Cliches in mainstream rape films and novels
 

What are some cliches and tropes in mainstream rape films and novels that you've noticed?

Mainstream films:

- Motionless and vacant stare post rape or near the end of a rape.
- after anal rape they show woman in shower and some blood (Leaving Las Vegas) (Girl with Dragon Tattoo (2011))
- often overly-violent for fear the director/film be accused of being sexploitational.

Porn:

- bad acting :)
- ?

TV shows and made for TV films:

- The victim is a wholly admirable person or in an upper economic realm of society.
- cheap plot device to show the bad guy really is the bad guy and not just a regular asshole - also the rape-revenge plot device.
- pregnancy for further plot devices.
- an attempt to make the show deep and meaningful and to show aftermath acting skills (crying etc).

Novels/Literature:

?

Porn: - bad acting.

I guess that has to be expected as the actors are not really actors. They are just regular guys and girls who probably never took an acting class in their lives.

The woman leaning against the shower wall and slowly sliding down to the sitting position with her knees hugged close to her chest. Often times sobbing, "I was raped" or "I'm so ashamed." as she does so.

Novels/Literature: Thunderstorm, bodice ripping.

Bad horror or sci-fi movies:
Vase or picture crashing to the floor.
Off camera screams.
Bedroom french door to balcony blows open and a window breaks.
Wolves howling.

Mainstream films: Rape from behind - this is for conveniently showing both actors faces for filming purposes. More common post 1990's films I believe.

Not sure if this is also common in soaps.

TV shows and made for TV films:

In 3rd world soaps - The woman is usually poor, of a lower socio-economic background trying to "make it" or marry into a better life.

Literature:

The dark and stormy night trope as someone mentioned. :)

Bad acting, except for one movie
 

Be it mainstream, porn, tv shows or most of the Hentai's out there, rape scenes are usually very bad. Can't even say if we can talk about cliché or a discomfort in displaying rape scenes. Maybe the media should stop trying and make educational documentaries instead of a stupid attempts to recreate an act which, in itself, isn't supposed to be exposed anyway.

Mainstream : the girl actress just can't seem to pull it off and the guys... well... must say it cannot be easy to pretend raping a woman I suppose.

Exception # 1 : can't remember the title of the movie, but it happens during a war invasion and you have the brave "soldiers" who decides to have a piece of an Asian girl. There's a renown male actor in this movie if I'm not mistaking. Basically, they take turn in raping her and what I believe to be the main male actor refuses to take part in this situation.

Exception # 2 : Stop the Bitch Campaign is a Japanese movie that displays disturbing and laughable raping scenes over and over. Although they do seemed silly, I remember the feeling of complete discomfort from the audience upon one specific scene that looked a tad more realistic. There was the cliche of the girl being a virgin and the rapist being a total sociopath, unable to build an healthy relationship with women and frustrated by all those cute schoolgirls teasing him or requesting money for showing off just a part of their fresh and tempting looking skin. It was quite disturbing to realize how everybody in the theater didn't dare make a comment or even breathe for a moment. To this day, I say this movie reached it's goal by creating this priceless moment of utter shock.

Tv shows or short films : again, bad acting or poetic scenes where you don't actually see the rape happening but simply gets hint here and there that something wrong is going on.

Porn : not worth mentioning

Hentais : seriously, to all the mangaka's out there; stop believing that the girl will grow fond of being raped. Make it real and have her look completely wasted and unwilling all the way to the end.

Exceptions : a few of them actually pull it off, but again, I've watched or read too many Hentai/Ero stories and only 2 or 3 seems realistic and I can't remember the author or the any of the titles... sorry.

I feel like I might have stray from the real purpose of this thread, sorry about that.

That was a pretty good contribution actually, the graphic novel and doujin side of things is a big aspect I forgot to mention. Western vs Eastern graphic novels differences might also be interesting.

Not too sure I am qualified to identify them though although I'm sure they exist. Like you mentioned in Manga and so on - going straight into ecstacy "oh noes" at one touch of her bean. . .

"Casualties of War". Sean Penn was the leader, and Michael J. Fox was the one who resisted




Agreed, because porn "actresses" aren't actresses. When I see rape, I want to beleive it and rape is terrifying and brutal. It's not how much graphic detail they show, but how well acted it is. Good rape scenes in movies where little is shown, but the acting by the female is amazing include;

Savage Streets: The girl is a virgin and while little is shown, the instant the guy penetrates the girl, her facial expression makes it seem that you are actually watching a tight frightenned virgin being brutally torn open

Last Exit to Brooklyn: No, not the "rape" at the end where Jennifer Jason leigh voluntarily lets the neighborhood gang bang her...I don't know why that gets listed as rape. Near the beginning of the movier however is an amazing rape scene. A lady thinks she is about to have romantic sex with her husband, but he rolls on top forcefully, grabs her hair and yanks it back, making her cry out and then slams himself into her dry causing her to shriek in pain, and then he violently rapes his own wife n the bed and you can clearly see the pain and trauma on her face. Nothing is actually shown, but it literally looks and feels like the woman is being violently raped by her husband and it is well acted

I hate in any virgin or virgin rape porn where the girl seems to be enjoying it to much. Whatever happened to defloration (particularly forced defloration) being painful? Virgins being violently popped and then moaning like whores and cumming hard? Riiiight.

You're thinking of Brian De Palma's "Casualties of War," starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn.

1: Any rape porn where the girl enjoys getting raped. This is something that just ruins the mood for me. She's getting raped, she shouldn't like it. I especially hate it when the movie is actually really good, and then that's how it ends. For instance the first video I'd ever seen of Powershotz's Hazel. This is the one where she is a schoolgirl and the guy grabs her, ties her to a bed, and rapes her. It was a good video, she looked like she hated what was happening and she protested (she didn't cry, but I could deal with that). Then the movie ends with her yelling "Fuck me you bastard! Fuck me harder!" . . .And now I have a limp dick. Fuck.

2: No creampies. I understand why most porn doesn't include cumming inside the woman, but rape just doesn't seem right to me unless she gets a pussy full at the end. The ones that never made much sense to me is when the guy pounds the hell out of her and then he pulls out and has to jerk off in front of her face for a couple of minutes and shoots his load on her face. In the real world you wouldn't pull out of a warm, wet pussy to finish off with your hand. Well, at least I wouldn't.

3: Stripping. I like my women naked. Plain and simple, if I want to get to any part of her body it shouldn't be a problem, just angle yourself the right way and have at it. I can't stand it when there's a rape porn in which the woman still has her shirt on or bra on or something like that. I can understand some things like a skirt, you can just push it up and get full view and access, but come on, if you're not taking advantage of her entire body then you aren't really taking full advantage of the rape either.

There are some others, but these are my main ones.

This one turns me off the most. The clips where the girl is being "raped", but she's playing with her clit while passively saying, "stop". Or the clips where she's being raped in the mouth, but is angling her head for a better sucking position while holding the cock and feeding it into her own mouth.

Fucking do it right. Otherwise it's just rough sex.

I hate it when the female starts liking it, too. Total turn-off. It's rare to find genuine-sounding crying, or even inspired protesting! So many of those bored, dull "No.. stop.. while she's essentially checking out her manicure. YUCK.

I also really hate it when there's a prolonged man-going-down-on-her scene. It's fine if it's something that happens for a few seconds/minutes, but if most of the "rape" is him doing something that's historically really pleasurable for women? Um.. no. To me, part of the huge rush of rape is the psychology - that a man is forcing me so that HE can cum hard. Like, "I saw it, I liked it, I fucked it." So prolonged pussy-licking or bean-twiddling scenes put me right to sleep.

And I agree with you, BremenDruid - the most satisfying thing is the man unloading allllll the way inside her pussy. We don't need to see "proof" all over her face or tits, though there's nothing wrong with that from time to time. But the ultimate defeat for me - the thing that can NOT HAPPEN - that's going to prove his total domination over me - is when he holds himself in me so hard I can feel the head at my cervix, and empties his balls into me. So shaming, so degrading... mmmmm! ;)

Using the same plot devices over and over again, home invasion, again, really.

The men looking so wimpish that they realistically couldn't overpower a blowup doll

True, true true! Scenes where the victim is half protesting, or that 'barely there' look, then she proceeds to cum 10 times while weakly saying "stop, no, stop"... pretty much a turn-off.

The cheesy, loud music that is totally out of place is hugely distracting. I put it on mute, but by then, the mood is ruined for me.

The other thing I hate is the 'Chatty Cathy' rapist..."I'm gonna rape you, bitch! When I'm done, I'm gonna raoe your sister...your mother...your granny! You're never gonna forget this...!"
By then, I'm yelling..."SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! Mood gone! :mad:

^^^ LOL - so true! Put some realism into it! And half-way decent acting! :D

The following was one of the funniest routines I've heard about porn films:

Robin Williams: The acting in porn movies is always so bad. There's always that one girl who's like
[pantomimes]

Robin Williams: It's not Miss America! Stay with the dick! What are you doing?
[laughter]

Robin Williams: And why do they always have to have such bad actors, who are always like "I'm going to fuck you... so hard..." Even my right hand is going "I don't believe you."
[laughter]

Robin Williams: But there are scripts! There are scripts for porn movies! Somebody's writing this stuff, going
[pantomimes typing on a typewriter]

Robin Williams: "I'm going to fuck you so hard..."
[pause; pantomimes writer thinking]

Robin Williams: "... you little whore."
[pantomimes pulling sheet out of typewriter]

Robin Williams: "Okay, that's it for today."
[laughter]

Robin Williams: And then they're on a porn movie set, going "I'm going to fuck you... LINE!"
[laughter]

Robin Williams: "Fuck you hard, you little whore." Thank you! I just need a moment!