(no subject)

[riseupwithfists]

I love being reminded of the fact that large swaths of fandom actually can't understand the difference between depiction and approval to save their life (the above link spoils the entirety of the movie Splice, btw, but I can quote if people want to know the gist without having it spoiled).

I saw Splice today and the person above... we didn't see the same movie, clearly. And maybe I'm privileged because I see a lot of film and read a lot about film, but an interpretation of the film that assumes that it's condoning and promoting what's going down is at best facile and at worst made in extremely bad faith.

And this is a separate issue from people getting triggered by material in the movie! Apparently the American marketing campaign really misrepresented the film, and I understand that. This movie is not for everyone. It is filled with fucked up stuff. But it isn't saying what the reviewer in the link above said it was saying. ARTISTIC COMPREHENSION, Y'ALL. YOU CAN HAS IT.

Comments

[alliterate]

Hey, thanks for posting this - I was one of those people who saw that post and had the kneejerk "OH MY GOD THEY'RE ACTUALLY ENDORSING THIS SHIT ANYBODY WHO KNOWINGLY AND WILLINGLY SEES THIS IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET" reaction, which is, uh, problematic on a few levels. I doubt I'll be seeing it anyway, because graphic incestuous rape is really not something I want to see, but I'm glad to know it isn't what that post makes it out to be and I'm definitely glad to have it pointed out to me that I, by extension of that post, was being a giant asshat about it.

[riseupwithfists]

Hey, no worries! I was actually a little worried because I first read the review in question by way of your Tumblr, and I didn't want to alienate you, but I certainly wasn't seeing you as an asshat! I mean, my post is a little flip and harshly-worded because I love film and because I often love fucked-up film, but only when I choose to see something fucked-up, you know? And this is really an arthouse film being marketed as a mass release, and the general and specific disturbingness is something I really, really wouldn't wish on people who were unprepared or unwilling. And there are ways to criticize the film and there are certainly things that the film should be criticized for, but while I empathize with the reviewer not knowing what she was in for and don't blame her for disliking the film by any means, jumping to the conclusion that it supports rape really bothered me. I've seen films that actually support rape (Sixteen Candles I'm looking at you), and I've sat in audiences that have laughed and cheered at rape scenes (young male genre film fans are some of the more wretched creatures on earth, I swear), and when I was assigned to review the new Roman Polanski movie it fucked me up for a week - which is not to give you my bonafides so much as my rambling way of saying that I'm pretty sensitive to the issue in film, and the way it was handled in Splice did provoke a visceral response from me that I had to deal with and am actually still dealing with a little. So if I sound callous in my original post, I'm really not! I just can't turn my film brain off and make the jump from "this movie depicts rape and sexuality in a pretty disturbing manner" to "this movie LOVES it some rape".

(So I just looked up what exactly the MPAA says about Splice, and the official rating is "R (For disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language)". Which is, uh, NOT NEARLY ENOUGH OF A WARNING DO THEY NOT WARN FOR RAPE HOLY SHIT.
Here in Quebec, nobody under thirteen is allowed in the theater, and while they tend to rate lower for sexual content than the States does, they seem to be harsher on sexual violence and the higher rating for this particular film seems to be a reflection of that? Just. Holy cow, MPAA. WAY TO LOWBALL IT.)

[softestbullet]

"Strong sexuality"

...*sigh*

[alliterate]

Oh no, don't worry, I'd never take offense to or feel alienated by something like that. You didn't sound callous to me in your post, either, just annoyed (which is a completely fair reaction to someone seeing a film that depicts rape and immediately assuming that it ENDORSES rape, which, now that I'm thinking about it rather than just reading that post and immediately agreeing without questioning, that is such a weird jump to make and it's REALLY bothering me).

WHAT THE HELL, MPAA. I'd always assumed that they warn for rape, but do they seriously just include it under "strong sexuality" and violence? STRONG SEXUALITY ≠ RAPE. RAPE ≠ SEX AT ALL. ETC.