Apparently over in Japan there is a comic book superhero called Rape Man. This according to Quentin Tarantino.*
Is this true?
*He mentions this in a piece about him in the new New Yorker.
Maybe the comic’s in French? It’s CHEESE MAN! Da-dum!
It exists…or did…
http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1997/April/erapril.21/4_21_97JapanComics.html
Yes, there is (or was) a “Rape Man”. It’s received a fair amount of attention in the US media, even a mention on an episode of “Law & Order”. Apparently it deals with a teenaged boy who turns into a “superhero” and punishes female “villains” with beatings and rape. I’m not sure on this point as I have (thankfully) never seen the comic, but I believe these “villains” are not criminals or anything but merely women who bothered the “hero” or other men he knows in his ordinary life.
<random correction> Lamia: I think you mean “Judging Amy,” not “Law and Order,” judging by your description of it, which seems to match the one used in the courtroom scene that I saw while channel-surfing.
Lots of weird sex comics and anime comes out of Japan.
Tentacle Porn, anyone? 
You have NO IDEA what kind of sick crap passes for entertainment in Japan. Try doing an IMDB search for the GUINEA PIG movies.
There’s a website I know that specializes in weird bootleg movies. They sell this one. The synopsis:
*RAPEMAN VOL. 1-7 (90-97) Here they are: All seven volumes of this classic(?) series starring everybody’s favorite Japanese anti-hero, RAPEMAN! Mild mannered high school teacher by day, masked, knife wielding rapist for hire by night, Rapeman rights wrongs through penetration, teaching the evil women of Tokyo respect for their elders, for society and for the ways of the culture. Don’t worry, it’s for their own good. Really. No actual hardcore, but lots of sleazy cheesecake and what has got to be the most politically incorrect plotline of all time. Truly a must see. Letterboxed. Each volume sold separately. *
I’m fairly certain that I did not mean “Judging Amy”, as I have never seen that program. The “Rape Man” comic is fairly infamous and has likely been referenced in several different places.
…and according to The Anime Encyclopedia, it even had an animated feature, in 1994.
Which was released halfway through the run of the live action video series, which ran from 1990 to 1998.
:eek:
I haven’t read “THE Rape Man” but from what I can gather on the Net, it’s a parody of the stereotypical comic book hero, combined with X-rated material. Is that really unique to Japan? Aren’t there American porn videos with similar themes?
Heck, over this past summer, an army buddy showed me his professional-quality artwork in a comic-book called “Corporal Style” (first name: Doogie). He had the four-colour printing scheme all laid out and everything. It was hilarious military-themed porn and he was going to produce small runs (about 200 or so) and market them directly to adult bookstores in and around Quebec City.
This sort of stuff has been floating around ever since Gutenberg.
Well, in general terms yes, BUT… what is disturbing a lot of people is the “rape” theme. In American porn, the portrayal of “eroticised rape” scenarios (which was not that common a feature anyway) in adult video was radically cut back on – dumped like a flaming turd, more like – in the mid-80s amidst a great fear that some defendant would claim “the porno made me do it” and Ed Meese would send everyone to jail. Similarly with videos including hard, rough SM simultaneous with hardcore sex, and portrayals of incest and of “high school girls” (These seem to be making a comeback…). Meanwhile, it would seem like Japanese porn has “rape” everywhere you look – then again, this may be sampling bias from western observers who will seek out that which is different and taboo. But with video titles like “Insult Bondage Office Ladies”, or “10 School Teachers Molested in Subway Train”, it’s kind of safe to say that there is a different attitude to the idea of using it as a porn plot device .
Now… “Rapeman” was either more of this exploitative material, or it’s a brilliant deconstruction of the superhero idiom, whereby we contrast how the typical “superhero” goes around punching and shooting and otherwise hurting people who “deserve it” in the name of “fighting their evil” – and eventually getting them to change their ways! – when that is conduct that would be illegal for you or me, and mostly ineffective in getting anyone to change their ways. The point made by having him engage in a conduct that everyone finds reprehensible, for stupid motivations.
Or, it’s just the Japanese being really, really odd about their kinks, as a result of having to be so hyper-polite and formal in regular social interactions. Sort of like used-panties vending machines.
Uh, I think it’s the “punishing women with brutal rape” element that’s troubling people, not the “pornographic comic book” factor.
I have heard (but cannot produce any cites, sorry) that in Japanese culture, sexually-assertive womewn are so rare that the only believable contexts in which a woman can be shown having sex are within the contexts of marriage, prostitution and rape. When Peter Greenaway was making his movie The Pillow Book, this caused such a problem with casting that he was forced to cast a Chinese actress as his female lead, a sexually-assertive, unmarried Japanese woman. And anime “tentacle rape” is so commonplace because it’s less taboo than actual depiction of the penis. (The argument against depictions of specific acts comes down to “Some mentally defective person might see it and try to duplicate it.” I doubt that anyone has ever successfully duplicated a “tentacle rape” in real life. But I’m a little sheltered in that regard.)
This doesn’t defend Japanese depictions of rape, but hopefully puts them in a comprehendable context. We do stuff they think is pretty over-the-top, too, some of it involving nuclear weapons.
krokodil, not less taboo, more legal. you are forbiden (were forbiden) from showing a penis enter a vagina, so porn had to come up with lots of things that were like penises, but not. the fact that japan has a rich history of demons and monsters added to a giant work of anime full of monsters and aliens… tenticals seem pretty logical to use as psuedo-penises
And of course, tentacle porn does have links to classical Japanese art - I can dig up photos if the mods won’t mind.
Of course, count on DreadCthulhu to know about the art-history roots of tentacle-porn
Bolding mine.
I am curious about this part of your post. I thank you for it, but am curious if there are any cites that might explain the subject a little more fully. Not that I want to argue–quite the opposite, really. I am interested in how another society might view women in a sexual context (I am posting from the U.S.).
Thanks in advance for any information you (or other Dopers) may have. I don’t want to hijack (well, not too much anyway), so I can open another thread if appropriate.
“Hokusai’s Octopus,” isn’t it?
It’s true. Steve Albini named one of his bands Rapeman after the comic. Horrible name but a solid band.
He talks a little about the comic and naming the band on this page:
http://www.petdance.com/actionpark/bigblack/press/rocknames.php