Summary: Rhetorical Analysis Of The Film The Accused
March 15, 2013
Rhetorical Analysis of the film “The Accused”
"I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician, with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by a rape." - Idaho Senator Chuck Winder (New Republic)
“Concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami.” –Federal Judge James Leon Holmes (The Jewish Daily)
“The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the juices don 't flow, the body functions don 't work and they don 't get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever.” –Republican Rep. Henry Albridge (SFGate) …show more content…
These are just a few quotes from a long list of ignorant stereotypes I have found online from our nation’s leaders.
Women must have complete control over their own bodies’ right? I mean they must if many of our leaders think so correct? No, the answer is no. I believe it is misplaced knowledge and stereotypes like these that perpetuate the stigma that some women are; “just asking for it”. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. 17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape. 9 out of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003. In 2004-2005, 64,080 women were raped. According to medical reports, the incidence of pregnancy for one-time unprotected sexual intercourse is 5%. By applying the pregnancy rate to 64,080 women, it is estimated that there were about 3,204 pregnancies as a result of rape during that period. (Planned
Parenthood)
I will be taking a narrative criticism approach to examine the movie “The Accused.” My research question is; how does the film “The Accused” portray stereotypes of women in court cases involving rape? I will answer this question through my analysis; my analysis will include themes such as victimization, stereotypes and emotion. I will also look at the characters in this story and how they are portrayed.
The movie takes place one night in a bar, were a working-class woman Sarah Tobias is gang raped by several drunk bar men, while loud and drunken friends on look and cheer the rapists. After going to the hospital a district attorney, Kathryn Murphy is assigned to the case. She doesn’t want to take the case at all and after meeting Sarah and having a fight with her she really doesn’t want to take the case on. Kathryn then plea bargains with the accused having them sentenced to jail time for a short while. Sarah becomes so upset when she hears the news she goes to Kathryn’s home to congratulate her for selling Sarah out. She is so upset that she did not get the chance to share her story in court. Sometime later Sarah is hit on by one of the witnesses who had encouraged the rapists back in the bar. Sarah is then hospitalized after ramming her car into his pickup because he would not let her leave in her car out of the parking lot they were in. Kathryn decides to prosecute the men who cheered the rape for criminal solicitation. Sarah finally gets her chance to testify that she was raped in court. A college student Kenneth Joyce a friend of one of the rapists testifies to watching the rape prior to making a 911 call. The jury deliberates for a long time, asking several times for Kenneth testimony to be reread. The jury then finds the three men guilty.
Analysis
I believe this movie is important to analyze because there are stereotypes that are portrayed in this movie that really did take place back in 1988 and are still in our conversation now in 2013. I remember seeing this film when I was a teenager and I remember not understanding many of the stereotypes in the film or much of the language used in the film as well. After watching the film again I can see how powerful this film was for 1988 and that this film needed to be made. Especially, since this is a loosely based movie on a true life event I am glad that they made a movie out of this and it is as true as it can be while also providing a movie based story. As an adult watching this movie I have much more appreciation for the topic and the fact the movie was made. This movie brings to light a subject many people don’t like to talk about and I think it should be talked about. No one should have to feel guilty or ashamed if they are taken advantage of because no one ever has the right to take advantage of other people.
Setting
The setting is perfect for the story telling the movie wants to set up. The first main setting we have is this grungy, old, backwater bar. It seems to be next to a freeway overpass and is relatively small. The walls are worn down and the paint on the outside of the establishment is fading and pealing. The bar is where the rape took place and where the beginning of the film starts as well. The questions being brought up are, why would any women in her right mind go to a bar “like this” all on her own? The bar setting is set up so that every man in the “back room” is fully focused on the women and whenever a woman gets up or is walking she is looked at or followed by the men in this place. I believe the entire bar sense gave the audience a feeling for what kind of women Sarah Tobias is. This setting also feeds into the stereotype that only low income, grungy women like Sarah get raped. The second setting is Sarah home. Sarah lives in a very poor looking home, her home is a mobile home filled with clutter and cheap looking furniture. Her bedroom is small and only has enough room to walk around her bed. She has a dirty dog that lives with her and a no good boyfriend that bums off her. The home has dishes in the sink and alcohol containers on the counter and table. The first impression this setting gives the audience is that Sarah is a poor and she really has low self-respect for her to be living in these kinds of conditions, thinking it is a home. It makes some of the audience think “And they wonder why she was raped”. This setting is helping to perpetuate people’s stereotypes that only poor, low income, non-educated women are raped. The movie does a great job in my option setting up an atmosphere that many Americans believe people who are low income live in. The third setting area that is used is Kathryn Murphy the attorneys law offices. Not only Kathryn office but the fact that every other time the audience sees Kathryn, she is traveling to a hockey game or hosting a fantasy dinner party and driving a very luxurious car. Kathryn’s law office is very well kept, well kept like any other law office the audience would expect but it shows the difference in social status to the attorney general and her client.
Characters
I will first talk about the rapist characters in the film and then focus on the main characters. The rapist were three men, the first Larry the guy that bought Sarah a drink, the second was a bystander who was persuaded to join the rape Bob the college fraternity guy, and third is Kurt who was also cheered on to join in on the rape. These three men have very few parts in the film and are only really seen in the end of the film were the rape scene is replayed out and the audience sees for the first time the actual crime being committed. This, right here, is what we talk about when we talk about “rape culture,” that a group of men should be struck senseless in the face of rape, rather than being moved to step in or get to safety and call the police. (xojane.com) Of the three rapist only Bob has a few parts, he is portrayed in his fraternity house being cheered that he was not going to be going to jail for the rape of Sarah. His character is shown as showing no remorse for what he took part in or for the fact that it even happened. The second time Bob has time in the film is when he is locked up and his best friend Ken comes to visit him. Bob convinces Ken to not tell the truth because if he does then Bob would spend more time in jail and would have a record. Bobs character is selfish and juvenile which is the same attitude the other rapist had even though they are older and should have acted like men. The characters are important thought because they show how these so called men could have acted like this in the first place. They have no remorse for what they committed and see it as nothing. The proof of this is in the beginning of the film after the rape had happened many of the same men who raped Sarah stayed in the bar and were just sitting around and drinking like nothing had just happened. These characters definetly paint a clear picture of just how heartless and unaffected these rapists are. The characters were very convincing and real to the audience in this film. Sarah Tobias character is very strong at the beginning of the film and as the film progresses you start to see her “true” colors. The main characters of this film would have to be Sarah and Kathryn. Sarah is this loud, outspoken, no-apologetic woman. Sarah is a waitress and is shown many different times at work, when she is at work Sarah looks very unappreciated and used. As a rape victim Sarah is very much afraid of intimacy and shows very good emotional responses to the way she is feeling. Sarah character is just amazing because the audience can see in her facial expressions as soon as she is upset or angry or happy. The character was beautifully crafted by Jodi Foster who almost didn’t get the part in the film. At about the half way point of the film Sarah cuts her hair and in the film stats that she “needs a change”. The audience sees this change as going from a victim in her own home to become more of an independent women and being able to do things on her own out side of her home. Kathryn is also played as a very strong and powerful female role, but she does have a higher social status. Kathryn is shown with very nice professional cloths, her hair is done in a clean and very feminine way and she is always put together. By put together I mean she is dressed to impress, her hair is always combed and she is always in heels. As a woman in power she is always walking with her head held high, she is also played by a very tall actress who also gives her character a very strong personality and posture. Kathryn character is first portrayed as a case winner; she doesn’t want anything to do with any case if it is not a winner. Sarah case was not looking so much like a winner but a liability so Kathryn chose to make a deal. Later in the film Kathryn attitude is changed after seeing Sarah in the hospital for a second time and the audience can see her attitude changing. Kathryn now see’s how the rest of society see’s Sarah, and as Sarah is laying in the hospital bed Kathryn decides to help win her the case. Some time later Kathryn is seen in her office pulling and all nighters looking for anything to continue to carry Sarah case so that Sarah could tell her story in court. Both of these leading women characters go through their own respective character changes in the film and I think they portrayed themselves in a way the audience could easily adapt to and see the changes both mentally and physically.
Events
The main event in the film is pinball rape scene but the audience does not see this scene until Ken Joyce sits in the court room and tells his testimony. Until this point the audience has only heard about the actual act of the rape form what the lawyers have said which was not much and to what Sarah testimony was which was detailed from her point of view. When Ken sits on the stand and tells his point of view of the event it is much more detailed with vivid recollection of the actual time and sequences of the event. The director was very smart to not have this scene played from the begging of the film. The audience was given the opportunity to be like jury members and hear all the different sides of the story and put the image together in their own minds. It wasn’t until the end of the film that the audience gets to see the actual event of the crime and I will admit that even I was shocked at the scene. A small event in the film was when Cliff “Scorpion” Albert runs into Sarah at a record store and harasses her. He insists that he knows her and list off random casual events that she may “know” him from. When Sarah turns him down he does not let up and walks with her out of the store and into the parking lot. Then he really harasses Sarah by telling her he remembers him from the Mill Bar. Sarah begins to panic and try’s to just get in her car and get away but Cliff is having none of this and continues to cat call at her and flip his tongue at her. He then blocks Sarah car from leaving the parking lot and starts to laugh at her. She is in a panic she looks at him and rams his car in. This was a small scene I believe but it had a lot of messages in it. Cliff coming up to Sarah was how she was going to perceive many guys from the bar who were there. Sarah going into a panic was how she was going to feel every time someone would have brought up the rape or the time at the bar. I could see this turmoil in Sarah and how she was not going to take it anymore. If the world thought she was a piece of shit then she was going to do whatever it takes to get out of the situation. She felt like a helpless victim until she backed her car up and rammed into Cliff truck. This was a small scene but I believe this was a huge step for Sarah to overcome her fear and decide right there and then that she were no longer going to become a victim any longer.
Theme
The film “The Accused” focuses on three main themes. They are victimization, stereotypes, and emotions. I will explain why I believe these to be the main themes and how they also tie into my research question; how does the film “The Accused” portray stereotypes of women in court cases involving rape? The victimization theme was presented very strongly to Sarah character and how she was portrayed after the rape in the Mill bar. After the rape scene Sarah is sent to the hospital and there she is surrounded by women who are suppose to help her. Well that is how it should have been but these women are there to do a job. Their job is to determine if a rape actually took place and to take down her information and story while it is fresh in her mind. The scene shows how Sarah the victim is just processed through; if this was a conveyer belt she would have been ready to ship within 3 min flat. It is very disheartening to see her in this very thin gown and asked to lift it up and show her body so that they could document the proof that she was raped. From the very beginning she needs to first prove that she was raped and they could not just take her work, the doctor actually had to physically see that she was penetrated.
Later in the film Kathryn confronts Sarah for having a record and not telling her about it, you know because people who are raped are not supposed to have a record. They can’t just be anybody; people who are truly raped are victims and need to be seen as not human but super sweet and innocent so that when they go to court it will be a sure win. The film helps to show that a victim of a rape, is a victim, no matter what their personal status is or social level.
The second theme is stereotypes, like I had listed in my introduction many people in America, even our national leaders, have a very backwards way of thinking when it come to rape. The film portrays Sarah as a very seductive women, she dresses very slutty like and is sought after by almost every guy in the bar. She was asking for it, is a line that I have heard on more then one occasion and I do not agree with this but this statement, is how the film was portraying rape victims. The other stereotypes in the film are in social status, when Kathryn is trying to make a plea barging with the rapist lawyers the lawyers try to explain how Bob is just a kid in college. The lawyers try to ask Kathryn for a smaller sentence so that it doesn’t stay on his record. The stereotype that college guy Bob has rich daddies that can afford a good lawyer and second that he’s a kid and hasn’t had a chance to enjoy life yet but he can go and rape someone. This stereotype goes in favor of the rapist. Boys will be boys, is a stereotype that has been used as an excuses for far too long.
The last theme in the film is emotion, the way the characters interacted with each other and the rape scene. The emotions of a character have a great affect on both the audience and the environment for the film. The audience has a better understanding of how a character feels or is reacting to a situation when we can hear the emotions in the characters voices. The beginning of the film we see Kathryn react to Sarah, when she goes to Sarah’s home her facial expressions and her domineer change. As we see Kathryn’s character progress in the film, we start to see her attitude change along with the way she looks at Sarah. Just as Kathryn is learning more of Sarah so is the audience and we starting to see why people are giving her second guess 's to her credibility. The emotion in the film may look casual and flat lining in some parts but it is very well thought out. By people in the film not showing emotions to characters and situations just goes to show the audience that this is something that is real and is happening. The film does a great job in showing that many people just don’t want to deal with these types of incidents and want them to be quickly dealt with so that they don’t have to deal with them anymore.
Conclusion
The movie has gotten the story out to the rest of America that this does happen and this film being the first Hollywood movie is a testimony to it in its self. The fact that no other movie was just focused on rape before the making of this film was shocking to me. I do believe that this is a hard subject to cover in a film and people have a hard time to talk about this issue. The film does a great job in shining light on the topic and bringing it to the forefront in 1988 the release of the film. Poor women, seductive women, blue collar women, white collar women, young, old, big, or small; are not the characteristics of a rape victim. No one has the right to take advantage of anyone and there is no one who is ever asking for it. This movie gave the public a face to rape and a face to rapist. Rapists are not all the same big scary figure they can come in all shapes and sizes. I believe that this film has done so much for the voice of women who felt like they had none. Social media has been doing awful things to women in this country and to finally have a movie focuses on rape as a topic help give many voiceless American women courage to speak out and know that they are not alone.
Works Cited
"AP English 12--Langdahl." AP: Poetry Analysis: SOAPS. Routledge, June 2006. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
Eden, Ami. "In Judicial Twist, Republicans Seen Stalling Bush Pick." The Jewish Daily Forward, 11 July 2003. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
"Lawmaker Says Rape Can 't Cause Pregnancy." SFGate. San Fransico Chronicle, 21 Apr. 1995. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
"Pregnancy Q&A." Pregnancy Q&A. Planned Parenthood, Mar. 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
"Rape Statistics." Unspoken Crimes: Sexual Assault in Rural America. National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Jan. 2033. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
Redeen, Molly. "Five Other Politicians Who’ve Said Idiotic Things About Rape." The New Republic. The New Republic, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
"Who Are the Victims? | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network." Who Are the Victims? RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, May 2003. Web. 08 Mar. 2013.
Rhetorical Analysis of the film “The Accused”
"I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician, with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by a rape." - Idaho Senator Chuck Winder (New Republic)
“Concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami.” –Federal Judge James Leon Holmes (The Jewish Daily)
“The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the juices don 't flow, the body functions don 't work and they don 't get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever.” –Republican Rep. Henry Albridge (SFGate) …show more content…
These are just a few quotes from a long list of ignorant stereotypes I have found online from our nation’s leaders.
Women must have complete control over their own bodies’ right? I mean they must if many of our leaders think so correct? No, the answer is no. I believe it is misplaced knowledge and stereotypes like these that perpetuate the stigma that some women are; “just asking for it”. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. 17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape. 9 out of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003. In 2004-2005, 64,080 women were raped. According to medical reports, the incidence of pregnancy for one-time unprotected sexual intercourse is 5%. By applying the pregnancy rate to 64,080 women, it is estimated that there were about 3,204 pregnancies as a result of rape during that period. (Planned
Parenthood)
I will be taking a narrative criticism approach to examine the movie “The Accused.” My research question is; how does the film “The Accused” portray stereotypes of women in court cases involving rape? I will answer this question through my analysis; my analysis will include themes such as victimization, stereotypes and emotion. I will also look at the characters in this story and how they are portrayed.
The movie takes place one night in a bar, were a working-class woman Sarah Tobias is gang raped by several drunk bar men, while loud and drunken friends on look and cheer the rapists. After going to the hospital a district attorney, Kathryn Murphy is assigned to the case. She doesn’t want to take the case at all and after meeting Sarah and having a fight with her she really doesn’t want to take the case on. Kathryn then plea bargains with the accused having them sentenced to jail time for a short while. Sarah becomes so upset when she hears the news she goes to Kathryn’s home to congratulate her for selling Sarah out. She is so upset that she did not get the chance to share her story in court. Sometime later Sarah is hit on by one of the witnesses who had encouraged the rapists back in the bar. Sarah is then hospitalized after ramming her car into his pickup because he would not let her leave in her car out of the parking lot they were in. Kathryn decides to prosecute the men who cheered the rape for criminal solicitation. Sarah finally gets her chance to testify that she was raped in court. A college student Kenneth Joyce a friend of one of the rapists testifies to watching the rape prior to making a 911 call. The jury deliberates for a long time, asking several times for Kenneth testimony to be reread. The jury then finds the three men guilty.
Analysis
I believe this movie is important to analyze because there are stereotypes that are portrayed in this movie that really did take place back in 1988 and are still in our conversation now in 2013. I remember seeing this film when I was a teenager and I remember not understanding many of the stereotypes in the film or much of the language used in the film as well. After watching the film again I can see how powerful this film was for 1988 and that this film needed to be made. Especially, since this is a loosely based movie on a true life event I am glad that they made a movie out of this and it is as true as it can be while also providing a movie based story. As an adult watching this movie I have much more appreciation for the topic and the fact the movie was made. This movie brings to light a subject many people don’t like to talk about and I think it should be talked about. No one should have to feel guilty or ashamed if they are taken advantage of because no one ever has the right to take advantage of other people.
Setting
The setting is perfect for the story telling the movie wants to set up. The first main setting we have is this grungy, old, backwater bar. It seems to be next to a freeway overpass and is relatively small. The walls are worn down and the paint on the outside of the establishment is fading and pealing. The bar is where the rape took place and where the beginning of the film starts as well. The questions being brought up are, why would any women in her right mind go to a bar “like this” all on her own? The bar setting is set up so that every man in the “back room” is fully focused on the women and whenever a woman gets up or is walking she is looked at or followed by the men in this place. I believe the entire bar sense gave the audience a feeling for what kind of women Sarah Tobias is. This setting also feeds into the stereotype that only low income, grungy women like Sarah get raped. The second setting is Sarah home. Sarah lives in a very poor looking home, her home is a mobile home filled with clutter and cheap looking furniture. Her bedroom is small and only has enough room to walk around her bed. She has a dirty dog that lives with her and a no good boyfriend that bums off her. The home has dishes in the sink and alcohol containers on the counter and table. The first impression this setting gives the audience is that Sarah is a poor and she really has low self-respect for her to be living in these kinds of conditions, thinking it is a home. It makes some of the audience think “And they wonder why she was raped”. This setting is helping to perpetuate people’s stereotypes that only poor, low income, non-educated women are raped. The movie does a great job in my option setting up an atmosphere that many Americans believe people who are low income live in. The third setting area that is used is Kathryn Murphy the attorneys law offices. Not only Kathryn office but the fact that every other time the audience sees Kathryn, she is traveling to a hockey game or hosting a fantasy dinner party and driving a very luxurious car. Kathryn’s law office is very well kept, well kept like any other law office the audience would expect but it shows the difference in social status to the attorney general and her client.
Characters
I will first talk about the rapist characters in the film and then focus on the main characters. The rapist were three men, the first Larry the guy that bought Sarah a drink, the second was a bystander who was persuaded to join the rape Bob the college fraternity guy, and third is Kurt who was also cheered on to join in on the rape. These three men have very few parts in the film and are only really seen in the end of the film were the rape scene is replayed out and the audience sees for the first time the actual crime being committed. This, right here, is what we talk about when we talk about “rape culture,” that a group of men should be struck senseless in the face of rape, rather than being moved to step in or get to safety and call the police. (xojane.com) Of the three rapist only Bob has a few parts, he is portrayed in his fraternity house being cheered that he was not going to be going to jail for the rape of Sarah. His character is shown as showing no remorse for what he took part in or for the fact that it even happened. The second time Bob has time in the film is when he is locked up and his best friend Ken comes to visit him. Bob convinces Ken to not tell the truth because if he does then Bob would spend more time in jail and would have a record. Bobs character is selfish and juvenile which is the same attitude the other rapist had even though they are older and should have acted like men. The characters are important thought because they show how these so called men could have acted like this in the first place. They have no remorse for what they committed and see it as nothing. The proof of this is in the beginning of the film after the rape had happened many of the same men who raped Sarah stayed in the bar and were just sitting around and drinking like nothing had just happened. These characters definetly paint a clear picture of just how heartless and unaffected these rapists are. The characters were very convincing and real to the audience in this film. Sarah Tobias character is very strong at the beginning of the film and as the film progresses you start to see her “true” colors. The main characters of this film would have to be Sarah and Kathryn. Sarah is this loud, outspoken, no-apologetic woman. Sarah is a waitress and is shown many different times at work, when she is at work Sarah looks very unappreciated and used. As a rape victim Sarah is very much afraid of intimacy and shows very good emotional responses to the way she is feeling. Sarah character is just amazing because the audience can see in her facial expressions as soon as she is upset or angry or happy. The character was beautifully crafted by Jodi Foster who almost didn’t get the part in the film. At about the half way point of the film Sarah cuts her hair and in the film stats that she “needs a change”. The audience sees this change as going from a victim in her own home to become more of an independent women and being able to do things on her own out side of her home. Kathryn is also played as a very strong and powerful female role, but she does have a higher social status. Kathryn is shown with very nice professional cloths, her hair is done in a clean and very feminine way and she is always put together. By put together I mean she is dressed to impress, her hair is always combed and she is always in heels. As a woman in power she is always walking with her head held high, she is also played by a very tall actress who also gives her character a very strong personality and posture. Kathryn character is first portrayed as a case winner; she doesn’t want anything to do with any case if it is not a winner. Sarah case was not looking so much like a winner but a liability so Kathryn chose to make a deal. Later in the film Kathryn attitude is changed after seeing Sarah in the hospital for a second time and the audience can see her attitude changing. Kathryn now see’s how the rest of society see’s Sarah, and as Sarah is laying in the hospital bed Kathryn decides to help win her the case. Some time later Kathryn is seen in her office pulling and all nighters looking for anything to continue to carry Sarah case so that Sarah could tell her story in court. Both of these leading women characters go through their own respective character changes in the film and I think they portrayed themselves in a way the audience could easily adapt to and see the changes both mentally and physically.
Events
The main event in the film is pinball rape scene but the audience does not see this scene until Ken Joyce sits in the court room and tells his testimony. Until this point the audience has only heard about the actual act of the rape form what the lawyers have said which was not much and to what Sarah testimony was which was detailed from her point of view. When Ken sits on the stand and tells his point of view of the event it is much more detailed with vivid recollection of the actual time and sequences of the event. The director was very smart to not have this scene played from the begging of the film. The audience was given the opportunity to be like jury members and hear all the different sides of the story and put the image together in their own minds. It wasn’t until the end of the film that the audience gets to see the actual event of the crime and I will admit that even I was shocked at the scene. A small event in the film was when Cliff “Scorpion” Albert runs into Sarah at a record store and harasses her. He insists that he knows her and list off random casual events that she may “know” him from. When Sarah turns him down he does not let up and walks with her out of the store and into the parking lot. Then he really harasses Sarah by telling her he remembers him from the Mill Bar. Sarah begins to panic and try’s to just get in her car and get away but Cliff is having none of this and continues to cat call at her and flip his tongue at her. He then blocks Sarah car from leaving the parking lot and starts to laugh at her. She is in a panic she looks at him and rams his car in. This was a small scene I believe but it had a lot of messages in it. Cliff coming up to Sarah was how she was going to perceive many guys from the bar who were there. Sarah going into a panic was how she was going to feel every time someone would have brought up the rape or the time at the bar. I could see this turmoil in Sarah and how she was not going to take it anymore. If the world thought she was a piece of shit then she was going to do whatever it takes to get out of the situation. She felt like a helpless victim until she backed her car up and rammed into Cliff truck. This was a small scene but I believe this was a huge step for Sarah to overcome her fear and decide right there and then that she were no longer going to become a victim any longer.
Theme
The film “The Accused” focuses on three main themes. They are victimization, stereotypes, and emotions. I will explain why I believe these to be the main themes and how they also tie into my research question; how does the film “The Accused” portray stereotypes of women in court cases involving rape? The victimization theme was presented very strongly to Sarah character and how she was portrayed after the rape in the Mill bar. After the rape scene Sarah is sent to the hospital and there she is surrounded by women who are suppose to help her. Well that is how it should have been but these women are there to do a job. Their job is to determine if a rape actually took place and to take down her information and story while it is fresh in her mind. The scene shows how Sarah the victim is just processed through; if this was a conveyer belt she would have been ready to ship within 3 min flat. It is very disheartening to see her in this very thin gown and asked to lift it up and show her body so that they could document the proof that she was raped. From the very beginning she needs to first prove that she was raped and they could not just take her work, the doctor actually had to physically see that she was penetrated.
Later in the film Kathryn confronts Sarah for having a record and not telling her about it, you know because people who are raped are not supposed to have a record. They can’t just be anybody; people who are truly raped are victims and need to be seen as not human but super sweet and innocent so that when they go to court it will be a sure win. The film helps to show that a victim of a rape, is a victim, no matter what their personal status is or social level.
The second theme is stereotypes, like I had listed in my introduction many people in America, even our national leaders, have a very backwards way of thinking when it come to rape. The film portrays Sarah as a very seductive women, she dresses very slutty like and is sought after by almost every guy in the bar. She was asking for it, is a line that I have heard on more then one occasion and I do not agree with this but this statement, is how the film was portraying rape victims. The other stereotypes in the film are in social status, when Kathryn is trying to make a plea barging with the rapist lawyers the lawyers try to explain how Bob is just a kid in college. The lawyers try to ask Kathryn for a smaller sentence so that it doesn’t stay on his record. The stereotype that college guy Bob has rich daddies that can afford a good lawyer and second that he’s a kid and hasn’t had a chance to enjoy life yet but he can go and rape someone. This stereotype goes in favor of the rapist. Boys will be boys, is a stereotype that has been used as an excuses for far too long.
The last theme in the film is emotion, the way the characters interacted with each other and the rape scene. The emotions of a character have a great affect on both the audience and the environment for the film. The audience has a better understanding of how a character feels or is reacting to a situation when we can hear the emotions in the characters voices. The beginning of the film we see Kathryn react to Sarah, when she goes to Sarah’s home her facial expressions and her domineer change. As we see Kathryn’s character progress in the film, we start to see her attitude change along with the way she looks at Sarah. Just as Kathryn is learning more of Sarah so is the audience and we starting to see why people are giving her second guess 's to her credibility. The emotion in the film may look casual and flat lining in some parts but it is very well thought out. By people in the film not showing emotions to characters and situations just goes to show the audience that this is something that is real and is happening. The film does a great job in showing that many people just don’t want to deal with these types of incidents and want them to be quickly dealt with so that they don’t have to deal with them anymore.
Conclusion
The movie has gotten the story out to the rest of America that this does happen and this film being the first Hollywood movie is a testimony to it in its self. The fact that no other movie was just focused on rape before the making of this film was shocking to me. I do believe that this is a hard subject to cover in a film and people have a hard time to talk about this issue. The film does a great job in shining light on the topic and bringing it to the forefront in 1988 the release of the film. Poor women, seductive women, blue collar women, white collar women, young, old, big, or small; are not the characteristics of a rape victim. No one has the right to take advantage of anyone and there is no one who is ever asking for it. This movie gave the public a face to rape and a face to rapist. Rapists are not all the same big scary figure they can come in all shapes and sizes. I believe that this film has done so much for the voice of women who felt like they had none. Social media has been doing awful things to women in this country and to finally have a movie focuses on rape as a topic help give many voiceless American women courage to speak out and know that they are not alone.
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