I like movies, I swear.

I'm not a film buff, by any means. I just want to be entertained, and left to ponder some greater questions. And eat as much popcorn as physically possible.

I don't want to pretend that I can recognize the difference between a Martin Scorsese or a Quentin Tarantino. All I know is that our boy Quentin likes ridiculous violence, and M. Scorsese did "Goodfellas".
I lack a real understanding of good cinematography. I like pretty nature, and okay lighting? It's a mystery to me.

But I do have a knack for metaphor recognition, and an expectation of fleshed out character development.

Oh, and I'm not a fan of using rape scenes to make your film "edgy".

I've begun to notice a trend in movies, and I really, really, really hate it.

All too often, any woman involved with the Strong Man Protagonist has to go through some real tough shit.

Sometimes, she dies (looking at you, "Amazing Spiderman 2").

But sometimes, she's raped. And yes, it's important for movies to address the sexual violence that plagues society.

But very rarely does a movie walk through the emotional trauma inflicted by sexual assault.

Let's talk about "Kill Bill", for example. Uma Thurman's character, Beatrix Kiddo, is sexually assaulted. And sure, she steals her attacker's van and drives off to inflict wild pain upon those who have wronged her. But her assault is never mentioned again. It doesn't have a realistic effect on her. It's just used as a weak piece of character development, and then tossed aside.

Alternately, rape is used as a means to inflict Sad Times on the male protagonist.

His wife/girlfriend gets kidnapped, or something like that. She's killed, or she escapes (either one) but then, it is revealed that she was *gasp* raped! And then the audience gets to watch this poor guy feel bad, because his lady was assaulted. Who cares how she feels about it (if she even lived). What matters is, our man feels emasculated because he let it happen. He's enraged! His woman, touched by another man!

Hollywood pats itself on the back. Wow, so innovative! So gritty! So real! The audience will be so taken aback!

Sorry to break it to you guys, but no woman in the audience is shocked.

Of course, if that girl got kidnapped, she's going to get raped.

Obviously, if she's alone at that gas station, something awful will happen.

You're not dropping any bombs on us. We live our lives knowing that rape is always a danger.

Fun fact: rape is incredibly common.

Women walk through life considering how likely it is that we will experience some kind of sexual violence.

So no, it's not surprising to us when Hollywood tries to be "gritty".

What is surprising is how little effort is put into addressing the long-term effects.

It's easy to kill the wife of your male lead, and use her awful demise to give him character.

It's easy to explain a female character by saying "oh yeah, she got raped, moving on!"

But it's difficult to take an audience through the painful nuances of the aftermath.

So Hollywood just doesn't.

Movies like "Room" prove that it's possible to write an unflinching narrative that addresses the trauma and hardship faced by survivors of assault.

And I'm not even asking for entire movies.

All I ask is that more movies try a little harder, to be a little more honest.

Stop trivializing rape as a backstory or a source of Man Pain.

Make it real, and maybe that will help make it stop.