MovieChat Forums > Deliverance (1972) Discussion > An Entire Film Built Around a Rape.....

An Entire Film Built Around a Rape.....

posted 9 years ago by kurtbrian14
35 replies | jump to latest

It's kind of sad, and an unfortunate testimonial to the strange thinking of the audience that liked it, that this film's dramatic peak was focused on a rape.

And please don't compare it to 'The Accused', because that film actually had a message beyond revenge.

Ironic that Bert R. often tells the story when the two actors that had the rape roles were asked about their feelings regarding this subject and whether they could do it, their response was: "well we've done worse".

[vomit]

[–] alanparsons (560) 3 years ago

Yes, it's clear the studio was leaning very heavily on the shock value of the rape and we have a lot of sick, twisted people in society that really latched on to it.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9443) 3 years ago

Exactly, that is what Hollywood is ... it is one step up from prostitution and maybe two steps up from rape - and much of it seems to be in service to habituating the public towards thinking in those terms.

Programming a nation of "service providers" for the rich, of every kind.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

You just wish you were the one on the ground squealing like a pig in your fantasies.

[–] brux (14840) 3 years ago

Well said.

[–] alanparsons (560) 2 years ago

An Entire Film Built Around a Rape.....

The entire film is built around the intention of stigmatizing of the South in peoples' minds, using the rape scene as a vehicle.

[–] Seperatrix (1349) 2 years ago

The rape scene in particular stands out in the film, and has been referenced in pop culture endlessly, but I never think of this film as "built" on that scene.

From the very beginning of the film Lewis is extolling the virtues of returning to the wild and lamenting the urbanization of the untamed forest, of nature itself. Yet it is the wilderness that betrays Lewis and his friends. The mountain men (men of the wild) victimize his friend and then the once-friendly and fun river/rapids turns against the group as well. Lewis may even lose a leg from the ordeal.

What the film is saying I'm not clear about. But the theme of urbanization encroaching on the pristine and untamed land is to me what the film is built around. From the opening conversation to the continuing campsite chat to a scene toward the end where Ed is watching buildings relocated to escape the soon-to-be-flooded areas as a dam is built. This theme permeates the entire film.