Tuesday, February 20, 2007
To Well-Meaning Male Comic Writers Who Put The Rape And Abuse Of Females In Their Books
Anyway...
So we have this periodic Net debate about portraying the victimization of women in comics, etc...
Is it exploitation? Is it a cop-out by bad writers? What?
So I'm writing this comic script and it's basically about my OWN victimization as a child.
No, not writing, wrote, I'm done writing it now, it's finished...
So I'm laying out, panel-by-panel, my own comic book action of getting abused.
I'm giving my artist directions on how to draw my own abuse.
And at some point, during the script, I just make the unprofessional move of writing to the artist,
"Dad beats me really hard for the next several panels. I can't psychologically map the action out; sort of follow the captions."
I didn't really think that sitting down to write this would effect like it did, but it did.
But I'm not sorry about it, because it is important.
But for male writers who put things like this and rape in their scripts,
Please understand just how f**king painful it is from the perspective of the person who lived through it.
I mean, really think it through carefully.
And I'm actually picturing Jack Kirby taking on my script right now, and it sort of makes me laugh...
"Insert Cosmic Crackle here"
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This is one of those rare times when I have strong feelings for both sides of the issue.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand I think that you are absolutely right; well meaning male writers should be considerate of the feelings of women who have been raped and abused.
On the other hand should they also be sensitive to a reader who might have survived or lost a loved one when the World Trade Center fell and really think about whether or not they want to have a battle between super hero and super villain cause a large building to fall? While they are two different kinds of hurt the pain a woman might feel after surviving a rape or repeated abuse might be just as strong as someone who lost a husband, father, mother, brother, etc.
On one hand male writers should think about what they're doing when writing about a woman's abuse or rape.
On the other hand does that mean that the only people who should be allowed to write about such things are the ones who went through it?
(I am not suggesting that this was your intention; I'm merely bringing it up as a point in the overall discussion.)
This is something I have put a lot of thought into over the past few years. The first time I really noticed that it bothered me was back in 2002 when it seemed like rape or attempted rape was running rampant through the Bat titles. There was a GOTHAM KNIGHTS story where a woman who was brutally raped (the scene where it happened really upset me and I'm pretty thick skinned) and then killed her attackers I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE style. Then there was the whole bit with the Spoiler where the writer on ROBIN felt that the people in charge of Felicity wimped out on not showing their main character get raped and decided to reveal a previously unrevealed moment in the Spoiler's life when a pervert friend of her criminal father tried something funny.
(And the problem with the Spoiler thing was that this guy made such a big deal in an interview, if memory serves, out of a TV network not wanting to tell such a story and then had the event in Spoiler's life be when the guy tried to do something and she got away. I'm not saying that the Spoiler should have been raped. Far from it. As realistic as a girl living with a convict father getting hit on by her Dad's scum bag friend is I just don't think it was the proper direction for the Spoiler. I'm just saying don't mouth off and then not pull the trigger all the way yourself.)
Here's my problem; As a person who considers himself something of a writer I am 99.9% sure I would never write a scene where a woman is raped. I am even uncomfortable with writing scenes where a woman is being abused even though I do get a thrill at seeing the abuser get the crap kicked out of him because damn it he deserved it. It's dramatic, but still there is something quite disturbing about setting up a scene where the intent is that the hero saves the girl and putting said girl through the abuse that gets the writer from point A to point B.
On the other I think that a writer should be free to write what he or she chooses. What if I write a scene where the girl is being beaten by an ex-boyfriend and the hero saves her because of the frustration I feel at the fact that my wife was abused before we met and I want to do great harm to the men who would hurt the woman I love? It's perfectly valid and while it may be upsetting to some readers I believe that I or any other writer should be free to express themselves as they see fit.
(Once again, I am not suggesting that you were saying that well meaning male writers should not be allowed to write about rape and abuse. I am speaking in general terms for the sake of argument.)
On a personal level I would not want to write about a female (or male character for that matter) getting raped because I am not prepared to deal with the consequences of the action. Even if I did the leg work and all kinds of research on the subject the types of stories I like to write do not have room for dealing with the feelings a person has after being violated and the main reason is that I don't want to get it wrong. It's a sensitive subject and not one I personally want to tackle. I don't know what that says about me as a writer, but that's the way it is.
I think your call for writers to think long and hard about what they put their characters through is a good one. I just also think that if a writer puts too much thought into how their work will affect the reader they may not get any work done and some stories that might give a person some level of comfort may not get told.
God I hate seeing both sides of the issue so clearly.
I have to second Michael's comment and maybe expand on it. Writing human experience should not be limited to that which will not offend someone. And you can't expect people to limit themselves to writing only that which they've experienced first hand, as if they have no capacity to understand it.
ReplyDeleteBut I get what you're saying. There's a line. And writers need to be aware of what effect crossing that line will have on readers.
Presenting sensitive scenes like this also have a lot to do with context. Does the scene serve a purpose in the story and in what light is it being presented. Are we left feeling the woman's pain or hating the villain worse than we once did? Was it necessary?
I'm just saying that showing something like rape is not inherently exploitative... though it easily could be if it's just thrown out only for the sake of being shocking.
Well now, is the blogger saying, as the commenters seem to have inferred, "Don't write about things that upset people"?
ReplyDeleteOr is she saying, "When you write about these things, remember what they REALLY mean and how these events are REALLY experienced by a victim." And do not, do not use them as a easy shortcut for "female character motivation" and "male heroics."
I'm with Klio. :) I think the post isn't about "only write happy things", it's that when we write rly tragic, horrible things, it should be well written and not just some plot device we came up with to make a deadline and get characters from A to B.
ReplyDelete