MovieChat Forums > Stand Up Guys (2013) Discussion > rape is no big deal, right?

rape is no big deal, right?

posted 12 years ago by kghispredi
94 replies | jump to latest

They encounter a young woman who was
1. kidnapped
2. beaten up
3. gang-raped
4. left naked and gagged for hours in a car trunk

After the release she doesn't go to the hospital (it's physically impossible she wouldn't be in the state of shock) or her family or police, she goes to munch on some burgers with a group of strangers, car thieves. All that with a "annoyed but up for revenge" act that would be better suited if a classmate stole her boyfriend or slashed her tires.

I'm not the one to argue for sensitivity, feminism, whatever, but this is not only stupid and unconvincing, it's insulting to rape victims and sending a message that rape is no big deal. Just get something to eat and you'll be fine.

[–] mochuck 11 years ago

Do you know why women go to hospital after being raped? Because they are either so badly injured from the beating that they have recieved and / or to have a rape assessment.

Rape is traumatic but its not physically debilitating unless you're very young. How do you think so many women manage to cover it up. They try and pretend it didn't happen and move on. They weren't saying rape is no big deal. It wasn't offensive to rape victims and it wasn't unconvincing.

Ignorance never settles a question
Benjamin Disraeli

[–] Jalopicus 11 years ago

FYI: This was not a documentary.

Not everything is trying to preach or send a message. If someone watched this and thought that it was "sending a message" that "rape is no big deal" it's because that's what they wanted to be shown.

See: Charles Manson's interpretation of Helter Skelter

See also: The ability to tell fiction from fact and right from wrong that typically accompanies adulthood.

[–] ca31 11 years ago

I found it a bit weird too - I looked this film up on IMDB thinking that there would probably be a discussion like this and was curious to see what others thought. I enjoyed the film; it was entertaining and obviously there were enough scenes with the prostitute, punching rude people etc to show that everything was intended to make these guys look good. It pushed the boat out that extra bit by using a seemingly unaffected 'gang-raped hooker' in a comedic way to make them look good. It's strange how some people didn't even think there's anything odd about that, and how others reacted more compassionately - it's not like the PC police are out to stop everyone's fun, it just seems to have struck some people as ludicrous more than others. But the whole script was pretty ludicrous so I think they get away with it. Still, I'd rather be someone who at least thought that part was odd than someone who didn't notice anything unusual.

[–] SteveH2002 11 years ago

I think the movie probably figured it balanced things out by having her arrive with the baseball bat to get her revenge.

everything was intended to make these guys look good.

Exactly, although I would expand that to these guys 'and the generation they represent.' The older generations always seem to have had more class, a better way of doing things, were less weighed down by the degenerate forces of modern life.

IMO that was a particularly tone-deaf passage in this film. You can't fault the old guys for being callous because the hooker character didn't seem all that injured by the assault or the trunk lock-up. It was the writers who decided to play up the dark humor, who decided to make the hooker more worried about her burger than about what happened to her.

[–] emncaity 11 years ago

I think the movie probably figured it balanced things out by having her arrive with the baseball bat to get her revenge.

Maybe the smartest thing anybody's said on this thread -- even counting the one guy who clearly thinks he's just the cutest and cleverest.

[–] Albatoss 11 years ago

It's A MOVIE. It's ok for movies to be unrealistic. Jeez. They are there for entertainment, not to be realistic down to the last detail.

[–] Mistrcoffe 11 years ago

Often that behavior is caused by shock. It supplies the ability to see what happened to you as if it was something that just occurred and no emotion is needed. That will hit later. To say it treats rape as no big deal is 180 degrees from the script in my opinion. I think closure is a myth, but I also believe there comes a moment when someone decides they can live on. I would bet a great deal that if all rape victims could within hours of being raped, have their rapist(s) helpless before them, AND have the opportunity to hurt them badly they would find a way to live on much sooner than happens in life. The rapists in this case received instant justice and then STILL had to deal with the legal system. Awesome scene and Vanessa Ferlito did an awesome job in it.

[–] anomony 11 years ago

this is not only stupid and unconvincing, it's insulting to rape victims and sending a message that rape is no big deal.

(Yawn)

What?

Oh, a movie from entertainment land not being factual ... I'll have to remember that.

And on a planet of 7 billion people someone is insulted .... who would have thought.

[–] montrossboc-1 11 years ago

OP, you realize it's a movie, right?

Short Cut, Draw Blood

[–] emncaity 11 years ago

So what? The OP didn't say anything about the character being real. The point was the unbelievability of a character like that acting in this way. Violation of verisimilitude, in other words.

[–] montrossboc-1 11 years ago

So you're saying that the OP DOESN'T realize it's just a movie.

If you dint want him dead, why yall leave him with me?-Mouse

[–] emncaity 11 years ago

Actually, I'm saying you apparently don't understand the difference between an assertion that a character is actually real, and an assertion that a character in a reality-based comedy-drama (as opposed to, say, magical realism, pure fantasy, slapstick, etc.) has some obligation to be written in a way that more or less comports with what we know of real people in similar situations. Or, in a word, verisimilitude.

[–] montrossboc-1 11 years ago

Obviously, you haven't watched a lot of movies, as it quite evident that when it comes to screenplays that are translated into a film, there is no such obligation.

Watch any action movie with AH-Nold, Stallone, Bruce Willis, etc., and you will get my drift.

Most movies contain an element of fantasy.

If you dint want him dead, why yall leave him with me?-Mouse

[–] emncaity 11 years ago

Yeah, I haven't watched many, that's true. Just barely enough to have worked as a published film reviewer, a film student at one of the leading programs in the nation, etc. I hardly know anything at all.

Action movies such as the ones you mention are down the scale from something like Stand Up Guys. You wouldn't expect the same "feel" of reality in those. Probably somewhere short of pure fantasy, magical realism, slapstick, etc., but still not at the same point on the scale as something like SUG.

[–] montrossboc-1 11 years ago

A published film reviewer and film student? That gives you less credibility than anyone else in here.

If you dint want him dead, why yall leave him with me?-Mouse

[–] MJohnsontalker 11 years ago

Remember, its JUST a movie.

[–] emncaity 11 years ago

Not the point, really. How would you feel about child murder in this film? "Just a movie"? Child torture, maybe?

Not every film is pure fantasy or antirealism.