FILMS AND RAPE

Turan voices concerns about Hollywood rape scenes that I have been feeling for quite some time. But the rising “wave of rape chic” that Turan sees as “depressing and dehumanizing” could also numb movie audiences to the true horror rape victims experience. The increasing intensity and frequency of motion picture rape scenes can desensitize moviegoers to a frighteningly vicious and demeaning crime.

Movie audiences should take a step back and consider the more insidious effects the gratuitous rape scenes current filmmakers like “Showgirls” director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas employ as cheap plot devices, and think about what the $7.50 they shell out for tickets is really supporting.

DAVID E. KOPF

Laguna Niguel