Nothing Can Make
Observe and Report Rape Scene ‘OK’
In
the interest of full disclosure, I’ll start by saying that I have not
seen the new Seth Rogen film Observe and Report, written and
directed by Jody Hill. I don’t plan to see it either, in fact, as I care
too much about my own sanity and my hard-earned nine bucks to do so. I’m
not a movie reviewer myself, and don’t feel the need to make such
sacrifices. However, I’ve read a dozen reviews and as many authentic,
first-person reactions and have enough info, I believe, to comment on
the movie, and in particular on the soon-to-be-infamous date rape scene.
In
the film, Seth Rogen’s character, Ronnie – a mall cop with an inflated
ego, a mental disorder and a crush on the makeup counter girl – goes on
a date with the object of his affections, the aforementioned girl
(played by Anna Faris) and she proceeds to imbibe several rounds of
shots and a few swallows of the mall cop’s antidepressants.
Unsurprisingly, she is completely inebriated and unable to utter a
coherent sentence or walk without assistance. But Seth Rogen’s character
decides to “have sex” with her anyway. In the scene, Anna Faris’s
character is clearly passed out, head turned to one side, mouth hanging
open, while Ronnie rapes her. When, in a moment of guilt, he stops, she
drunkenly mutters a not-fit-for-print line that, according to Seth Rogen
in an interview with the Washington City Paper “makes (the scene)
all OK.” (If you’re interested, you can check out the scene in question
in the unedited version of the movie trailer.)
Nothing, in my opinion, can make a scene like this “OK.” Not in a movie
that, at least on the face of it, fits into a category filled with other
“dude films” like Superbad, known for their sex jokes and
“lovable” doofuses. Observe and Report is labeled as a “dark
comedy” with an intentionally unlikeable anti-hero, which, according to
some, also makes the rape scene acceptable for the big screen. The
audience is supposed to look at Rogen’s character and think,
“what a terrible, awful person.” But, if one sees the trailer, they’re
going to expect Superbad with mall cops, and a curly-haired,
dorky, down-and-out protagonist who just wants to find love. That’s not
what they’re going to get. And the idea that people will go into the
theater and actually laugh at this scene makes me squeamish.
Of
course, the blogosphere, particularly movie reviewers and feminists, are
applying their own brands of analysis to this film. The common refrains
seem to be, “It’s funny. It’s a movie. Get over it, humorless
feminists.” And then, from feminists, “The problem is that a scene like
this could be considered funny in the first place.”
In
a perfect world, the audience would have the reaction that Hill and his
actors seem to suggest is the intended one – disgust, aversion to the
movie’s protagonist and a certain inward exploration of one’s own moral
fabric. Another recent filmic example of such a scene comes to mind: In
Blindness, based on the novel of the same name by Jose Saramago,
there is a terrifying rape scene. It’s effective. It’s disgusting. It
makes the audience look inward. But there is no redemption on the part
of the rapists. In the Rogen flick, the character is redeemed,
because his pathetic actions are seen as funny.
In
a perfect world, no one would laugh. In a perfect world, the date rape
scene would disgust everyone who sees Observe and Report,
because, in that world, there would be no “gray area” about rape. Rape
would be wrong. Period. But, in the world we live in, when a drunk woman
is raped, people are still reluctant to call it “rape.” When a woman is
raped by a man she is dating, people are reluctant to call it rape. And
so, placing a scene in a movie that gets a laugh precisely because
of the “grayness” of date rape is not OK to me.
I’m not suggesting censorship. I’m suggesting that this movie is a
candidate for an informed analysis and critique, and serves as a great
litmus test for the way society currently views sexual assault and
crimes against women. And right now, we’re not doing so well.
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