They showed Straw Dogs on british TV for the first time tonight and the newspaper review gave the impression that this was a big deal, that the film was highly controversial and was refused a certificate for quite a number of years. Anybody know why? While it was a very violent film, the violence was very natural and true to life. The rape scene was extraneous but no worse than I;ve seen in other films. Is it just that I’m viewing it from a modern perspective?
After having a look at the imdb page for the film it seems they showed a heavily edited version of the film. The version they showed ran for 100 mins including ad breaking. The full version runs for 118. Probably explains why I couldnt understand the fuss.
The rape scene was the main problem. At one point Susan George leans forward and kisses her rapist, appearing to enjoy being raped. It was this shot in particular that caused the outcry.
After having a look at the imdb page for the film it seems they showed a heavily edited version of the film. The version they showed ran for 100 mins including ad breaking. The full version runs for 118. Probably explains why I couldnt understand the fuss.
Didn’t she associate the rape, in some odd traumatic-induced level, to her husband? When the guy took off his shirt, there was a quick scene of her husband doing the same.
You could be right, it has been some time since I saw the film and I do not remember all the details. In any case, demands for bans are rarely based on rational discussions of a film’s techniques.
But Susan George was at first willingly having sex with her old boyfriend, out of disgust with her wimpy husband. It turned into a rape when the buddy showed up with the shotgun. The old boyfriend saw the gun, but not Susan George, so she assumes that he was intent on rape all along. He wasn’t , but he’s still guilty of rape, since he did nothing to prevent his buddy from raping her. Put to the test, his true motive is to further humiliate Dustin Hoffman, not retireive his lost relationship with her.
Rape, consenusal sex, what’s the difference? In Peckinpaugh’s universe, the true bond was that of violent conflict between men. The bond of marriage was void if hubby is a pussy and the old boyfriend shows up, but, weaklings that women are, they soon find themselves victimized (Peckinpaugh was upset that he couldn’t make it more explicit that not only was Susan George raped by the buddy, but was sodomized: Norman Mailer would have approved this literary device). Women were just on the sidelines, drawn to whomever emerged victorious, bloody but smiling like Hoffman was in the car at the movie’s end.
A long time ago perhaps people could get by with these sorts of ideas. Perhaps astrophysics could be done with just a chalkboard, too.
As jaded as I am, I guess the only thing that bugs me about Straw Dogs is how the soundtrack pimps Stravinsky’s “Soldier’s Story.”