really mixed feelings about this one, but it all kind of leads back to my thought that the traditional notion of witchcraft is deeply misogynistic and always will be. when the initial rape happened i thought it was really well done. symbolic and violent, as it should be, but not necessarily graphic in the action; it felt appropriate for what was happening. the issue arises when i spend the rest of the film watching her be raped over and over again. definitely not something that i particularly enjoyed, even with the stunning animation. furthermore, the trade off of her body for magic does not feel like a fair one, especially when those moments of power are reduced to montages and the rape is done on screen as a full scene. the devil/witch relationship is not one that i find particularly interesting anymore as it, again, is just another symbolic man (who looks like a giant penis, mind you) holding women's bodies hostage for short burst of power. however, in that way i think there's a lot to be said about the story this is telling about the exchange of power and uses rape as the most extreme exertion of that power.
i don't think this will get a rating out of me as i'm really grappling with my feelings on the content versus it's merit as a piece of art. censorship is the mind killer and i don't want to say that something like this shouldn't exist, because i don't think that's true. it's also interesting that i watched this at the same time that steam rightfully removed no mercy (a rape simulation game) from their platform. discussions of rape are always challenging so i think that a film like this that depicts it in this manner has an important seat at the table.
really mixed feelings about this one, but it all kind of leads back to my thought that the traditional notion of witchcraft is deeply misogynistic and always will be. when the initial rape happened i thought it was really well done. symbolic and violent, as it should be, but not necessarily graphic in the action; it felt appropriate for what was happening. the issue arises when i spend the rest of the film watching her be raped over and over again. definitely not something that i particularly enjoyed, even with the stunning animation. furthermore, the trade off of her body for magic does not feel like a fair one, especially when those moments of power are reduced to montages and the rape is done on screen as a full scene. the devil/witch relationship is not one that i find particularly interesting anymore as it, again, is just another symbolic man (who looks like a giant penis, mind you) holding women's bodies hostage for short burst of power. however, in that way i think there's a lot to be said about the story this is telling about the exchange of power and uses rape as the most extreme exertion of that power.
i don't think this will get a rating out of me as i'm really grappling with my feelings on the content versus it's merit as a piece of art. censorship is the mind killer and i don't want to say that something like this shouldn't exist, because i don't think that's true. it's also interesting that i watched this at the same time that steam rightfully removed no mercy (a rape simulation game) from their platform. discussions of rape are always challenging so i think that a film like this that depicts it in this manner has an important seat at the table.
