Pop culture is one of the greatest influencers on people; however, like with all influencers, the result can either be good or bad. There has been an ongoing concern that certain famous heroes in pop culture are blurring the line for sexual consent and potentially provoking dating violence.
One such example includes a famous scene from “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” In this scene, Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, makes advances towards Princess Leia Organa, played by Carrie Fisher. Despite protests from her, Solo kisses Organa and there are not any repercussions for him throughout the rest of the film or future films.
Another example is the ending of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” In that scene, Indiana Jones, also played by Ford, uses his whip to grab an angry Willie Scott, played by Kate Capshaw, and yank her back to him before kissing her. While initially resistant, Scott gives in and lets Jones kiss her.
Both these scenes, and many more throughout pop culture, suggest to the audience that if you ignore rejection and force yourself on an individual, there will be a positive outcome.
There is some debate on what the behavior these characters exhibit really says about them. Cabrini sophomore Polly Post feels that it probably means that those characters get way ahead of themselves and that it is a potential influencer of rape culture.
“If men see men doing something on television, they may be motivated to do the same,” Post said.
Sophomore education major Alexis O’Toole agrees with Post in the sense that movies and television are heavy influencers in pop culture since people aspire to be like some of their favorite characters. As a result, if a character behaves a certain way, then the person watching may potentially think it is okay and start behaving similarly in his or her life.
“People look up to actors and want to be just like them,” O’Toole said. “It’s scary to think that their role model could be influencing their judgement on the line of consent.”
In addition, O’Toole originally never thought about the definition of sexual consent being obscurred in pop culture but looking back now, she realized that it is certainly blurred in certain movies. She also feels that other influencers for men understanding consent is in their pride or fear of getting picked on by their friends.
“In some instances, the man can feel unmanly if a woman doesn’t want to kiss him or go any farther with him, especially if their buddies are around,” O’Toole said.
Cabrini’s Violence Against Women on Campus grant coordinator Tommie Wilkins has a different take on the matter. She pointed out that everyone is influenced by pop culture, no matter what people say; however, in terms of handling consent, she suggested that parents should discuss it with their kids.
“It needs to be a conversation,” Wilkins said. “If you decide not to take your kids, let’s have a conversation [about] WHY we’re not going to see this movie.”
According to Wilkins, the difference between consent and assault or harassment was never exactly discussed back in the 1980s, which is why people initially thought the scene of Solo kissing Organa was so romantic; however, women are coming out more and expressing how uncomfortable it is when men go further with them without talking it through.
Wilkins also brought up that despite media influencing and perpetuating rape culture, regardless of intention, she feels that the real reason it is included is because of money. What she means is that when movies are made, producers and writers throw such aspects into the movies and it will sell because people want to see it.
For example, the “Fifty Shades of Grey” franchise has not done well with critics, but the books and movies are very popular among audiences and have made tons of money. By extension, this also raised the sales of reading tablets, such as Kindles and Nooks, because now people could have any books they would be embarrassed to read in public electronically and no one could tell what they were reading. People enjoy reading these despite the debates about consent after the first film’s release.
“In my opinion, ‘Fifty Shades’ wasn’t a good book and the movies aren’t good, but it’s titillating.” Wilkins said. “If I’m doing it to make money, it’s titillating, people are doing it and it’s selling things.”
Even if the influence of rape culture is not intended, it is clear that it needs to be discussed further if it is to be avoided in the future.
“It’s not reality, but we tend to think that pop culture is reality,” Wilkins said. “So let’s talk about whether that’s cool or not.”
