Unnecessary scenes film/tv

[Dietchocolate]

Just been thinking about scenes in films/tv shows that make you question how necessary they are to the storyline. Im referring to unnecessarily brutal violence/sexual assault etc.

Game of thrones has been called into question many times on its rape scenes being needed for entertainment value. The one that sticks out to me is in the second season of thirteen reasons why when a bunch of teenage boys sodomise a boy with a broomstick. The scene is disgusting and brutal and in my opinion, completely not needed.

Wondered if anyone else had thoughts on this topic? I do think there’s a line of things like this being included if they are not absolutely imperative for the storyline. Writing them into shows and films for entertainment when the scenes are several minutes long seems sickening.

That scene in 13 Reasons Why was very disturbing and stayed with me for a while. As did the rape and violence in the This Is England series.

But what’s the arbiter of “necessary” in media? They’re telling a story. None of it is necessary. Depictions of real events is different. I watched a couple of episodes of the recent Jimmy Savile drama & that was handled interestingly.

I don’t think that topics should be left out. But I think in my opinion, scenes that depict extreme graphic violence or rape etc that go on for longer than about 30/45 seconds are at that point unnecessary.

It comes across as the producers and writers getting their rocks off to include it in such detail for a prolonged amount of time.

I agrée OP. I find a lot of things disturbing and not really necessary on TV.
I’m no prude and swear often myself, but I also find that there’s way too much swearing on TV, well before “watershed” at times.

I find myself becoming more prudish about tv and film as I get older. There is no sex scene which is necessary I don't think. And don't get me started on games of thrones. Most of the rape scenes aren't in the books I don't think and have been added in to pls the audience. Seriously. The audience needs rapes for entertainment. This world pisses me off.

YANBU. There was something I watched recently where they hinted at the sexual relationship (showed them going into the bedroom and shut the door) and then got on with the story. So you knew they'd got to that stage, but without all the flailing around sweaty stuff that I find excruciating. I can't remember what it was, but yes. I didn't know that about GoT.

Rape is not entertainment. It seems as though it's a compulsory section of the majority of programmes and films, so much so that if there isn't an obligatory rape/attempted rape scene, it's noticeable by its absence.

This reminds me of 24, an episode were a dog got shot it was just so unnecessary

Game of Thrones is a glorified porno.

Graphic sex scenes are rarely integral to the plot (unless it's a porn film).

The series Happy! with Christopher Meloni.

I was enjoying it and then there was a scene where he turned up to a house he'd been at earlier that day. Something had happened, the mum was dead on the floor and her baby was in the microwave.

I'm not particularly squeamish but I was disgusted, it added nothing to the story and was so unnecessary. Turned it off half way through the episode and never watched it again.

As far as I'm aware 2 scenes got cut from 13 reasons why. First the suicide scene itself, then the male rape scene that you describe. I presume as a reaction to complaints.

Sex scenes are almost always unnecessary and make me cringe. Almost everything on Netflix has a scene within minutes of starting to set the scene. Also graphic scenes of violence are completely unnecessary IMO. I find myself covering my eyes a lot.

I don't understand at all why it's become the norm.

The rape episode in Outlander was horrendous. It just went on and on.

Game of Thrones is called Game of Tits in our house. I won’t watch it.

Dahmer was horrific too. I knew a series about a serial killer was going to be grim, but the murder scenes were truly exploitative. They went on and on, seemingly in real time. Prurient and disrespectful; I felt like I needed a shower. Turned it off halfway through one of them, and never went back to it. Grim isn’t the word.

If you've never suffered rape and you're complaining about it being portrayed on tv, count yourself lucky.
Do you not think that this is a huge life changing thing experienced by everyday people? Even those of us who have suffered can see that it is being portrayed as something that can have untold consequences down the line - as in 13 Reasons Why. It happens. It's fucking awful. It fucks you up. However, for me as a victim, it does help to see it addressed. We might not get the justice deserved but it is being shown to a wider audience that it happens. TV or film is never going to keep within limits, that's the beauty of it. Reflecting real life and putting it right out there in front of everyone.
What you fail to understand is that people will align their suffering with what happens on screen. That is so important for people who have suffered silently. They're being understood.
Turn it off if you don’t like it, but do not forget the point of it.

As for the rest of you who've commented, check your privilege. You're skipping a beat very seriously, especially those posting about Dahmer. It happened. Get over yourself. What was shown was shown for a reason. Fucking ridiculous.

I refused to watch Dahmer with DH knowing that so many victims families objected and found it retraumatising. However there have been times when a depiction of violence- grotesque to watch but has made real for me something is like young men with life changing injuries or murdered after a chucking out time brawl. It’s not my world.

I think that is important so not a straightforward answer. Is it for entertainment? Titillation? Fun? What’s the narrative? All these things matter and will affect how I feel and my views. Glad not be a regulator.

I couldn't finish Dahmer for that exact reason. I'm not prudish or squeamish but it went to far imo.

Yeah the reason is to draw viewers in and make money. TV producers and writers aren't saints sitting in a room contemplating the morality of their writing and how helpful it might be to rape victims or the families of the people murdered, they're thinking "people are fucking gross and will love this disgusting shit"

@throughgrittedteeth Or y'know in 13 Reasons Why. To show the impact that society shys away from. It's not always done for shits and giggles. Or to throw you completely off kilter when you're only paying half attention. You don't think there's a hard lesson being served sometimes? It's a pay attention and wake up call that this actually does happen in real life.

It's a bit more than people love this disgusting shit. That "shit" actually happened.
A real man did these things to other real men and boys. In no way does it glorify Dahmer's actions but it does go some way towards warning people. Given, it's unlikely now but it was then,

Are you seriously suggesting that TV and film includes so much graphic sexual violence because producers/writers are incorporating a hard-hitting social message for their viewers?

I fear this thread is going to be derailed...

I agree with you OP. So many scenes are just there for titillation.

Any scene with someone vomiting that shows the actual vomit - so unnecessary and disgusting and it seems to be in so many films these days. I’m phobic about being sick so when this is spring on me in a film I feel awful for a good while afterwards.

(I just got in when I made my comment. I can’t work out the edit button but I’m shocked about my ability to string a sentence together - sorry folks!)

If you think a scene involving rape needs 7 angles, close ups, actual nudity, and it goes on for several minutes to make a point of ‘rape is bad’ then you are naive to how these things work.
(I have actually been raped to the poster who suggested I hadn’t which would affect my opinion)

Also the suicide scene was removed from Thirteen Reasons Why but the male rape scene still has not been deleted.

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought of Game of Thrones. Game of tits is very accurate.

The discussion has reminded me of the furore about the 1988 film The Accused staring Jodie Foster and based on a real incident.

Jodie Fosters character gets raped in a bar. The rape is essential to the story. Many people complained the scene was too long and too graphic, but it was not titillating in any way. I haven’t watched the film for many years but from memory it is shown as brutal and nothing else. The rest of the story is about getting legal justice for her. This was an era when what the victim was wearing. and how she behaved was seen as a mitigating factor for the accused.

I agree there’s a time and place regarding sex scenes, and we all have our own line that can get crossed. I do think there’s an attitude amongst younger male film/tv makers that more naked (female) flesh is good.

By the way, we’ve drifted off the other point of the thread about glorified and pointless violence. Or do we already accept that these films are made for a different demographic from us - teenage boys?

I have been saying this for years. I'm actually really irritated by the amount of films/series that I can't watch because of it, because it rules out so much.

Sexual violence has been completely normalised in film and TV and it seems most people have become totally desensitised as a result. I find it beyond depressing and disturbing. I basically have to IMDB everything these days.