Thu, January 25, 2007
Rape Not Lest Ye Be Raped
Faithful reader (and fledgling non-smoker!) AC has pointed out a minor Sundance-based brouhaha about Dakota Fanning (age twelve) acting in a movie in which her character is raped. People – who would be perfectly within their rights to not watch the movie – are up in arms about this (including the Catholic League, whom you might expect to stay mum on this one – Catholics and child molestation already suffer a negative brand association). They wail that Dakota was exploited or that it's wrong to depict children being sexually abused – never mind the obvious fact that camera and editing tricks are used to depict the rape scene (which is reportedly disturbing but not explicit) without Dakota being naked or doing anything sexual.
Though this may come as a surprise to some of you, I'm not particularly excited to watch Dakota Fanning get raped. (Although, if you hear Tracy Jordan's side of the story, she was sort of asking for it.) However, I disagree with anyone who says the movie shouldn't have been made. I think reasonable people would pretty much agree that you should be able to make a movie about anything. Making a movie is like writing a story or painting a picture: it's pretend. If you want, you can tackle real-world issues or re-tell actual events (or distort them, like the makers of The Path to 9/11 and, to a lesser extent, Michael Moore), but reasonable people are aware that it's not real so there are no special topics or activities that should be off-limits. (And by "reasonable people" I am specifically excluding soap opera fans.) Good art challenges us, and makes us a little uncomfortable. And the best thing about movies is, if you're not interested in a particular challenge or discomfort, you can just skip that movie and live your life as though it never existed. Bill Donohue has no more responsibility to watch Dakota Fanning get fake-raped than I have an obligation to watch Brad Pitt drag Cate Blanchett around the desert. (Though I'd assert he does have a responsibility to watch the film if he's going to stage protests regarding its content.)
What would be ironic (if it weren't so mind-bogglingly frustrating) is that the people who think Dakota should've been spared the anguish of pretending to be sexually assaulted are the same people who are actually hassling the real Dakota about this movie. Fortunately, she's as self-possessed as she's always seemed, responding, "It's called acting." Which is the perfect response, because it's sarcastic and snippy and puts people in their place, but for most of us it's beyond our grasp. If we used it, we'd sound like a twelve-year-old girl. So, nice job, twelve-year-old girl – you've captured the title of Most Reasonable Voice in this petty squabble.
© onebee · all rights reserved
AC — Thu, 1/25/07 6:59pm
TSG has posted a copy of the scripted scene in question on their site.
Reading it, it took me back to my time as a production company intern, where I would rip through about 5 bad scripts a day. You know you're dealing with someone really "special" when you see stage directions like this:
Sheesh.
Bee Boy — Thu, 1/25/07 7:39pm
Wow. You didn't even mention: "...an old two by four with rusted nails provocatively exposed."
That unnamed Sundance official was right – it did take "courage" to bring this to the screen, after all!
Brandon — Thu, 1/25/07 9:22pm
Yikes. It's been too long since my script-reading days, I've forgotten what bad is really like. Sheesh is right.