So I'm pretty sure the sex scene in Bladerunner might constitute sexual assault...

[Gravitycollapse]

I'm not sure if any of you have seen the film. But the main male character attempts to initiate sex with the main female character. She resists, attempts to flee, and he blocks the exit. He then physically forces her against the wall and instructs her to tell him to "kiss me." She eventually submits and tells him what he wants.

This is a "romantic" scene in the film and I suppose any discomfort with the situation can be dismissed with the fact that the female character is a robot. So, as the logic must follow, it's not really sexual assault because she's not really a human being.

At the end of the film, she tells him she loves him despite not really showing any sort of emotional attachment. So we round out this entire debacle with some Stockholm Syndrome.

All of her actions say no. But she clearly wanted it.

[Whisp]

1. Movies are rife with this sort of messaging. Nauseatingly rife. n/t

[redqueen]

8. Yep. With human women being assaulted and then falling for their assailants.

Luke and Laura... that was straight up rape.

[BainsBane]

2. Very common theme in movies

and a dangerous one.

[Deep13]

3. Well it would be if she weren't a robot. nt

[exboyfil]

4. Supports the premise that Deckard is a jerk

Which he is especially since he is killing his own kind (my theory is that he was one of the six that was captured and reprogrammed to hunt the rest or just another replicant - the clues are throughout the movie). Like Rachel he is not sure he is a replicant, but he suspects it.


By the way I was uncomfortable with that scene as well. I recently watched Bladerunner with my 16 year old daughter. If they made the movie today, I think they would have left the scene out.


Check out Charlton Heston in Soylent Green. Pretty much the same thing. I remember seeing it as a kid and being disturbed by it then. Still am.

[KitSileya]

5. It is sexual assault, no question about it.

She resists, he gets physical. Anything we see after that is questionable - just because it seems like she submits because she wants it after his restraining her, it is a typical way of survival when being raped to pretend to go along with your rapist. It might stop him from doing worse things, like killing you. I defy anyone to use that as an excuse for rape. You might as well say that if you do what a mugger says when he puts a gun to your head is you agreeing to being mugged, and it shouldn't be counted as a mugging then.

As for the excuse that she is just a robot, well, she is a sentient, intelligent being with self-determination. Just because the police have the right to kill those androids who don't follow the rules, doesn't mean they are less sentient and without the right to determine what happens to their own bodies. That's the argument of slave owners. If she had been an alien with green skin, would that have made a difference in whether it is rape or not?

[Shivering Jemmy]

6. It is not clear that replicants are sentient

The fact that the voight-kampff test works at all implies that there is something different about replicate sentience at the least.

But I think the point of the movie is: technology has dehumanized everyone in the movie. Even the most sympathetic characters (Roy Batty, Sebastian) are moral monsters.

And Deckard, who is also a replicant, is just as bad as everyone else.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Sure is

Just because I like pris as a character doesn't mean I don't understand that slapping a woman- android or not isn't a prelude to sexual assault. Not to mention tossing her around

At least pris kicked his Ass