Posted May 10, 2015
Soooo.... rape. What a nice, uncontroversial subject. I don't see how this could end badly......
I like horror, a lot. Horror movies, horror games, horror novels, horror comics. It's my favourite genre. The single most important moment in my life as a connoisseur of fiction was watching Psycho at the tender age 12. My love of the genre waxes and wanes, but it never dies.
I've been meaning to get back into horror for a while so I've been looking at lists of popular horror novels to see what gems I might have missed. The one book that keeps on turning up is The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum....
Incase you don't know The Girl Next Door is a novel based on a true story about a girl who was. kidnapped, beaten tortured and malnourished to the point death. And the this fictionalised account embellishes/adds rape into the story (I'm not sure if it was involved in the true story). Sounds like a fun book (sarcasm).
The point here is that personally I don't think rape should be part horror stories. Horror is supposed to be scary. A horror story that isn't scar for me is as useful as a car with four flat tires. Rape isn't scary, or creepy, or spooky it's just really horrible. And if all a good horror story had to do was horrify you the most horror stories would be set in Auschwitz or Unit 731 (or maybe a primary school) and have no story at all. Good horror is scary, but fun, and nothing drains the fun out of a movie like a rape scene.
The other reason why I don't think rape and horror belong together is because it's trivialising the subject matter. Using it as shock fodder when really as a subject matter it deserves to be treated as more than just "entertainment". If your movie or book is trying to say something meaningful go ahead. But just having it there to be shocking is kinda offensive.
Its not like I don't like extreme horror. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of my favourite movies. But there are limits.
If I may site present, Look at the best horror games; Amnesia, Alien vs Predator, Resident Evil, System shock 2, Doom 3, Thief, Alone in the Dark. Would any of these games have been made better by long, gruesome rape scenes?
I'm sure someone is going to mention Silent Hill 2, to which I say rape is more of a sub-theme there than a spectacle. Even that game doesn't have you being raped by the enemies ( Fun fact, Half-life was going to have an enemy that raped you. can't imagine why they didn't go through with it....)
So those are my thoughts on rape in horror, I'm curious to see whether people agree or disagree with them Thanks for reading.
I like horror, a lot. Horror movies, horror games, horror novels, horror comics. It's my favourite genre. The single most important moment in my life as a connoisseur of fiction was watching Psycho at the tender age 12. My love of the genre waxes and wanes, but it never dies.
I've been meaning to get back into horror for a while so I've been looking at lists of popular horror novels to see what gems I might have missed. The one book that keeps on turning up is The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum....
Incase you don't know The Girl Next Door is a novel based on a true story about a girl who was. kidnapped, beaten tortured and malnourished to the point death. And the this fictionalised account embellishes/adds rape into the story (I'm not sure if it was involved in the true story). Sounds like a fun book (sarcasm).
The point here is that personally I don't think rape should be part horror stories. Horror is supposed to be scary. A horror story that isn't scar for me is as useful as a car with four flat tires. Rape isn't scary, or creepy, or spooky it's just really horrible. And if all a good horror story had to do was horrify you the most horror stories would be set in Auschwitz or Unit 731 (or maybe a primary school) and have no story at all. Good horror is scary, but fun, and nothing drains the fun out of a movie like a rape scene.
The other reason why I don't think rape and horror belong together is because it's trivialising the subject matter. Using it as shock fodder when really as a subject matter it deserves to be treated as more than just "entertainment". If your movie or book is trying to say something meaningful go ahead. But just having it there to be shocking is kinda offensive.
Its not like I don't like extreme horror. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of my favourite movies. But there are limits.
If I may site present, Look at the best horror games; Amnesia, Alien vs Predator, Resident Evil, System shock 2, Doom 3, Thief, Alone in the Dark. Would any of these games have been made better by long, gruesome rape scenes?
I'm sure someone is going to mention Silent Hill 2, to which I say rape is more of a sub-theme there than a spectacle. Even that game doesn't have you being raped by the enemies ( Fun fact, Half-life was going to have an enemy that raped you. can't imagine why they didn't go through with it....)
So those are my thoughts on rape in horror, I'm curious to see whether people agree or disagree with them Thanks for reading.