Film will have you believe that it’s better to “show, not tell”, but I’m inclined to disagree after half an hour into any episode of Game of Thrones. Rape scenes in media are often gratuitously drawn out, uncomfortable to watch, and wholly unnecessary as a plot device. We don’t need to actually see the incident of assault in order to understand how it affected the victim. While I definitely encourage narratives that discuss sexual assault, it should be done so with respect and sensitivity to the issue at hand. Somehow I get the feeling this wasn’t HBO’s method of operating when we had to sit through yet another five minutes of women crying for help during sex.
But wait, you may say, how will people know if someone’s been raped if I don’t shove it in their faces? Audiences should be given more credit, and writers should have faith, that their viewers will be able to understand what has happened based on contextual clues, perhaps even in the form of a character saying they were raped if you’re really worried people will miss it. For example, Mad Max: Fury Road includes a group of women escaping
…show more content…
Although there are certain graphic scenes that more than spell out what is happening, there isn’t a single rape scene. There are no gratuitous flashbacks to when she was being sexual assaulted, nothing to pull the focus repeatedly back to the shock of the rape. By focusing on how Jessica’s year of sexual and emotional abuse has affected her and how she continues to work through her trauma, the series moves away from cheap shots and expresses a concern for survivors rather than what they have survivors. If sexual assault is included in a narrative, it should convey the idea that although it certainly impacted its victims, it does not define them. There should be more stories about what rape does, not what rape