Out of the Refrigerator and into the Fire...

Most people know that I enjoyed the show Downton Abbey.  Aside from my usual love of all things British on television, I liked the characters and the unfolding drama in the changing history that was going on around the manor and its inhabitants.  On top of that, it was a visually rich program.

Then something happened and I knew I would never look at the show the same way again.

Anna, a character who had been unerringly good, loyal, smart, brave and quietly strong, was raped by the valet of a visiting guest.  It was a sudden and jarring moment in the program and though it was not shown, we were given her 'off screen' screams and the aftermath.

I was upset by this turn of events.  Not because of the rape, though it was upsetting and terrible, but rather that it had been done at all.  Friends on Facebook were treated to my annoyance and I got some feedback stating that it was dramatic and important and they sited links to the actors and creators talking about their reasons for it, as justification of some sort that they had this character raped.  (such as here: LINK) But it didn't make me feel less annoyed.  This plot point came out of left field in a drama, that had been, up to this point, original and fresh.  Yes, I was annoyed - I was annoyed that Anna was put through this and that it was a story line at all.  Why, of all the ways the writers could have gone, did they fall back on what is now becoming a tiresome trope for female character development?

It seems that for television, the standard go-to plot for women is to have them raped.  Oh, the reasons may vary of course: Make a character who is 'too good' have some dark shadow upon them (as in Anna's case), or to create compassion for a woman like Mellie Grant on "Scandal", or to make a female character more 'likable' such as Claire Underwood on "House of Cards", or, of course, to further the plot line of a male character...  But I'll speak about the last one a bit more later.

The other reason for the rape scene is also for the shock value.  Previews of the new episode will have quick cuts of the woman crying out, the fear and terror of her face, the shadow figure (sometimes) of her rapist and of course, the strong look of determination after, with the voice over promising, "Things will never be the same..."

The shock value may have been the reason for recent events on the very popular Game of Thrones. Which was horrific in and of itself because the director claims it was 'consensual' in the end.  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who plays Jaime said he understood the scene, "It's one of those things where he's been holding it back for so long, and then out of anger he grabs her, and instincts take over, and he lets loose." Which, is basically saying he has no control over his body and so, he couldn't help himself.  Is this the reason this is given to make this okay?  He couldn't help himself?  So here, we have something that is just about considered rape, but is ok, because she gave in at the end, so it really wasn't rape.  Boys will be boys, men are animals with no control, he couldn't help himself... etc..."I couldn't help myself"is probably something a rapist would say as an excuse - but it doesn't make it better and it doesn't take away the fact that it was still rape. (Even George R.R. Martin has said this is not how the scene played out in the books)  http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00070294.html

There is no horrific abuse that men are subjected to as much as women are subjected to rape on television.  The writers fall back on this to create drama or interest or depth as if there is no other way for a woman to grow or develop: As if there is no other explanation for a female character to behave a certain way - like they are not fully functioning human beings capable of anger, rage, strength, fear, brains and brawn, without being scarred by the horror of rape.

I wonder if it is a subliminal thing that writers are unaware they are doing, but is a way for them to 'knock the woman down a peg or two'.  That they are afraid of a strong, successful or forceful woman to exist - that they worry about men seeing her and being threatened by her fictional existence.  So the woman must be hampered in some form or other.  She must be hurt in some way to say, "See?  Don't worry... no matter how self-sufficient she is, she can always be overpowered and harmed by a man.  No need to fear!"  Because, in the terms of television, the message becomes, no woman can have depth and stand tall all on her own.  No woman can have strength all on her own.  A strong female character is only digestible if she is wounded.

For writers, there appears to be a limited number of story lines they can choose from when they write about women:

The woman falls in love with the wrong man.
The woman falls in love with a good man.
The woman has to choose between love/family and her career.
The woman has a pregnancy scare.
The woman has a baby.
The woman has the abortion issue to deal with.
The woman has an abortion.
and of course - The woman is raped or molested.

Think of all the female characters you know and see how many of the above they have fallen into.

Its lazy.  Its tired.  And it desensitizes rape.

If they are going to address the subject, then they should address it.  Show all of it.  Show how Rape Culture makes the crime ten times worse for the victim and paints her as the cause of her rape.  Televise how the victim is interrogated by police who call her a liar and dissect what she was wearing, where she was, what she was drinking and ask her about her sex life.  Depict how the accusers are treated as sympathetic in the press and shown as the 'real victims'.  Reveal how the victim's personal life is spread out in public during the trial and how they have to live with this moment and have it define them.  And do it all without making it into a Lifetime movie, which has become a caricature of violence against women.

Show all of that instead of the quiet noble suffering of these women.  But the writers won't do that because its too uncomfortable to show the truth of rape.  It makes people uncomfortable to have the microscope too close so they'll continue to use it as a plot point that you can skim over when you don't have need of it anymore.

Instead of delving deeper these women will tell no one of their rape till its important to the story line for their significant other to learn the truth to react to - removing the focus from the woman and her struggle and giving it to the man.  You know the scene and how it plays out because it is repeated over and over.  The woman, who has held on to this dark secret finally tells her significant other.  There are tears, yelling, apologies, maybe something thrown across the room.   The music swells and is emotional and then there is staring off dramatically into middle distance.

There is a phrase that comes to mind here and its called "Women in Refrigerators" which refers to a common comic book trope where female characters are depowered (injured, killed, etc) as a plot device - mostly to further the male character's story line.  It was coined by Gail Simone and came up in reference to Green Lantern #54 where the main character, The Green Lantern, comes home to find his girlfriend, Alex DeWitt, has been been killed and stuffed in a refrigerator.

Going back to Downton Abbey, my annoyance with the Anna storyline continued...  Anna had tried to keep the whole thing secret but her husband, John found out about it.  Rather then point who had done it because a woman of her position was powerless in such situations and it would have marked her as soiled to press charges and have everything known, she tells John it was some man who broke in - a stranger.  Anna worries that if her husband finds out who raped her, he will kill the man and as he has already been accused of murder, he would definitely end up in jail.  John finds out anyway and later the man who raped Anna is killed, having fallen (though its suggested he was pushed) in front of a vehicle.  The idea that John was the one who killed the rapist is the continuing storyline now and we have removed the focus on the victim to her man... What will become of Mr. Bates now?  The fact that I read articles and interviews about this rape and how it was an important storyline for Anna and how she deals with, were all lost...  We now no longer have to think about it, because our focus is on her husband and what will happen to him?  How will Anna help him?  The rape is just another plot point in a drama.  Anna steps into the refrigerator.

To those that might argue that writing a strong woman is hard, first let me say this:  Shut up and grow up.

Scott & Bailey

Women are not such alien creatures that it is impossible to write an interesting, multi-layered female lead without falling back on having them raped.  If you need proof of that, I submit the British program, "Scott & Bailey".  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_%26_Bailey)  It is about two female detectives (yes, TWO, not just one).  And these two women have to be the most well rounded, complicated, complex female characters on television that I have seen.  They have screwed up relationships, they curse, laugh, love, have sex, work hard, lead, get confused, cry, yell, fight and a hundred other things.... you know, act like human beings.  The truth is, for the most part, the two women leads could be men - there would be little difference except that they would meet in the men's room rather than the women's room every so often.  THAT is writing a strong female character - where it doesn't matter what the sex of the character is.  Human beings are complicated creatures and a woman is a human being!  Its not that difficult to wrap your head around.  They can be aggressive, hurt, scared, angry, vulnerable, strong and a bunch of other adjectives, just like men.  And I'll tell you this.  Neither Scott nor Bailey have been raped.  Yet, there they are, complex, strong women with dark secrets and wounds.

It is proof that lazy writing is just that.  Using rape as a plot point is tiresome and desensitizes the world.  If you aren't going to follow through on it and shed some real light on the horror of rape and the current Rape Culture, then you are doing a disservice to the women in the story and the women of the world.  Writers - wake up!  Women are interesting - just as interesting as men.  There are reasons for them to be interesting without the shadow of rape hanging over them.  Stop boiling down a female's depth to a horror forced upon her by a man and stop wounding our most interesting women characters.  And don't make rape just another plot point.