'Observe and Report' Sparks Date-Rape Debate
Filed under: Comedy, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Trailers and Clips
So here's the $64,000 question: Are rape jokes funny? Jody Hill's Observe and Report has just gotten its first dose of bad publicity (not counting the Paul Blart: Mall Cop connection) thanks to a post in the NY Magazine's Vulture blog. They've posed the question: "Does Seth Rogen Rape Anna Faris in Observe and Report?" ... and, as you can imagine, this has sparked a debate among feminists and film critics alike.Now if you've seen the Red-Band trailer for the comedy about a Travis Bickle-style security guard, you probably know what scene has caught the eye of critics. If not, here's a quick description: After a night of drinking and drugging, Rogen escorts a half-unconscious Faris (Brandi) to his home and the trailer later cuts to a scene in which Rogen is having sex with the incapacitated Brandi. Nice. When he hesitates, however, we hear a slurred voice pipe up with "Why are you stopping, motherf*****?" Guilt assuaged, right? I mean he's not raping her -- she's totally into it ... right? Well, I'll leave my opinion for a little later, but it seems like the answer at large has been a big fat whopping 'No'.
Over at Jezebel, fans have decided that Rogen and Hill have just gone too far, and that this is another in a long line of examples of the anti-woman stance today's successful comedies seem to be taking. But go for a stroll over past the New York Times and in their review of the scene, they acknowledge the rape, but also go on to say, "Before the scene is over she indicates that she had given her consent." Now Farris and Rogen have also participated in a little damage control regarding the scene in question, but unfortunately most of their answers have only managed to make it worse for those offended.
All that being said, I promised you my opinion right? Well, here goes ... I'm going to have to say that as a woman, at no point did I really think rape when I saw the trailer. I saw pathetic, awkward sex between a man and a woman that might be pushing it a little when it comes to the definition of consent. But my gut tells me that it isn't enough to call out Rogen and Hill as women haters. I'm a big fan of context, and if you have a film where the man is as messed up as Rogen is supposed to be, I'm not exactly looking to him for moral guidance. One thing I do know is that I don't mind being offended as long as it's funny, so I'm going to reserve judgement until I see the film. How about you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-09-2009 @ 3:04PM
Eric said...
It's not really rape people. You want to see real rape go watch the movie Irréversible. That shit will fuck you up.
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4-09-2009 @ 3:05PM
William Goss said...
Thank you for getting this, Jessica, even as you admit to having not seen the film just yet. It's a scene that is intended to be pathetic and awkward and wrong, and to denounce it/the film/the filmmakers as condoning the act of rape is both wrong-headed and narrow-minded. It feels like the attacks on my Last House review all over again.
Just wait until the real-world teenage skateboarders get up in arms about the mid-movie montage that makes victims out of them...
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4-09-2009 @ 3:24PM
khia213 said...
Maybe the laws are different where you are, but where I am, if you have sex with someone unable to give consent, it's rape. Passed out drunk? Probably not consensual. That she blurts something out in the middle of it that sounds like it's alright with her, still leaves it on shaky ground.
A lot of campus date rapes look like the scene contained in the film's red band trailer. Drunken girl. Overly ambitious guy. The problem is, that in the morning when not everyone has the same perception of the event, it can get ugly.
I'm not horribly offended, but I think the people raising the issue have a point.
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4-09-2009 @ 3:42PM
DrJack said...
Having not yet had a chance to watch the entire movie so only able to judge based on the red band trailer this doesn't look like date rape at all.
We enter the scene in the middle of sex and he is calling out her name and realizes she isn't responding and he STOPS at which point she tells him not to. From just this scene alone how can anyone call this rape?
Should he be having sex with a girl who seems very drunk? No. Should he punch a skateboarding kid in the face? No. Should he tazer a guy for apparently no reason? No.
This isn't Sesame Street it is an R rated movie made for adults. The guy clearly doesn't make fantastic choices but from a single scene to classify this movie as glorifying date rape seems like a magnificent jump.
Anyway I will go see it tomorrow and probably laugh at that scene as I did while watching the trailer and from a few of the comments I read on Jezebel I will apparently then go on a vicious rape spree.
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4-09-2009 @ 3:57PM
Justin said...
I actually couldn't bring myself to commenting on the Jezebel article when I read it, because as a website geared towards women I didn't want to be "That guy" that comes out and tries to defend a "date rape" scene. That being said, I get the arguments they make, date rape as a real issue isn't funny, the film could be traumatic to victims if they view it, etc. but it is a film. There is artistic license, I don't think the countless directors that include intense violence in their films are advocates of murder, to use a tired example. I feel like Jezebel and other articles like this are good for addressing the issue and making it known what the content of this film is, so those with a weaker disposition, or more importantly sensitive victims, can choose not to see it. But to try and pin Rogen and Hill as women haters is going a little far. They're filmmakers, and daring ones, that to me breeds good film. I can't wait to see this movie, despite the controversial subject matter.
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4-12-2009 @ 6:50PM
Mr.R said...
I agree, only a monster would support rape but the day movies do change reality is the day I will actually care about what a movie does or not defend. If this one defends rape, then hopefully another like "Lord of War" would stop the illegal arms sales across the globe or "The Accused" might stop rapes in bars and "Mississippi Burnings" would stop racism against black people but truth be said, movies don't influence human behavior, humans do.
4-09-2009 @ 4:32PM
BloodwerK said...
If someone willingly drinks or takes drugs they are still responsible for their own actions. Got wasted and slept with somebody you wish you hadn't? Too bad. You shouldn't have gotten drunk. Get high and make out with your best friend's girlfriend? That's your fault for smoking out. People need to stop blaming other people for their own stupidity...
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4-09-2009 @ 4:32PM
Macca said...
Maybe it isn't classic brutal rape, but there's no ability to consent, as seen in this clip, which certainly puts the sexual incident into questionable territory.
I think the biggest problem with Rogen and Hill's films is that their repeated theme is basically "exploit females". They feed into unappealing male's fantasies of getting the hot chick drunk so you can have sex with her. And I mean both... the men are unappealing and their fantasies too.
Too many males will find this film funny, which isn't exactly flattering. These film makers know their audience and how they will relate.
If you have to get a girl passing out drunk to score, you're a pathetic loser and there's no way to sugar coat that with some laughs.
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4-09-2009 @ 11:18PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
And yet it happens all the time. A friend of mine prosecuted a stranger rape involving a passed out girl a toad of a guy at a wedding. The girl was near perfect - smart, great job, beautiful - and the guy was a loser of the highest order. The guy claimed it was consensual - the girl said she was drunk and didn't consent. Sadly, the jury believed the guy even though everyone confirmed she was drunk.
Keep in mind this is a movie. Movies do not change people's behavior. Let it go. People saw Irreversible and we didn't have a sudden rush on tunnel rapes. People flocked to Braveheart, yet very few people paint themselves blue and behead brits (it's quite fun, really). Lighten up...movies are just stories.
4-09-2009 @ 5:58PM
Demon said...
The scene in 'Observe And Report' is not date rape. He is merely having sex with her, he realizes that she seems incoherent. Rogen's character stop asks her if she is awake basically. And she pretty much tells him to shut up and keep going. Not Date Rape. Yes, she was drunk, but it was something, once she says keep going, the viewer understands that she knows what is going on.
I did see the film in a press screening 2 nights ago, if I need to prove that I have actually seen the flick.
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4-09-2009 @ 4:54PM
shadowracer said...
How come no-one asked if Christian raped Liz on Nip/Tuck?
Seriously, send that one to TV Squad. That had to be some sort of rape.
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4-09-2009 @ 5:25PM
Nick said...
I've actually seen the movie and so mild SPOILERS will not doubt follow.
SPOILERS
Anyway, during their dinner date, Ronnie (Rogen) gives Brandie (Faris) his bi-polar medication because he thinks he no longer needs it since things are going so well in his life, so beyond Ronnei being mentally unstable as it is, he's off his medication, and in general a pretty fucked up guy. Rape is obviously a serious issue and should not be played for laughs, but in the film it's shocking, and is only one of a serious of things like that, where Ronnie acts totally insane and immorally. It's part of his character and part of the commentary I think HIll is making about the modern male psyche, the mysognist male failure with a hero complex and delusions of granduer, which is reinforced by movies that they go see.
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4-09-2009 @ 8:01PM
Chad said...
As filmmaker and artist I think we are asking the wrong questions here. Film and other mediums of art portray real life and date rape happens - so it's not whether it's appropriate or "if" it's date-rape, it's whether or not you think its any of these things - and taking that into account, if you laugh at this scene or are offended by it - that's not the film's fault - that's just how society is in the eyes of the filmmaker.
If it happens in real life, it should happen in movies too no matter how controversial, funny, boring, or odd.
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4-09-2009 @ 11:12PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Context. Even if it is rape, if that's what the character would do then it makes sense.
not sure why people believe protagonists in films must be model citizens. it's a story people. millions of guys (and girls) have had sex with people drugged/boozed out of their senses. Does this make it right? Nope. But it's not exactly an outlandish scenario.
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4-10-2009 @ 6:43AM
j said...
So, Robert Downey Jr plays a black man who plays a woman who is getting raped, but he's really Australian? I'm offended.
:)
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4-10-2009 @ 8:48AM
GL said...
Do you have to like it? No.
Gone too far? No.
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4-11-2009 @ 3:07PM
Chris L said...
I have seen the movie and there is way too much context to that scene to take a clip from the trailer and start screaming "date rape".This is a very DARK comedy and the Rogen character is shown to be totally insane. The movie shows him to idolize the Brandi character . The trailer shows Brandi a hard partier and his mother a falling down drunk, he has no problem associating love with someone being trashed. The trailer shows he immediately stops when he thinks she's passed out, until she demands he continue. It doesn't make sense in the movie he would rape her, doesn't make sense to his character to that point. Seth Rogen plays an ugly character in this film, but there are so many other things to pick on besides rapist.
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4-11-2009 @ 11:53PM
Marlowe said...
My problem with it is NOT that a character is committing date rape. I understand that an unsympathetic character can do reprehensible things in the context of the story. What offends me is the "eventual consent" element. It's distasteful and misleading to imply that someone you start out raping will eventually be okay with it, no matter how unsympathetic the rapist as a character is meant to be. It's a primitive, misogynistic theory that every woman Wants It (and they're only enhancing it by making Faris essentially a comedic version of Jodie Foster in The Accused). I have a problem with the rape scenes in A History of Violence and Straw Dogs, for the same reason, even though those are both quality movies.
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