TW Rape - Depiction in soaps

[beautyisthefaceisee]

I am yet again frustrated that Hollyoaks has gone down the same road.

I understand TV has a duty of care to show that convictions are low, but WHY do we have to have the endless performance of woman is raped, woman not believed, man lies in court, man wins/is thrown out then ultimately meets a sticky end.

Frank in Coronation Street, Laurie in Hollyoaks, now Ali in Hollyoaks.

Emmerdale did great with LIsa and Derek - her conviction failed but he was done on a different one. Aaron's story was great too. They are knocking socks off the rest.

Why are they turning such a traumatic thing into a panto? How many people who are raped IRL are then murdered, its a who dunnit then everyone lives happily ever after?! Why can't we have a conviction or not conviction, then focus on THE WOMAN and her recovery?

Yes!! You can see where the storyline is headed, are we supposed to think them getting murdered is them getting justice?

What pisses me off is I was watching a documentary the other day where an Emmerdale producer said they cant convict becaue thats not whats happens in real life.

Yes, its far more likely that they're hit over the head wiht a bottle, 10 people are suspects, someone's arrested and then it turns out to be someone else (usually a non character ie Franks mother in Coronation Street) and everyone's fine by tuesday. Drives me bonkers.

The rape of Kathy Beale by James Wilmot-Brown in Eastenders was not like that.

Rape by her boss (attempted seduction, becoming forcible after she said 'no') which led to trial, conviction and custodial sentence.

And the storyline around the rape of Sheila Johnson in Brookside was huge and enduring (especially the moral clashes re abortion and the Catholic church)

It's not the soaps that are the problem per se because they were well able to way they tackled tough storylines in more rounded ways. But now they're guided by online reaction and instead of deeper characterisation we get storylines that explode and vanish. That means they are no longer good vehicles for those hard topics, it's just sensation chasing sensation.

Same with everything in soaps though, isn’t it? Alcoholism, murder, child abuser/neglect, adoption, domestic violence and so on. All treated ridiculously and wheeled out for shock value rather than treated with the respect and care these topics deserve. I would no more expect an episode of Eastenders to handle rape sensitively than a Dance Moms routine focusing on gun crime to be thoughtful and carefully handled. It’s thoughtless and cheap but not surprising.

Tbf nearly every other character in a soap is a murderer.

Did it just get forgotten about Gary causing tbe roof in coronation street?

Tracy Barlow makes me laugh. Murdered a man in cold blood, covered it up and living her best life

Thats a thoughtful post.

@Kanaloa , they do some subjects well. Carla Connors rape itself was some amazing acting, Ali King is superb. It was the him getting off because she dared to have a new relationship and the mother whacking him over the head that ruined it.

The male rapes seem more real than the women who are raped. When Luke was raped in Hollyoaks it followed the arrest & conviction.

Yes - followed by him getting dementia and not remembering his rapist, IIRC.

You've a point there. Also see John Paul in Hollyoaks, Aaron in Emmerdale and Ben in Eastenders.