The titillation of on-screen rape.

Most Netflix subscribers have probably heard about the new movie, Blonde, directed by Andrew Dominik. While commonly assumed to be a biopic of Marilyn Monroe, the movie is actually based on the novel Blonde, written in 1999 by Joyce Carol Oatesa fictional take on Marilyn Monroe’s life. The movie victimizes Monroe as a naive troubled woman who is seen as a sex object. The film completely failed to celebrate the contributions Monroe has made to the film industry or her commitment to becoming the second woman in the US to own a production company. Rather this movie invasively fabricates exploitative relationships between Marilyn and multiple men- ultimately, reinforcing the dumb blonde sex symbol people painted her to be.  If you have seen the film, you’ll probably recall the exploitative sexual assault scenes scattered throughout the movie. The main example is the scene of Monroe raped by the president of a film studio, Mr. Z. Take away the music, lights, and glamor of a Hollywood film and it really is just 3-hours of trauma porn. Beyond the blatant misrepresentation of Monroe, this film is an example of a larger trend at hand: the portrayal of sexual assault in movies and TV shows. 

When asked about his decision to include explicit rape scenes in Blonde, Dominik replied “the way we handle [the rape scene] is we just kind of waterski over it…I was just trying to skate through it and hit you with the consequences of it later” (qtd. in Menta). Once we get over the demeaning language Dominik uses to talk about rape (“waterski over it”…really?), there’s still a glaring problem. Anna De Armas is topless for a large part of the movie and when she isn’t getting assaulted, she’s overly sexualized and perpetually victimized. This movie is essentially the epitome of the male gaze. The “consequences” and traumatic aftermath of rape that Dominik refers to, simply aren’t explored. I argue that the sexual assault was included as just another pitying scene to shock or titillate viewers. This is the issue. 

“Cinema cannot turn sexual violence into another plot point or symbol” because utilizing symbolic rape does nothing but fuel rape culture (Lazic). In the rare case that a rape scene does serve the purpose of an “imperative” plot point, male directors are portraying on-screen rape without comprehensively unpacking the lifelong psychological and physical effects of this experience. Even worse, these directors lazily justify it as a creative decision, as if their position, as a cis man in society, should have the power to reclaim and utilize female trauma as a creative choice.

It is undeniable that sexual assault is a traumatic experience and the trauma doesn’t usually end after the assault. While it varies for people, some survivors can struggle with depression, flashbacks, and isolation in the months/years after (WCSAP). We see on-screen rape featured in many TV shows we watch today, such as Game of Thrones, Thirteen Reasons Why and Orange Is the New Black. How do these TV shows represent sexual assault differently compared to Blonde?

After backlash for featuring sexual assault in Thirteen Reasons Why, the director, Brian Yorkey, argued “as intense as…[the rape] scene is, it doesn’t even come close to the pain experienced by the people who...go through these things.” When people think rape scenes are disgusting or hard to watch they “are attaching shame to the experience” and prefer not to confront the issue.” Yorkey and his team believe “talking about it is so much better than silence” (qtd. in Lockett). Similarly, Jada Yuan, a writer for Vulture, takes a similar stance as Yorkey but for the TV show, Orange Is the New Black. Yuan applauds the show for comprehensively uncovering the trauma of sexual assault: “patient and non-judgmental exploration of their backstories...this is a show that cares deeply about telling the stories of a variety of very flawed women and perpetuating a female POV” (Yuan). Thus, the main difference between Blonde and these TV shows seems is some shows invest more time unpacking the aftermath of sexual assault. However, one aspect remains the same, no matter how explicitly on-screen rape is portrayed, it’s “bound up with the scopophilic gaze and the danger of exploitation” because “the viewer may not be an impartial witness to trauma” (Thompson & Gunne 15). I believe it’s possible to cinematically unpack the aftermath of rape without explicitly showing the event itself. Because, even if the rape scene was portrayed to raise awareness for survivors or to normalize talking about sexual assault, there is no guarantee that the viewer will interpret the producer’s intentions. Unfortunately, the viewer’s interpretation could lead to some alarming consequences. 

Two adverse repercussions of portraying rape on-screen are titillation or desensitization, in other words, viewers may actually become sexually aroused from the rape scene or desensitized to the horrors of rape after repeated exposure. Neil Malamuth, a UCLA Psychology and Communications professor, conducted research into how on-screen rape influences young adults’ understanding of gendered violence. In his findings, he reveals that “exposure to sexual violence...will be sexually arousing to a small but significant percentage of young male viewers…[and] sexual arousal to violence is one of the contributing predictors of actual aggression against women.” To some viewers, the rape scenes aren’t horrific and they’re not closing their eyes. Instead, watching on-screen rape is a pleasurable voyeuristic act for them. In another study, The Effects of Exposure to Filmed Sexual Violence on Attitudes Toward Rape, published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Weisz and Earles discuss how after watching sexually violent movie scenes, male viewers are more “accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths, more attracted to sexual aggression [and] less sympathetic toward the rape trial victim.”

Knowing the potentially harmful repercussions of displaying graphic on-screen rape, it really begs the question of how including it in movies/TV shows really instigates healthy conversations about sexual assault. The true irony is that these directors claim these scenes raise awareness and de-stigmatize conversations on sexual assault, however, research reveals that these graphic scenes actually fuel rape culture. Can we validate and unpack the traumatic aftermath of sexual assault, without actually showing the rape scenes? That was a rhetorical question because I genuinely believe we can. 

Reference List

https://hyperallergic.com/765751/stop-fetishizing-marilyn-monroes-trauma/

https://www.wcsap.org/help/about-sexual-assault/effects-sexual-assault

https://decider.com/2022/09/28/andrew-dominik-interview-blonde-fetus-scene-abortion/

www.vulture.com/2018/05/13-reasons-why-season-2-finale-rape-scene.html

https://collider.com/blonde-marilyn-monroe-movie-ana-de-armas-andrew-dominick/

https://www.crowdstaffing.com/blog/marilyn-monroe-lessons-in-cultural-fit-diversity