Rape And Revenge

Rape and revenge, or rape-revenge, is a horror film subgenre characterized by an individual enacting revenge for rape or other sexual acts committed against them. Rape and revenge films are commonly thrillers or vigilante films.

Notable for its graphic depiction of violence, rape, torture, and sexual imagery, rape and revenge films have attracted critical attention and controversy, often gaining a cult following and retrospectively associated with the New French Extremity, underground cinema, and arthouse cinema.

Themes and characteristics

"''Rape and revenge''" was the pioneer and, so far, most controversial film hybrid-genre of the mid-20th century that focuses on the main protagonist. It has pioneered and is considered controversial for the portrayal of female (main) characters who become anti-hero(s)/ vigilante(s) that engage in a vicious plot to eliminate the perpetrator/rapist(s) who have harmed them. There is some debate as to whether or not the revenge must be carried out by the assault victim to be considered part of this genre, or if it may be carried out by their loved ones as well itation needed

Each early films rose in prominence in the 1970s and relied heavily on the shock value of brutal rape scenes, followed by the even larger shock of the main character's sadistic revenge.

History

The genre stems from a fascination with revenge in western culture, beginning with the descriptive tragedies of the Greeks and continuing in Elizabethan England (by Thomas Kyd and William Shakespeare). This desire for revenge or to experience revenge has also been the catalyst of many horror films and novels in general, not just those dealing with sexual assault and rape.

The hybrid-genre's most well known and well labeled works are from the latter half of the 20th century, except the 1931's film ''A Woman Branded'', which is about a woman who was raped and contracted venereal disease and seeks revenge on the man who raped her. It is possibly considered as the earliest precursor of the "''rape and revenge''" subgenre, retrospectively '' itation needed''

The Virgin Spring

In 1960, the term ''''rape and revenge''" coined Ingmar Bergman's ''The Virgin Spring'', also considered the earliest film and precursor of the subgenre; the story of the film about a father seeks vengeance on his daughter to three herdsmen (two of them who raped and murdered her). According to director Ingmar Bergman, he was reading about the legend of Per Töre when he was a student, the plot follows the main character who had seven daughters who fell victim to seven rapists, which led him takes inspiration for the film as well as influences came from Japanese cinema, with Bergman particularly being a fan of '' Rashomon'' (1950).

After the release of the same film in Sweden, the 1973's film ''Thriller – A Cruel Picture'' definitively codified the ethics and development of the genre, although the film was permanently banned in the same country.

Influences and pioneers

After the following U.S. release of ''The Virgin Spring'', it inspired Wes Craven's debut ''The Last House on the Left'', which is the base of both Bergman's film and Swedish ballad "Töres döttrar i Wänge". Like the Bergman's film, the plot of ''The Last House on the Left'' is carried by the two victim's parents exact vengeance to the criminals. In some cases, the film was more brutal and controversial than the Bergman's film, due to explicit rape and mutilation.

In the United States, it continues to produce several rape and revenge films in the 1970s including Sam Peckinpah's '' Straw Dogs'', Michael Winner's ''Death Wish'', Lamont Johnson's ''Lipstick'', and Meir Zarchi's ''I Spit on Your Grave''; some of them are mainly screened in mainstream theaters, while others were screened independently in underground cinemas as exploitation films.

In addition to American films, rape and revenge films have been made in the Philippines (e.g.; Lino Brocka's ''Insiang''), Japan (e.g., Takashi Ishii's ''Freeze Me''), Finland, Russia ('' The Voroshilov Sharpshooter''), Argentina (e.g., ''I'll Never Die Alone''; 008 original title: ''No Moriré Sola''), and Norway (e.g., '' The Whore'' 009 original title: ''Hora'')''.''

Several female directors have tried their hand at the genre to subvert its codes including Virginie Despentes' ''Baise-moi'' (2000), Coralie Fargeat's ''Revenge'' (2017), Jennifer Kent's ''The Nightingale'' (2018), and Emerald Fennell's '' Promising Young Woman'' (2020), the latter revitalized the subgenre and garnered multiple awards and nominations''.''

Some of the films, ''Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'' and ''Promising Young Woman'', are subverted examples of the subgenre where a character was raped and murdered off-screen before the protagonist seeks revenge, although both films lack the use of graphic violence and onscreen rape.

Motifs of the subgenre, meaning that without being claimed as belonging to the genre, sometimes appears as a subplot in films to take up the codes at one point such as Stanley Kubrick's '' Clockwork Orange'', Gaspar Noé's '' Irréversible'', Quentin Tarantino's '' Pulp Fiction'' and '' Kill Bill'', Lars von Trier's '' Dogville'', and Paul Verhoeven's '' Elle''.

Explanation of the subgenre

Rape and revenge films generally follow three simple rules of the plot as a narrative structure, nearly similar to three-act structure;

# Rape: The main character / victim is (violently) raped and maybe further abused, tortured or left for dead; the perpetrator(s) sometimes consider the victim dead.
# Return: There are two optional decisions whereas to survive or not.
#* The main character is heavily devastated by the victim's death.
#* The main character / victim is barely survived, but still devastated, and may rehabilitate themselves under psychological circumstances.
# Revenge: The main character (and optionally a third-party) exact vengeance and engage a plot to eliminate their rapist(s).

In ''Irréversible'', the structure was reversed, with the first part depicting the revenge before tracing back the events which led to that point. Roger Ebert argues that, by using this structure as well as a false revenge, ''Irréversible'' cannot be classified as an exploitation film, as no exploitation of the subject matter takes place.

Notable films

* '' 13 Assassins'' (2010)
* ''22 Female Kottayam''
* ''6 Guns''
* ''American Mary''
* '' Avenged'' (2013)
* '' Bad Reputation'' (2005)
* ''Bandit Queen''
* ''Baise-moi''
* ''Big Driver

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases