The reel depiction of rape

By Soofia Says

Advertisements coax us to buy products we don’t need, porn is used to elicit certain instinctive responses, stories on screen make us laugh or cry and extreme violence on the tube desensitises our children from bloodshed. Such is the power of audio-visual imagery.

Reel life and real life have a closely interconnected relationship in which movies depict real life while possibilities and perceptions in turn impact our reality. The representation of women in films has changed over time, as their status continues to evolve in real life. The woman of today is considered more confident, with her strength and intelligence relatively more acceptable in our largely male dominated society. But somehow the female characters in films, by and large, have remained short of fully embracing that change.

The film industry seems hell bent on portraying men as predators and women as bait, if not the victim. Audience seem as eager to not just accept but enjoy this portrayal. ‘It’s like the movies are trying to convince us to deny any revolutionary change in the real status of women.’

Rape her, she deserves it; grope her, she wants it; gape at her, she desires it. These are the key messages being communicated, accepted and at some level implemented for real.

While rape sequences in these movies were shown in disturbing detail, the moral of the story strongly remained that rape is a horrific experience and a barbaric crime.

However, despite this powerful message the narratives depict women as easy targets for sexual assault. What is particularly troubling is how rape in these movies is related to the independence of women — either encouraging it or punishing it. Such logic is also commonly used by rape apologists in real life, its no wonder then where they get the idea from.

Overtime, the trend of rape-revenge films in Hollywood faded. Despite this shift, women being sexually assaulted remained an element of the story even if it was not the central plot. Some recent examples include Kill Bill and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

An informal survey conducted in 2009 showed the number Hollywood movies in which women are sexually assaulted or threatened with sexual assault is 179, whereas the number in which men are targeted is 15.

It is true that Scarlet O Hara has been replaced with Lara Croft in an effort to depict the empowerment of women, but is the new-age, sex-oozing female hero really empowered in her figure-hugging costume?

Bollywood and Lollywood in the past have depicted rape as shameful for victims. A woman raped will always have a ripped sleeve, smeared lipstick and she would say or imply the expression, ‘ab mein kisi ko muh dikhaane ke layak nahi rahi!’ [I am a shame to society]. Consequently she would either commit suicide and/or one of the male characters would avenge the loss of her izzat (honour).

Speaking of Lollywood, during the reign of Sultan Rahi, the trend changed to the hero saving many a women on the brink of rape to eventually make them either his sisters or his wife.

Dynamics have changed though across industries. Direct representation of rape of women is no longer the dominant theme. It is now the era of ‘item numbers’ in which a voluptuous female sings a crass song while heaving her chest and jiggling her bare midriff for the benefit of drooling men. Whether it’s Priyanka Chopra dancing to words like ‘neeyat ayaash hay, na bann shareef tu, babli badmaash hay’’ [Intention is lustful, don’t act pious, I am very naughty] or our very own Mathira reviving Pakistani cinema by singing ‘youn na simat rey, aag lagi hay [Don’t shy away, I am on fire] , the audio-visual stimulation for the public screams ‘I am asking for it’. Even the songs with men are meant to harass women; ‘Achee batein karlein bohat, ab karun ga teray saath, gandee baat’ [Enough of good talk, now I will talk dirty with you].

Many Bollywood stories revolve around male heroes harassing women, justified later by marrying them [Dabangg] . Popular comedy on the other hand tends to revolve around men lusting over sexy women [Dostaana] . It is pertinent to mention here that I am so far only discussing the A-list non-exploitative movies.

It is important to bring rape in the discourse as a means to creating awareness against it, and films are the most accessible medium for that. But when the imagery starts to portray the crime glamorously, it becomes abusive of our voyeuristic tendencies.

COVER PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATIONS: Soofia Says