Author: Constance Grady (Vulture)
Translator: csh
The translation was first published in "Iris"
Translator's note: On October 6, 2018, the U.S. Senate finally voted to pass the Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh nominated by U.S. President Trump, and he finally took office two days later.
However, Kavanaugh was accused in September of sexually assaulting a high school girl years ago when he was seventeen years old. This 15-year-old girl is now 51 years old and is a professor of clinical psychology at Palo Alto University in California. But Kavanaugh issued a statement, categorically denying it. Trump also said that he would not revoke Kavanaugh's nomination of the Supreme Court justice.
Later, Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct by his college classmate Deborah Ramirez. Recently, Julie Swinnick pointed out that she had witnessed Kavanaugh participating in a party rape.
In the age of these events, the 1980s, the definition of rape seemed to be different from today. In the very popular comedy "Sixteen Candles", there is a key comedy segment, but it seems to be a naked rape today. Through the analysis of the film, this article aims to trace the source of the absurd remarks made by Kavanaugh and his supporters and expose a certain evil that has been passed down to this day .
When the third woman accused Brett Kavanaugh and pointed out his sexual misconduct, Kavanaugh’s supporters immediately put forward a very common rebuttal: This incident could not have happened, because if it were true If it happens, someone will definitely give an opinion at the time.
Julie Sweenick issued a manifesto through her lawyer Michael Avenati. She swears that she had witnessed Kavanaugh, the man appointed to the Supreme Court justice, who had drugged a fan at a house party among high school students. Down a few girls. Then they were gang raped. Sweenick further stated that Kavanaugh was present at that party. At that time she herself was drugged and raped. However, she did not directly indicate that Kavanaugh was involved in the rape of her.
In the declaration issued by the White House, Kavanaugh (he denied all three accusations against him) called Sweenek's allegations "ridiculous" and "unintelligible." He was quickly echoed by those supporters. They think that, according to common sense, if such a horrible thing happens, no one has done anything to stop it, or "escape" the party, which is very absurd.
According to their point of view, if this crime is real, everyone involved in it will realize that it happened, and realize that it was grossly wrong. Then, there must be someone who will speak at the time.
However, there is one thing we cannot ignore. That was when this crime occurred-in the 1980s, the definition and harm of "sexual assault" may not be as clear as it is today: both for participants and discussants. The most popular comedies of the 1980s are full of paragraphs that are considered "joy", but these paragraphs may be definitely judged as rape in a party in 2018.
In these films, as long as everyone knows each other, then these rapes will be seen as harmless play. They don't count at all. They are considered "fun"-even in a sweet and romantic film like "Sixteen Candles."
In the cultural context of the 1980s, the definition of "rape" may be completely different from our understanding today
In the 1980s, "rape" referred to being sexually assaulted by a stranger in a dark alley, rather than something that happened between acquaintances at a house party.
When such a discussion appeared on the Internet, some people pointed out that the definition of "rape" was completely different in the 1980s and today. Some netizens retorted: "I totally disagree with this view. In the 1980s, I was in high school. Back then, gang rape was considered a very terrifying crime."
Yes, gang rape was indeed a terrible crime in the 1980s-but it is still an abstract concept used to refer to something happening in a dark alley by a group of strangers The victim of the sexual assault has to be a good girl who is innocent, weeping, and pure. However, this is not the same thing we are talking about. In the mainstream culture of the 1980s, what people call "rape" is indeed not the same concept as today's sexual assault—especially when it happens between acquaintances, or when there are parties and alcohol.
In the 1980s, there were many beloved and iconic films, and all of its comedy scenes were based entirely on what we would consider today as rape scenes. In these films, rape is not a terrible crime. It is considered interesting.
Jack Lane in "Sixteen Candles" was the girl's dream lover in the 1980s, but he was also an accomplice in a party rape.
This drunken girl is Caroline (Haviland Morris), who is the girlfriend of the romantic male god Jack Lane (Michael Schefflin). If you know only one thing about "Sixteen Candles," it must be the perfect Jack Lane. The coolness and beauty of this senior is incredible. He is still in love with a senior who has the same superhuman beauty-but when Jack Lane heard about the dull and clumsy second-year girl Samantha (Molly Lin Ward) When he fell in love with him, he immediately began to return her with his love.
As a result, Jack Lane became an ideal dream lover, a lingering dream for every girl. This situation continued for decades. Jack "is like a savior. He has redeemed all the sins in girls' high school life. Jack is perfect. He is their eternal belief in beauty."
However, Jack Lane mercilessly handed the drunk and unconscious Caroline into the hands of another boy and said, "Enjoy."
In 1984, you could be a perfect dream lover, and at the same time you could be an accomplice in a party rape. These two identities are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they even complement each other.
In "Sixteen Candles", Caroline was raped and presented as her own mistake-but also as something interesting
In the moral context of "Sixteen Candles", the reason why Jack was able to treat Caroline ruthlessly without losing his identity as the "dream lover" is because "Sixteen Candles" lightly tells us that Ka Rowling is not "the kind of good girl." She has a big chest, drinks, and is a potential "slut." "She doesn't understand love at all," Jack explained. "The only thing she cares about is the party."
Jack's arbitrary contempt for his long-term girlfriend does not detract from his image. Because this does not affect the core illusion of "Sixteen Candles". The dream of selling "Sixteen Candles" is an unattainable boy who falls in love with the most ordinary girl. Therefore, in order to weave the illusion of this film, Jack must prove his deepest and most lasting admiration for Samantha. And ignoring and despising Caroline is the fastest shortcut to this goal. Because in the moral context of "Sixteen Candles", the more you despise a girl-a "prostitute"-the more you value a "virgin."
So, when Caroline got drunk at the party, she fell into her boyfriend's room because she thought it was safe. Jack—extremely disgusting—commented: “I can assault her in ten different ways if I want to,” but now Samantha’s pure virgin charm has entered his vision, “I just no longer I'm interested in her."
Instead, he handed her over to Ted (Anthony Michael Hall)-he was only called "a nerd" in the cast-and explained: "She is too drunk, so she won't I find the difference.” This poor nerd has never had the opportunity to socialize with the girl, so Jack showed his magnanimity, let this guy stay in his beautiful car, and put his beautiful, unconscious girlfriend in Beside him, and then said, "Enjoy."
In the car, Caroline regained a little consciousness and asked who was the nerd next to her. Jack told her that this guy was her boyfriend himself. Caroline climbed onto the idiot's lap and muttered, "I love you," she was already overwhelmed and couldn't help herself. The nerd looked directly at the camera, then grinned and said, "It feels good."
The next time we saw Caroline, she had lost consciousness again. And the nerd was asking his friends to take pictures of him—Caroline's unresponsive body was lying beside him. "Ted, you are really a legend," they praised.
The camera scrutinized the mismatched "pair"-a beautiful cheerleader and a fool. And we know that if the cheerleader is sane and able to resist, it is absolutely impossible for them to have sex-and then wait for us to laugh. The laughing point is that they had sex, but the cheerleader was not voluntary. This is fucking funny.
This is why rape culture is inherent in the 1980s-even today
Regardless of whether the nerd is directly responsible for the rape at the party, there is no doubt that Caroline had an involuntary sexual relationship with him, and the movie expects its audience to laugh at it naturally. Jack-the perfect, dreamy, and seemingly unreal Jack Lane-has absolute control over his classmates and planned this situation. This film hopes to make him more "dreamy" through this scene, because every time he despises Caroline, it proves that Samantha has become more special and higher in his mind.
The following are some of the ideas implicit in this plot:
· Girls drink because they want to drink, girls have sex because they want to do, and girls go to parties because they want to go. All of this is what they requested, even if the truth is, they are actually just drinking, making love, and going to parties with their unique boyfriend. Anything that happens to such a girl is funny.
·The girl is the boy’s possession. A good man will help his nerd buddy get a girl. Her personal wishes are not necessary and not worth considering.
·If you want to avoid being the kind of girl who is raped, you have to get the support of men. If you have the support of men, other girls may be raped, but you will not be raped, which can prove that you are special.
· Even if you get the support of men, this "gift" may be taken back—just like Caroline was tired of Jack—and then you will change from a girl who will never be raped to a girl who will be raped.
·A good man can participate in all of this, and then still retain the identity of the lover of his dreams.
·The kind of girl who will be raped has no right to complain about what happened to her. So this cannot be regarded as rape.
In 1984, this was how the mainstream culture viewed rape and cultivated a "rape culture."
On many levels, our culture today is not much ahead of the 80s in general-but we have at least buried that value. In this much-loved romantic classic, there are conclusive rape stories hidden. In 2018, the logic in these stories is no longer sacred by us. We started to make a different voice, and we were able to discuss party rape.
However, in the 1980s, different voices were too rare and too faint. They come almost exclusively from feminism. In the 1980s, mainstream culture considered feminism to be sharp and untimely.
This does not mean that people go to a movie like "Sixteen Candles" and immediately think: "Wow, this seems to be very interesting. I'd better take a group of girls out for a drink right away, and then without their consent , Just have sex with them.” If there is only an example of "Sixteen Candles", it does not fully explain the rape culture of the 1980s. However, like all popular culture, this film does reflect and help contribute to the social environment of the time.
Regarding Brett Kavanaugh's middle school experience, the dominant cultural narrative is actually the view provided by "Sixteen Candles". They believe that every girl who goes to a party and is sexually assaulted by an acquaintance, no matter what happens to her, is her own fault. This proves that she is the kind of misbehaving girl, and it's funny. She has nothing to complain about, and of course none of this can be counted as rape.
In this case, what is really puzzling is not why "someone will continue to attend ten parties in... two years. After all, at such parties, many women are gang-raped, and no one has called the police yet" (this It’s the argument of Kavanaugh’s supporters), but why would anyone speak up and identify with their story.
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