Rape jokes, not made of comedy gold. The San Diego Reader – attempting, rather ineptly, to channel The Onion – recently ran a bit of “almost factual news” about the recent Slutwalks. The title: “Slut Walk Devolves into Rape Run.”
Here’s the lede (as they say in the biz):
It was supposed to be a triumph for women eager to reclaim their sexuality from the threat of sexual violence. But sadly, Slut Walk San Diego went horribly awry as some 50 men, many of whom claimed to be unable to control their animal urges when presented with such a plenitude of hot female flesh, plunged into the crowd of over 2000 sluts in a quest for sexual gratification, consensual or otherwise. Dozens of arrests have been made, and police say it may be weeks before all the snatched panties have been returned to their rightful owners.
See, it’s funny because they were being raped!
Amazingly, the one comment that this lovely article managed to inspire was even less hilarious than the article itself. According to someone calling himself a86d:
Its bs like this that is further going drive culture to FURTHER feminize men and go back to that process of thinking that a man needs to be controlled because hes just a beast. BS we’re not animals, We’ve evolved and people need consequences….in this case …. BURN em. The Dilbert comic writer seems to think that all men need to be castrated because we can’t control our urges, because society forces us men to be a round peg in a square hole…..if you want to live a certain life style….you can find it. Own up, be mature, respectful and if you cross the line EXPECT TO BURN!
I’m not quite sure if all that BURNing is supposed to be directed at rapists or sluts. I’m guessing the latter, but in either case I don’t think I’ll be inviting a86d to my next barbecue.
“They very pointedly demonstrated at the end of the “rape” scene that it was not in fact a rape scene. That was the whole point.”
What is this in reference to, Mr. Al? Just curious.
Thank you for the Second Gender War pieces, Johnny Pez! They are, as always, extremely good. 🙂
“When something like that happens in your life, it’s so difficult to process the horror of the reality. And suddenly, a lot of things that used to be funny just aren’t anymore.”
Yes, exactly.
Oh, yeah … that was this thread. I loved stinging the Scott Adams airshipmen, Johnny! And the dancing! AWESOMESAUCE.
I know its about child abuse, but hey, it is realllllllllllllly funny. 😉
“Madeline used to drag giant sticks home from the park when she was about that age. It was especially comical because she weighs all of 25 pounds and has ridiculous tiny legs and she’d be trotting down the street with a 6-foot stick getting tangled in her leash. We stopped letting her do it because she insisted on chewing them indoors and leaving stick bits all over the place.”
My Lab used to do this – the bigger the stick, the better. Once on a beach she managed to pick up a downed tree, and got a round of applause from the fishers out on the water.
I also remember that James Herriot had a Lab who felt that all proper walks involved sticks. Since good sticks generally weren’t available on the moors, Herriot took to keeping a selection of sticks in his car, and the dog would choose one at the beginning of the walk.
Observe and Report, Bee.
Ooh, not funny AND racist. You hit the bifecta, titfortat.
I dunno. Humorless feminist here. I’ll bawl my eyes out at Eddie Izzard talking about the Death Star canteen, or Patton Oswald talking about Stella Dora breakfast treats, but I’m not a big fan of racism or child whooping.
This white kid was abused as a child-and it was abuse because there is a difference between a smack on the behind and what my parents did.
Do you have to always aim for offensive Tit?
T4T: That whole clip seems to just be “HAHA RACISM AND CHILD ABUSE!” =/
Okay, so in reference to the scene in Observe and Report where the Seth Rogan character is having sex with Anna Faris’ character, who was incoherently wasted on booze and antidepressants, you said:
“They very pointedly demonstrated at the end of the “rape” scene that it was not in fact a rape scene. That was the whole point.”
No. Please tell me that was not the point that you got out of watching that. Good lord, Mr. Al.
There is more to a rape joke than just a rape scene played for laughs in a movie. Take the article which David quoted to form the body of this post – it’s an Onion wannabe. They’re joking about rape all the same, and treating both the concepts of men and women fairly poorly (women are there to get raped, men can’t help but rape). I know a guy who wears rape-y T-shirts sometimes (“I like my women like I like my coffee… ground up and in the freezer”), and that doesn’t show up in movies.
Interestingly enough, the only scenes in which I can think of in which rape is played for laughs, it’s always men getting raped (40 Days and 40 Nights, the Stargate TV series, the aforementioned Family Guy – there was even a rape in the comic Something*Positive that was played for laughs which was girl-on-drugged-guy). There are also some very good and meaningful rape scenes in other movies, like American History X. I also can’t decide if the rape in Pulp Fiction was supposed to be serious or was played for laughs. But having a well-done plot point built around the rape of the main character (such as in American History X) does not mean that we can then offer some kind of counterpoint with Observe and Report or 40 Days and 40 Nights, where fucking someone who’s too drugged to give consent is still rape.
Here’s another example of The Onion doing rape jokes right:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/raped-environment-led-polluters-on-defense-attorne,817/
Raped Environment Totally Led Polluters On, Say Defense Attorneys
It works because instead of making fun of the victims of rape, it makes fun of the perpetrators who try to evade responsibility.
treated with utter seriousness, played for laughs?
Erm, aren’t these two concepts kind of at odds with each other?
Bee, Sarah, Elizabeth
🙂
Bee, explain to me the point then. Because I watched an interview with Seth Rogen and he basically said as much.
Read the article I linked to, Mr. Al.
The rape and wife-beating jokes I have heard in everyday life, have usually been intended as a plausibly-deniable threat. I reckon it ties in with what Fuck MRAs was describing as ‘terrorism’, to keep women in line.
Magpie: I unintentionally made a wife-beating joke once. Wanna hear it?
Someone asked me what time my boyfriend and I wake up, because we were planning to all meet up and do something.
I said, “Usually I’m up around 8, and [boyfriend] gets up a little later. But sometimes he beats me up.”
Then I felt compelled to do the whole Argggh, it’s a cry for help! thing.
I don’t know why I told that story. More evidence that I, a feminist, have no sense of humor, I suppose. (Maybe just a really stupid one.)
I don’t know why I told that story. More evidence that I, a feminist, have no sense of humor, I suppose. (Maybe just a really stupid one.)(Bee)
Hmm………honesty, how refreshing.
I’m late on the Dalek love but…I have a Dalek water bottle that I bought in Cardiff Castle. And my boyfriend went to Chicago Comic Con and returned with a Dalek mug. I love them both dearly. The water bottle even says “EXTERMINATE” on the side.
@Kristian, that was one of my favorite scenes ever. I also want the remote control Dalek (especially those neat voice controlled ones), but they are far too expensive for my broke self to afford.
@MRAL, I’m with other people on not being sure what you are asking. I want to make it clear though that there are a lot of serious films with rape scenes or close to it that are brushed off. For example, Bladerunner, where the killing is treated fairly seriously, but the rape scene between the protagonist and the female lead is brushed off. Also, unlike comedies with murder as a theme (Throw Mama from the Train, for example), rapes in comedy films are often completed, and by the protagonist or relatively positive characters (for example, Observe and Report). Narratives around rape used as the joke are often the same ones used in wider society when it comes to rape apologism-for example, rape as punishment (for example, the sexual assault jokes regarding the female villain at the end of Black Sheep). This holds true for rapes of men in cinema as well (rapes are treated as no big deal, jokes about prison rape, etc.). On the contrary, murder narratives common in films where it is treated lightly, such as the spy getting revenge narrative, are not designed to mimic real life, nor do they generally neatly match excuses one might hear in regards to actual murder cases. Murder in serious films that treat other parts of their subject seriously are dealt with as being incredibly serious. Though they are extremely problematic in many ways (including the sexual spectacle issue-rape torture scenes are generally on camera and drawn out, other torture revenge back story scenes are not), if you want to look at rape being treated somewhat like other forms of torture or killing, rape revenge films often do that to some degree. Honestly, the discussion of rape by the orderlies in Kill Bill bothered me far less than when I watched Blade Runner, because at least Kill Bill, even though it used rape as a somewhat cheap plot device, had the underlying message that rape is bad. Slasher films get the murder is bad message, and over the top action films at least push a “murder is bad when the good guys are victims” idealogy and, while acts of violence form the hero occur, murder and violence from the villain is usually used to establish their villainy. I agree that most violent films from the west do not have much nuance or serious consideration of violence, but I also think there is an understanding of that fact going in and that most violent films do not really push a “murder is no big deal” message so directly. The violent movie message is more “murdering me and mine is bad, murdering the evil other is okay” rather than “murder is no big deal”. Killing of friends and relatives of the hero in over the top violent actions movies is treated by the plot as the worst thing ever. In fact, revenge for the tragically murdered wife/police partner/parents is an incredibly over used action movie trope. So, while the message around murder is problematic, it is not quite the same as “murder is no big deal”.
Hey, that was for Ion, not for you, titfortat.
He lurves my sense of humor.
I lurve it too. 😉
Bee – sometimes I wake up grumpy, and sometimes I let him sleep in 🙂