OUTRAGEOUS, IRRESPONSIBLE, AND CRIMINAL NON- CONSENSUAL SEX AT A CINEMA NEAR YOU, 

The rape culture is under siege. Read this article to understand how filmmakers can film rape scenes without causing outrage and why films have sex scenes.

Have you ever watched a movie scene that left you wondering about the mental state of the cast while they filmed it? You'd think you are the only one having such a thought, but when the scene makes you wonder, millions of other people worldwide have the same thought too, and it's only a matter of time before there's public outcry. The scenes are controversial over our fetishes and fantasies because we do not want the media to normalize crime and people behaving badly. And that does not happen in usual movies only. The porn world cannot indulge your rape fetishes because the content gets regulated. It's a clean-up exercise in the movie world, but it's still happening;

Why Do Films Have Sex Scenes?

Dines (2010) explained that a film would have a sex scene because sex sells. People seem to love a movie with some soft porn, which made Halle Berry win that Oscar for the Monster's Ball. But sex in a movie is okay. Especially if the movie has been rated for adults, no one wants a movie that will not sell, and the movie- creators, try to make the movies controversial so that people may talk and more may watch as it is a strategy. But the line is drawn when viewers realize that the sex scene was rape. Viewers will glamorize sex scenes, but a rape scene will cause outrage among most people. We live at a time when women are sensitive about how they are treated. All kinds of movements meant to shoot down movies tend to violate women's rights and freedoms.

How Movie Creators Can Film Rape Scenes Without Causing Outrage

Rape is a reality, and not filming it will. The following are the steps of the things that the filmmaker should take to ensure that the film does not cause outrage;

The Cast Must Give Consent.

The consent should be formal and not verbal because rape is a serious issue, and you do not want to argue against a cast in the future about verbal consent because the cast may turn against you. If the cast says that the scene was not consensual, you cannot argue if the consent was informal. Angel (2022) stated that the film should not glamorize sex. According to today's standards, it is impossible to make a film that glamorizes rape and get away with it because society does not take rape lightly since it is a crime. You cannot create a movie to glorify crime. It may be banned. It will not matter that the cast consented to the scene. The viewers must be comforted when the criminal gets punished unless the movie is based on real events.

The Cast Should Be Comfortable

The cast should not be able to trust that the film will adhere to the script and that there will be no surprise element, as in the movie, The Last Tango, where a rape scene was introduced without the female's consent. She did not expect it because it was not in the script. The female, later on, denied that it was consensual and commented that she felt " a little raped", a sign that she felt violated.

The Film Must Have An Age Rating.

Van Rijn et al. (2009) explained that having an age rating is a guideline and not the law in most countries. You do not want to release a film; it sparks outrage because it was either improperly rated or not rated. The movies should warn people that the film is inappropriate for persons of a particular age group so that if they happen to watch it, it will not be their fault.

The Rape Scene Should Not Be Too Graphic.

It may be tempting to want to draw a certain reaction from the viewers, but making the scene too graphic is unnecessary. Making the rape scene too graphic to get may harm your ratings. You might be forced to soften or censor the scene or even get banned. Not all publicity is good publicity.

Examples Of Controversial Films with Rape Scenes

The following are some examples of films with rape scenes that are controversial;

The Last Tango

Marlon Brandon "rapes" Maria Schneider using butter as a lubricant in a certain scene in the Last Tango. The scene caused outrage not only because of the scene but because Maria Schneider seemed barely legal while Brando seemed way older. It made people wonder about Brandon's age at the time of the filming. He was 48, and Maria was 19. At first, the outrage was calmed by the director, Bernardo Bertolucci, who stated that Maria had given her consent, but later on, Maria claimed that the scene was not a part of the script. At that time, Maria was new to the big screen, and the scene seemingly hounded her until she died in 2011. Bertolucci confessed that the scene was not scripted because he wanted to capture a real, angry reaction from her. In actuality, he dehumanized Maria and acted as if her consent was not important and instead went on to achieve what he thought was best for everyone. The dehumanization of the woman. Moon & Reger (2014) discussed that the Last Tango was filmed in 1972, but it is still tops of the most controversial movies.

I Spit On The Grave

The movie is about a writer who went to work out of town and was trailed by men who wanted to ' teach her a lesson because they felt she was snobbish. They raped and tortured her and left her dying. She, however, gets up and plans an act of revenge. I spit on the grave is a horror movie, and the scene that sticks out is the rape scene. Very outrageous that a filmmaker would have such an imagination. When the movie ends, you will wonder what everyone who created it felt about it. The rape and torture scenes towards the woman and her revenge on the men drag on for too long. It is eventually torturing the viewer.

Irreversible

In the movie, Rentschler (2014) explained that the woman is raped, and her lover and ex-lover seek revenge on her behalf. There were mixed reactions towards Irreversible. Some people praised the performances and the director, but others criticized its graphic portrayal of rape and violence. American film critic Roger Ebert referred to Irreversible as "a movie so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable". And for sure, during its premiere, most women walked out.

Conclusion

The film- industry is a business that must make interesting films. People want to watch interesting films, and introducing a sex scene has always been the shortcut. The world is conscious now, unlike in the past when the filmmakers could get away with anything. There exist activists standing up against rape culture and individuals who want the rape culture to be canceled. A film can be neat and have appropriate content. And if there is a rape scene, the viewer should feel that the scene was necessary. No one will applaud a rape scene that was meant for entertainment. No one is laughing in public with the rape culture.

References

Angel, K. (2022). Tomorrow sex will be good again: Women and desire in the age of consent. Verso Books.

Dines, G. (2010). Portland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality. Beacon Press.

Moon, S., & Reger, J. (2014). “YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN:” RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND CONSENT IN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN DATING BOOKS. Journal of Integrated Social Sciences, 4(1), 55-74.

Rentschler, C. A. (2014). Rape culture and the feminist politics of social media. Girlhood Studies, 7(1), 65-82.

van Rijn, R. R., Lequin, M. H., & Thodberg, H. H. (2009). Automatic determination of Greulich and Pyle bone age in healthy Dutch children. Pediatric radiology, 39(6), 591-597.