The Spectre Of False Rape Cases And How The Media Perpetuates It https://feminisminindia.com/2019/11/18/false-rape-cases-media-perpetuates/
Unbelievable: Smashing The Walls Of
“This is not something people get over with, this is
something people carry with them forever like a bullet in
the spine.”- Detective Karen
• Rape Treated as a Crime and not Appeasement
Rape has long been an eye candy for the screen
drama, often fulfilling nasty fetishes of voyeurs in the
name of edginess, titilation, ‘honest portrayal'- that
were once covered by plain consensual sex. It’s often
the sole reason of the presence of the female
characters onscreen and limited to the narration of
the pain induced through the eyes of others. The
Black List survey of thousands of films and TV scripts,
shows 2,400 scripts out of a count of 45,000 involve
scenes of rape. Kate Hagen, the author of the study
was ‘lucky' enough to come across a ‘comical' script
by a male writer about an inspiring female stand up,
containing eight incidents of rape.
Unbelievable- a rape drama, giving survivors a voice
has a subtle and nuanced look at sexual violence and
trauma of the survivor projected at its best. The eight
part composition is not only about brutal rapes, the failure of judiciary to provide justice to a particular
survivor and victim-blaming her through the
investigating officers forcing her to withdraw her
complaint, but dwells more on the assaults that come
later: the internal examination. The pitiless
questioning(the survivor was harassed several times
on the context of recalling the assault in the name of
keeping records), the doubt, the judgement, the
implied blame. It digs deeply into the shades of
trauma, self-worth and failure of justice system,
rather than reducing its viewers into mere gawkers.
Instead of the ‘luring' display of photos, the series
shows us flashes of what happened to different
survivors, a reflection of the way those suffering from
PTSD recall snapshots of traumatic experiences,
relying on the survivor’s narrative entirely, it unravels
the shock that sets in when survivors of rape
particularly marginalised are not believed. Susannah
Grant, the writer ensures that, the series never evoke
rape porn, hence even though we hear explicit details
of the assaults, they aren’t sensationalised.
• The Idea Of ‘Safe Space’
“If it’s all right, I'd like to ask you some questions.”-
Detective Karen to one of the survivors. Every move
of hers is a request of consent, every approach creating a space where a woman is respected, heard
and made to feel safe about telling the truth.
Depicting, what a difference it makes when the
narrative of the survivor is believed and treated with
compassion, the show throws strong light on the
notion that no woman ‘asks for it.’ Unbelievable stays
focussed on the survivors without mythologizing the
abuser. He has little screen time from the point of
view of investigators and survivors. Very rightly, it
Unbelievable is the show about what happens when
women raise their voices and the challenges they face
on coming out, the focus being always on the
survivors, their trauma, reactions, difficulties. It drags
the reality in the heart of the ignorant presenting
stats of an unknown study of ‘53% of rape cases’
being false, showing that most rape cases get
neglected, the survivor's narrative often gets
manipulated by the cops through threats, coercion
and bullying, rape kits lying untested for years,
allowing perpetrators to roam freely, making her
attempt for suicide. Questions about the premise that
an accusation of rape is labelled as ‘fake' are pointed
out quite clearly. It firmly establishes that no single reaction is ‘the reaction' of the survivor: some show
memory loss, others can recall every detail, some
weep while others appear serene.
The series thus makes us gulp a hard truth, that just
because a rape accusation is termed as ‘false', it
doesn’t mean that the rape didn’t take place. Where
lies the surety that the survivor hadn’t been
compelled into ‘accepting' that she made a false