MEDIA201

Research blog for MEDIA201

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Research reading 8

This is another academic article, under my subheading 'solutions'. By solutions, I mean potential ways to improve the portrayal of sexual violence in cinema. This again is focusing on the idea of 'How should sexual assault be portrayed in Cinema to be less offensive?'

The main points from the article are as follows:

The main problem is media often portrays the trauma itself rather than the effects of trauma on the individual.

Even if rape scenes in films make people feel empathetic, viewers are unlikely to change their attitude long term. It is more likely to cause a positive response towards removing sexual assault acceptance if the film were to focus on the effects rather than an event.

A depiction of rape on screen would have to be rhetorical to widen to understand rape trauma beyond the event. It should be seen as personal, unconscious, cultural, and visual mediation of traumatic memory in order to shift current discourses.

Again, this is helpful for me to either focus specifically on the 'correct portrayal' of sexual assault in cinema. Or, this kind of discussion it is a way for me to conclude my research.

Spallacci, A. (2019). Representing Rape Trauma in Film: Moving beyond the event. Arts, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8010008

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Research video 7

Deana Title is part of The Representation Project and focuses her work on Rape culture in film. She creates a series of twelve paintings that focus on different well-known movie plots and the way they objectify, assault and rape women only to end with 'love'. These paintings aim to question the intentions of films that are often known and loved. Title explains the following points;

She wanted to know why woman's voices are so overpowered in real life when it comes to the US justice system. She figured that these men who are a similar age to her were brought up on the same media products as her. Written by men with horrible attitudes and actions towards women for entertainment's sake.

11 classic films and paints of each of them. The video essay talks through each of the 11 pieces of media and shows the power imbalance between men and women. The article focuses on clips from before the time of social media and influencers, her argument was this was the only values being fed to society through media up until more recently

This video essay shows more opinion-based information but everything is well thought out and thought-provoking. My last article focused on present-day (post #metoo) and this one talks about pre-social media and the way only this narrative was being spread. Either one of these topics would make my research more specific.

Title, D. (2021). Rape Culture in Film. The Representation Project.

Rape Culture in Film - The Representation Project

Everything you know about rape is wrong. Together, we can confront rape myths, support survivors, and challenge mainstream media to stop per

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Research article 6

This research is an opinion news piece for the BBC about the 2023 Cannes film festival.

It speaks in response to how little the #metoo movement has seemed to have on the film industry in the portrayal of sexual assault/ predatory behaviour.

Despite a lot of the scandal of #metoo surrounding the Cannes festival, there seems to be a lack of care from the filmmakers.

There is no avenue for these young protagonists to be protected or fight back. Consent seems implied, the predators are able to get on with their lives.

These films portray that in so many cases, across cultures and social strata, the #MeToo movement has had little to no effect.

This is a good and recent perspective. It is a very narrow topic that I could focus on instead of the effect it has. I could potentially change my topic to: How has the "#metoo movement affected the portrayal of sexual violence against women in cinema and what effect has that had on perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards women?" If not, this article also has many recent examples of poor portrayals of sexual assault in cinema.

Aftab, K. (2023, May 26). How to Have Sex and the Cannes films showing sexual assault is still endemic. Www.bbc.com.

How to Have Sex and the Cannes films showing sexual assault is still endemic

Five years on from the rise of the #MeToo movement, how much has changed? Films at Cannes are showing how the world is still ignoring predat

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Research reading 5

This reading is a bit different because it is a blog that is called 'Sexual Health Alliance'. Therefore the article is opinion based and about a social movement. When reading I noticed quickly that the way it talked about assault was from a more conservative viewpoint than other texts.

Scenes are glamorised or romanticised or discussed and then never discussed again. This begs the question, are the scenes necessary to the plot? Are the scenes only plot points?

Talks about arguments by academics claiming that highly graphic rape scenes are important to make us feel uncomfortable and outraged and to see how it affects them to allow you to sympathise with them.

This author argues that rape together does not need to be included in media to know it exists, and it's not needed to sympathise with characters.

Discussed the unnecessary depiction of assault in 13 reasons why (2017) and Luckiest girl alive (2022) 

This blog is helpful because it contains references to other sources and includes more than one viewpoint on sexual violence in media arguments.

McCartney, S. (2022, November 16). A Case Against Showing Sexual Violence in Movies. Sexual Health Alliance.

A Case Against Showing Sexual Violence in Movies — Sexual Health Alliance

Is it worth triggering viewers and trivializing sexual violence simply for the plot or “character development?” We think not. Stop showing s

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Research reading 4

I have organised my thoughts into three categories.

The portrayal of sexual violence in cinema. 

The effects of sexual violence in cinema on the audience.

Solutions to the current portrayal of sexual violence in cinema.

This text would be the latter as it is an opinion news piece written for the Guardian which is a credible source.

This text uses the film “Red Sparrow“ and speaks about how this text manages to confront rape in the movie as something more than just abuse lightly portrayed in cinema.

It speaks of the history of rape in cinema and Hollywood's "endless fascination with women seen suffering and humiliated." But for every scandal, little attention has focused on how dozens of other films dealing with sexual violence against women treat the topic.

How film often just presents an act of rape without exploring the consequences for the victim. Just turning abuse against women into a plot point ignoring the effect on the victim.

Often making films excusing abuse because of hurt male pride and disruption of the patriarchy.

Films and all forms of media should be putting more time into finding the lived realities of victims rather than ignoring/ displaying the issue insensitively.

This information is very helpful for me. It is the main argument that I want to make, although it is an opinion piece, it has an argument that is strong. This is great for me to reflect on possible solutions or thoughts to develop my own opinion.

Lazic, E. (2018, March 14). Film depictions of sexual violence are increasingly

alarming. It has to stop. The Guardian; The Guardian.

Film depictions of sexual violence are increasingly alarming. It has to stop

From mainstream thrillers such as Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow to art films such as Human, Space, Time and Human, rape has become a repel

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Research reading 3

This next reading follows along the same line as the previous reading. However, this reading focuses on the effects of male and female attitudes when exposed to sexual assault in media. This research took place at a Canadian University. The main points to take away from this reading are as follows:

 271 students at the University of Manitoba (Canada) to see the effects of men's and women's and the effect of exposure to films showing positive consequences

The study had three groups, control (watched no film), group 1 (watched films with no sexual violence) and group 2 (watched films with heavy sexual violence: Swept Away and The Gernway in which the portrayal of violence against women has justification and positive consequences.) They did not know the surveys they filled out were in relation to this, but they filled out surveys the view their attitudes.

 The results indicated that exposure to films portraying violent sexuality increased male subjects’ acceptance of interpersonal violence against women. While women had less obvious trends in the opposite direction.

This article is helpful when discussing attitudes with research backing up my argument.

Malamuth, N. M., & Check, J. V. P. (1981). The effects of mass media exposure on acceptance of violence against women: A field experiment. Journal of Research in Personality, 15(4), 436–446.https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(81)90040-4

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Research reading 2

Following my previous research I have continued with the theme of sexual violence. This article was published in 2022 which is very relevant.

I wanted to base my argument and research on the effects of violence towards women in film. Even though it should have been obvious to me that this depiction would have an effect on women, most of my thinking revolved around the effect it has on men and how they think about women. This article, however, looks at how the unnecessary depiction of sexual assault in film and its effects on women.

I read the article and have summarised the most significant points below;

The article does a lot of linking to real-world sexual violence statistics. Talking about PTSD and other psychological impacts of sexual violence against women.

A study is conducted by these researchers on the impact of sexual violence in media. This includes 229 women from Canada and examines how they react to sexual violence in film. The study takes into account whether they have experienced sexual assault. (There are some helpful statistics in this article to back up an argument about the negative effects of sexual assault in film)

There is a large discussion on specific negative effects including; flashbacks, emotional distress, anxiety, panic attacks, and avoidance.

This article is not as helpful as my previous one when formulating my discussion and research question. However, I still think there are elements that can be used in my work. They also did a good job of setting up their experiment with plenty of basic context around this topic.

Maika, K. C., & Weaver, A. D. (2022). Women’s perceptions of, and emotional responses to, sexual violence depicted in film or series. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2022-0023

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Research reading 1

I have searched through google scholar and the library database and have found an extensive range of articles that will help me build my argument. After reading many abstracts it appears that sexual violence is by far the most prevalent issue when it comes to the psychological and sociological impacts. Another reoccurring theme is the horror/ slasher genre which may be something to focus on.

Because I am starting very broadly, I am first reading chapters from a book on sexual violence against women in film. This book has a very comprehensive coverage from 1915-2003 which will hopefully help narrow down my topic.

This book is called "A Zoo of Lust, a harem of fondled hatreds": an historical Interrogation of sexual violence against women in Film"

This book is very long covering a history of sexual violence in Cinema so I started by reading the abstract to gauge what might be most beneficial to me.

This abstract included these discussions:

Sexual assault in film throughout history. (This is helpful to me to define the issue because the author specifically looks at the way that women are portrayed during the assault.)

The effects of graphic assault and sexual victimisation.

How masculinity is often portrayed in film and how men are often excused from harming women due to their own 'pressures' (this is less relevant to my specific direction but still is helpful in helping me form a discussion.)

I also read the conclusion to understand what is contained within the book to likely revisit at a later date. The following are important points:

The main conclusion is that women are taken advantage of in films and many of these violent events are unnecessary

The portrayal of rape in cinema is often erotic, inevitable and fails to address the effect it has on the victim. "abuse power operating under desire and fear" (James, 2011, pg. 137)

There is a big discussion about if/ how sexual violence could be better portrayed in cinema (This is very helpful to some ideas I have regarding this topic)

James, D. (2011). A zoo of lust, a harem of fondled hatreds: a historical interrogation of sexual violence against women in film. Cambridge Scholars. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.waikato.ac.nz/lib/waikato/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=1080464

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Focus on Violence against Women

Out of the topics that I have considered, I think the topic of most interest to me is the portrayal of violence towards women in film, potentially focusing on the effect this has on audiences and the way it normalises poor treatment towards women.

From this start of a topic here is my initial question that will continue to need to be refined and made more specific.

How does the portrayal of violence against women in cinema affect the audience and their relationship towards women? 

From here I can make the question more detailed

What are the psychological and sociocultural effects of portraying violence against women in cinema on audience perceptions, attitudes and behaviours?

However, this is still extremely broad. I think one way of me reducing my search is to focus on a specific type of violence against women. Either, sexual violence or domestic and choose specific series, genre etc. My first two readings are each going to focus on a different violence in media: sexual and domestic as a place to start.

While doing this initial research I am trying to reach an argument around how violence is poorly portrayed and it normalises violence in real-world behaviour. My argument, however, is not going to conclude with removing all violence from cinema (because these can still be important stories to be told) but instead focusing on the poor treatment towards these issues and the disregard for the impact it leaves on an audience.

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Beginning my search

Kia Ora, I'm Holly and this is the start of my 201MEDIA research blog. I am yet to choose a specific topic but I have some ideas of the types of pathways to choose for this paper.

I will likely focus on the second topic of gender, media representation and audience consumption, or potentially, the impact of culture practices on media production. (Again, likely looking at gender).

I am a feminist and enjoy topics around gender. Possible ideas for a start of a topic are as follows:

Bechdel Test (I think this is an interesting place to start, I think it is quite shocking and something I have talked about a bit with my friends)

Woman who work in film - NZ director(s) or a specific woman (Greta Gerwig)

Harmful stereotypes of gender roles and the impact that has on the audience.

Something to do with the Barbie movie

Violence against women in media - normalising condoning this behaviour and affecting audience consumption (potentially focusing on a particular genre or series)