The notorious book-to-film adaptation of “It Ends With Us,” written by Colleen Hoover and directed by Justin Baldoni, began the current must-needed discussion on the morality of sexual violence depictions in movies. Advertising itself as a love triangle rom-com for young women, viewers with no prior knowledge of the book were exposed to scenes of domestic violence and rape. The misleading of audiences alongside the exploitation of traumatic experiences did not sit well with viewers, especially those who were survivors of sexual violence.
However, “It Ends With Us” is not the only movie to delve into the triggering topics of sexual violence. Rape is often improperly used as a lazy plot device for character development. Around 20 percent of women in the United States have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes. By using a shared traumatic experience, directors lazily and slopily write these scenes to garner sympathy for the survivor and typically how they overcome it.
This is a cheap out for directors trying to create depth or edginess of emotional perseverance. Rape should never be a plot line. It is a real and horrific experience people go through constantly. By perpetuating it as a “character arc,” the abuse is no longer seen as unjust, but rather as vital for the story.
Movies featuring rape give no regard for those who have gone through this traumatic experience. Graphic scenes of violent rape do not uplift survivors. Surprising or unexpected scenes of sexual violence with no warning only serve to trigger those who have survived. Under the assumption that including sexual assault will make you uncomfortable, directors still feel the need to include these elements in their stories. Showing rape for the sake of a plot is not worth trivializing sexual violence, especially because of the disservice it does to the discussion around rape culture. No one who has survived an assault wants to relive it on the big screen.
Needless to say, trauma should never be used for sensationalization. It is entirely unnecessary and incredibly damaging. There is no excuse for exploiting a system of abuse and attempting to normalize it, especially when directors and writers include detailed scenes of rape in media. When rape or sexual violence are used in movies, regardless of their intention, they create a narrative that these experiences are normal. This displaces any responsibility of the perpetrator onto the survivor to fight through.
But just saying someone was assaulted doesn’t seem to cut it for some. Explicit and pornographic scenes of sexual violence are often thrown into the storyboard. This comes with the intent to elicit a greater response to the trauma, but it is entirely unnecessary. Rape does not need to be seen in the movie for it to be taken with legitimacy. The narrative that rape has to be seen to be believed inherently gives into victim blaming and the idea that the audience must see this or it never happened. Some audiences improperly interpret these detailed and sometimes long features in movies to be sexual.
The line between rape and “grey area rape” is continuing to be blurred with porn culture. In Season 4 of “Game of Thrones,” the director Alex Graves unintentionally created a rape scene but displayed it as sensual. The character Jaime Lannister raped his sister Cersei despite her yelling “no” and “stop.” Graves eventually ended up claiming that “it became consensual by the end because anything for them ultimately results in a turn-on, especially a power struggle.” Audiences, as well as directors, have begun to lose touch with the reality of rape culture and discussions around consent.
Additionally, the book-to-film adaptation “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” written by Stieg Larsson and directed by David Fincher, features graphic rape scenes, and audiences misunderstood the messaging and instead fantasized about the brutal scene. With a Google search of the rape scene, results appeared under the titles of “hot nude/sex scene” and “Rooney Mara shows her nice tits and ass in her nude and sex scenes.” Rape scenes that are morphed into pornography do nothing to bring awareness to the horrors of sexual violence, instead appealing to rape culture and non-consenting sex.
Sexual violence in movies is entirely unnecessary and only further pushes the normalization of rape. These triggering scenes are not intended to uplift survivors but rather garner attention and lazily attempt to advance the plot. Films such as these serve no purpose in larger discussions about rape and continue to normalize the horrific culture we live in today.
