OK, so as some of you may know, the new series Bates Motel (a spin-off of Psycho) premiered last week. My boyfriend and I sat down to watch the first episode when it premiered and although I found the characters and the developing plot line to be interesting, I was absolutely shocked and frankly, a little appalled by just how much violence against women was present in just the pilot episode! Just in the 45 minute time span, the mother was (rather graphically and violently) raped and a story line had begun to develop that involved multiple girls being held hostage, raped, and tortured. After the episode ended, my boyfriend turned to me and asked me what I thought, so I told him. He understood what I was saying and didn't disagree with it, but then he asked me, "so what do you think of me knowing that I really liked it (the episode)?" I thought this was a fair question and told him that I didn't think any less of him and that I would almost expect him to not be bothered by the type of violence that was present in the episode because, after all, it's much more of a female problem/concern that it is a male one.
As I thought more about the episode, I also began to wonder what it meant that the director/screen writer not only incorporated this sort of violence into the series, but that they thought that people would like a series that incorporated such things. So I pose the same question to the rest of you: what do you think it says about us and our society that such violence against women is not only accepted, but utilized as a source of entertainment?
I haven't seen this show, but that's not to say they're aren't a multitude of other television/movies/media portrayals of violence against women-I think they have been so widely incorporated into our "entertainment" industry that the large majority of our population have become desensitized to the violence that is broadcast through media channels. What this says about our society? Well, I think it has a lot to say about people's mindset - I think the general understanding people have about violence against women is that it is a women's issue (which I strongly disagree with). Although women are very much the targets of such violence, I do not believe it is an issue that only affects women. It affects all people in society and until the mindsets of people (men and women) change, I think that the violence will continue.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen Mad Men, you should watch an episode and see what you think about it, too. Although Mad Men isn't so much into the violent side of acts against women, it definitely shines a light on the objectification, inferiority, and maltreatment of women in America. It is focused on the 1950s/1960s, but I struggle to even get through an episode because of the things I notice that are still prevalent in today's society.
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