Our April Theme Week for 2014 will be Rape Revenge Fantasies.
Rape revenge fantasies form a niche that has the ability to empower rape survivors by giving the story a twist that is rarely enacted in the real world. In these films, those who are made helpless, their humanity called into question, take control, fight back, and make their abusers pay for their crimes. For survivors, these kinds of fantasies can be an invaluable tool in overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder to rewrite a bleak story and imbue it with meaning that gives strength and autonomy.
However, there are infamous reports of theater audience members cheering during the heroine’s gang rape in 1978’s classic rape revenge horror film I Spit on Your Grave. Decades later, audience members were caught laughing as (seemingly) unconscious heroine, The Bride, is prostituted out by one of her caregivers in an allusion to countless rapes perpetrated against her comatose form in 2003’s Kill Bill. Has the rape and degradation of human beings become a form of entertainment, a plot device, a technique to put women back in their place?
Who does the rape revenge fantasy serve? Does it threaten rape culture with its promise of punishment for perpetrators? Or is it part of rape culture itself, by creating harmless catharsis that doesn’t enact or enable real change? If the rape revenge fantasy is, indeed, a subversive tactic designed to give power back to “victims,” is it really enough? Is anything really enough to avenge or ameliorate that kind of wrong?
Kristal Cooper asks a similar question in her piece called, “Woman Seeks Revenge: What’s the Purpose of the Rape/Revenge Horror Film?”:
The main source of conflict about these and other films like them is whether or not they actually do the job that many cinephiles and film scholars claim they’re meant to. That is, to highlight the ugliness of sexual violence and give women an outlet to vent their rage at a sexist society via the revenge doled out by the films’ protagonists. But is this actually the intent or just a positive spin on yet another way that cinema exploits women and their sexuality?
Think about that for a while, and send us an analysis of a specific film in the rape revenge genre–you can find a list of possibilities below.
We’d like to avoid as much overlap as possible for this theme, so get your proposals in early if you know which film you’d like to write about. We accept both original pieces and cross-posts, and we respond to queries within a week.
Most of our pieces are between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and include links and images. Please send your piece as a Microsoft Word document to btchflcks[at]gmail[dot]com, including links to all images, and include a 2- to 3-sentence bio.
If you have written for us before, please indicate that in your proposal, and if not, send a writing sample if possible.
Please be familiar with our publication and look over recent and popular posts to get an idea of Bitch Flicks’ style and purpose. We encourage writers to use our search function to see if your topic has been written about before, and link when appropriate (hyperlinks to sources are welcome, as well).
The final due date for these submissions is Friday, April 18 by midnight.
Hard Candy
I Spit on Your Grave
American Mary
Foxfire
Death and the Maiden
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Legend of Billie Jean
Teeth
Lipstick
Dexter
Kill Bill
Veronica Mars
Deliverance
American Horror Story: Coven
Pulp Fiction
Ms. 45 / Angel of Vengeance
Thelma and Louise
The Virgin Spring
Eye for an Eye
Sleepers