Dissolving & Reconstituting Narrative Cinema

14	Demon Seed	1978 - Donald Cammel (UK)
	Rape/revenge subtexts	Rape/revenge thematic presence; historical developments; ideology

A: The presence of Rape/Revenge subtexts

The concept of "Rape/Revenge'' has been worked throughout the cinema in many ways. As a subtext, it can be used to provide a variety of currents within the narrative, affecting anything and everything from how the event/act of rape could determine action within the plot, to how the event/act could determine our identification with either certain characters or the film as a whole. The presence of this subtext car) be divided into three main areas :

(a) At its slightest, an actual physical rape may not be committed, and rather could be represented by the oppressive power a man (or woman) will exert upon a woman. This force or pressure could constitute a 'rape' (in terms of mental anguish and psychological trauma) and allow us to identify a 'rape' through the dramatic intensity of the characters within the plot.

(b) Developing on from this, a physical rape (of a woman's body) could occur, although we are not shown the act, but it may be suggested or somehow presumed to have been committed, allowing us to comprehend the act of rape though symbolic interpretation. (Some
films also may have had the actual detailing the rape edited out by censorship, which can then alter the flow and our understanding of the plot.)

(c) At its most graphic, a rape could be detailed in its totality, depicting the whole event and act of rape in order to make us experience the event of rape through photographic realism.
 
B. Historical developments

Links can be made between all the films that incorporate Rape/Revenge subtexts in the various ways described above by following historical developments in dramatic realism, screen violence, cultural censorship and social behaviour.

(a) dramatic realism throughout the sixties, the cinema witnessed a general push to represent life in a more realistic mode. This warranted drama to actually show (at. least as [:)art of its plot arid action) acts of sex and violence rather than alluding to them. Today realism still operates, along lines of 'showing what is not normally shown to us' rather than 'shying away' from the reality to which the drama refers.

(b) screen violence from the sixties through to the seventies, fully defined 'sub genres' developed, owing their existence in part to the push toward dramatic realism. Going under the general heading of Exploitation, these sub genres include the Vigilante movie arid the Women In Prison movie. These two sub genres in particular, were totally based around acts of violence and rape. Developing from them came another sub genre : the Rape/Revenge where the subtext (of rape and its revenge) became main plot and primary action.

(c) cultural censorship ever since the formation of the Hayes Code in the twenties, film censorship has always defined the outer parameters of just how far a film carn go in representing things despite the fact that the camera can photograph just about anything. Censorship has in many ways determined certain cinematic images (eg. the two single beds, etc.), symbols (eg. the ocean or rustling trees for the act of sexual intercourse, etc.), non images (eg. people defecating, etc.), non acts(eg. bestiality, etc.) and so on. The degree of representation (what is being depicted and how detailed is the depiction) is the major factor determined by censorship, which thereby determines to a large extent the tone of 'dramatic realism in a film.

(d) social behaviour here 'real life' comes into conflict with censorship, in that contemporary society may be behaving and operating in ways which that same society thinks should not be represented despite their actuality. Struggles against at censorship are often based on a move to bring the depiction into synch with the actuality. Struggles to enforce censorship are often based on a move to maintain a distance between the two.
 
C: Ideology

Taking all the above categories into consideration, the type of presence of a Rape/Revenge subtext at any point in the cinema's history within a specific cultural context (ie. mainstream, art, underground, porn, etc.) can illustrate a particular view of the ideology that determines, maintains and/or undermines our conception and perception of

(a) what is rape
(b) what are its effects
(c) how should it be represented in film
(d) how should it be addressed in society
(e) what are the effects of its representation upon society ?

This means that ANY film dealing with rape and its revenge can be viewed in this light. Any one film, though, will not reveal 'the' ideology which moulds society (its movements and its transgressions), but rather will propose or effect a view (intentional or unintentional) as to how an ideoIogy can work both within a film (how it represents society) and upon it (how society affects its representation in a film).
 
D: DEMON SEED

A rape and its revenge are central to this film. However, there are multiple ways in which the rape/revenge theme is produced and represented in the narrative. Consider the major plot flows of the film

(a) the scientist trying to better society by his invention of a super human computer whose existence comes under threat by political, economic and military considerations.
(b) the estranged and decaying personal relationship between the scientist and his wife resulting from his attention to the computer in favour of his wife.
(c) the terrorization of the wife by the computer as it captures her, and rapes her to produce a child

These three major plot flows constitute a configuration of relationships centered around the scientist, the wife, the government and the computer. Their interelationship is centered on who/what owns/controls who/what, in that they each affect each other in ways which either symbolize or depict the role of Power and Possession. If these themes of Power and Possession are central to the film, how do they then relate to the central action of the film the rape?

For example, consider how the rape of the wife by the computer also relates to other character interelationships in terms of these two major themes. Are there then not a multiple of 'rapes' in the narrative (a) the rape of the wife by the husband (a comment on Domestics) (b) the rape of humans by technology (a comment on Science) (c) the rape of society by its government (a comment on Politics)? Following on from this, how do Domestics, Science and Politics relate to our conception and perception of rape in real life? What is its location within society? Does the film through an ideological interpretation of its plot, action and themesprovide a comment on this social location of rape?
 
E: Further films

THE VIRGIN SPRING 1960
LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT 1972
THE RAPE 1974
LIPSTICK 1976
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE 1979
MOTHER'S DAY 1980
ANGEL OF VENGEANCE 1981.
A QUESTION OF SILENCE 1983
SAVAGE STREETS 1985
EXTREMITIES 1986