Exploring Trauma in Rape-Revenge Narratives

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Rape-revenge narratives have a long history in film, and they have notoriously been used by male filmmakers as a way to talk about broader issues while neglecting the particular experiences of sexual assault survivors. What this paper aims to bring to the fore is the progression of rape-revenge narratives when it comes to the representation of sexual assault trauma on a personal and collective level – the former looking at how the characters cope with their traumas and the former fitting the films within a wider discourse of sexual assault. In doing so the paper will present a comparative analysis of older films directed by men and newer films directed by women (mainly post-#metoo) to investigate how recent films are updating rape-revenge tropes and adopting diverse narrative structures in order to prioritise the characters’ post-rape traumas and the various ways they manifest (in nightmares, flashbacks and fractured memories).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInMind Support
Publication statusUnpublished - 2022
EventTrauma and Nightmare: 5th International Interdisciplinary Conference -
Duration: 17 Sept 202218 Sept 2022

Conference

ConferenceTrauma and Nightmare
Period17/09/2218/09/22

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