kill a dog, and he cant commit rape, he isnt what he's trying to be.

 

[Legion]

I haven't seen it, but if this is true:

The butt of the joke is the rapist, not the victim. So there's nothing wrong with it.

I'd be inclined to agree. A joke mocking rape victims would be horrible, but mocking people who do bad things is generally speaking not something I object to.

I mean, is it that much different from the scene in Casino Royale when Bond mocks the person torturing him? The joke involves torture, but it's not laughing at the person undergoing it. Making a joke involving a bad situation is not the same thing as saying that situation is amusing after all.

 

[Acton Hank]

I didn't find it funny, but in comparison to the actual comic it's much better.

Spoiler: Kick-Ass 2 Comic Spoiler

In the comic the gang rape goes through, complete with the girl shivering and bloodied while the gang stand above her and sip up their flies after the act. How does this progress the plot you ask? Develop the characters? It doesn't. It exists to show that the bad guys...

...are bad. And people wonder why Mark Millar is detested. The guy is obsessed with rape scenes for shock value.

Don't forget that they also put a bullet in the head of her family just to make sure they were completely evil.

I did laugh at the rape joke in the movie, I guess I just have a nasty sense of humor.

 

[IceForce]

Well that's one way of handling a rape scene I suppose.

I haven't seen the movie, but I can't see myself laughing at this scene.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

The butt of the joke is the rapist, not the victim. So there's nothing wrong with it.

Going to go with this. No victim blaming, no controversial political statements. I personally don't find it funny but it's certainly not offensive.

But considering this *is* the Escapist, there's going to be a flame war over how rape jokes are off limits in...

 

[knight steel]

I'm pissed that they changed the scene and "censored" it-They shouldn't have changed anything but showed it how it was meant to be played out.But that just my personal take it,I'm the fucked up sort that likes seeing the vulgar and absolutely horrible and get a thrill when the line is pushed to the very extreme or even past it .

 

[ezaviel]

I'm pissed that they changed the scene and "censored" it-They shouldn't have changed anything but showed it how it was meant to be played out.But that just my personal take it,I'm the fucked up sort that likes seeing the vulgar and absolutely horrible and get a thrill when the line is pushed to the very extreme or even past it .

Except that they made a lot of changes from the comics, they are going for a different tone. So why would they leave a scene like as it was in the comics if they could make it fit in with their new tone?

 

[knight steel]

I'm pissed that they changed the scene and "censored" it-They shouldn't have changed anything but showed it how it was meant to be played out.But that just my personal take it,I'm the fucked up sort that likes seeing the vulgar and absolutely horrible and get a thrill when the line is pushed to the very extreme or even past it .

Except that they made a lot of changes from the comics, they are going for a different tone. So why would they leave a scene like as it was in the comics if they could make it fit in with their new tone?

They shouldn't-what I'm saying is that the tone shouldn't have been changed in the first place and that I disagree with the general direction they went in

 

[Aramis Night]

When I was a toddler, I saw my mother get raped at knifepoint. I was in the bed with her when it happened, and i remember it rather vividly to this day. I had to stay absolutely still and quiet so he didn't know i was there or I would have likely been killed. The experience has left a mark on me.

Fast forward to me at 17. I was drugged and raped by my first GF. Not a violent event, but i was left with a crippling feeling of betrayal/confusion(I did genuinely love her after all).

I don't bring this up because i don't want rape in my entertainment. I have no problem with movies showing graphic depictions of rape, even if it is gratuitous. I am however happy that they chose to approach the rape the way they did in Kick Ass 2. In other movies where they do have a rape scene, I get incredibly uncomfortable and have to leave. I don't want movies to not show rape, i just cant watch those scenes myself. This scene in Kick Ass 2 may be an exception. I'm looking forward to seeing it and seeing if i can handle it.

 

[Yuuki]

I don't really believe in giving the topic of rape "special treatment" compared to all the other horrific topics out there. Nobody is going to convince me whether murder better/worse worse than rape, or whether rape is better/worse than torture, etc.

I couldn't give two shits even if there was a rape scene in Kick Ass 2 that was taking the piss out of the VICTIM instead of the rapist because that is one of the purposes of the movie, to break boundaries on all fronts in terms of gore/realism/etc and go for shock value.

Also can this thread please be merged with the other one? Don't need the exact same happening in two threads at once:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.825681-Kick-Ass-2-Did-they-go-too-far-this-time-Spoilers

When I was a toddler, I saw my mother get raped at knifepoint. I was in the bed with her when it happened, and i remember it rather vividly to this day. I had to stay absolutely still and quiet so he didn't know i was there or I would have likely been killed. The experience has left a mark on me.

Fast forward to me at 17. I was drugged and raped by my first GF. Not a violent event, but i was left with a crippling feeling of betrayal/confusion(I did genuinely love her after all).

I don't bring this up because i don't want rape in my entertainment. I have no problem with movies showing graphic depictions of rape, even if it is gratuitous. I am however happy that they chose to approach the rape the way they did in Kick Ass 2. In other movies where they do have a rape scene, I get incredibly uncomfortable and have to leave. I don't want movies to not show rape, i just cant watch those scenes myself. This scene in Kick Ass 2 may be an exception. I'm looking forward to seeing it and seeing if i can handle it.

My parents were killed in front of me.
Now every time I see someone's parents getting murdered in a movie, I get incredibly uncomfortable and have to leave. I don't want parential-murder in my entertainment.

Ok not really, but my point is that we all come from different walks of life shaped by different experiences. We have to find a way to deal with things we face in our own way. It's natural to get uncomfortable when rape is depicted in a movie, especially if you have experienced it yourself. You have to find a way to deal with it - whether it's getting up and leaving, or criticizing the movie for showing such a thing.
But it is naive to expect things to be changed for you. If the director/screenwriter wants rape to be included in their media for whichever reasons and they decide to NOT do it how Kick Ass 2 did it, they will put it there, there is nothing you can do about it, and it is a tad selfish/self-centered if you demand that all forms of media start excluding/avoiding that kind of rape just for you.