MovieChat Forums > The Evil Dead (1983) Discussion > Portraying sexual assault as pleasure

Portraying sexual assault as pleasure


I know movies like this in the 1970s and 1980s could do anything imaginable to women, but many found that this scene (the Tree Rape Scene) was particularly difficult and disturbing because Cheryl sounded like she was enjoying/having an orgasm while being raped by the branches and vines. Not sure who would answer this but was this director's intent or the actress'?

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It's a disturbing scene and I think they went too far there, but I didn't get the impression she enjoyed it at all. She looked and sounded terrified to me.

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I'm not necessarily defending the scene, but it didn't look like she enjoyed it at all. Those were screams of pain, and she was traumatized when she returned to the cabin.

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I never interpreted her moans as pleasure, It always seemed to me that the assault was causing her considerable pain.

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