Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality, 2024
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Re-examining Rape-revenge Cinema: Promising Young Woman (2020) and Bulbbul (2020)
Manisha Mohanty; Shraddha Jha
ABSTRACT:
Rape-revenge films, often dismissed as low-brow cinema for including sensational or lurid content, have recently been revived by women filmmakers to portray a unique feminist sensibility. The tropes of rape-revenge are now being subverted. Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman (2020), satirically highlights how women “put themselves in danger” while transgressing boundaries dictated by patriarchy. The protagonist Cassie leads a double life, as a coffee shop assistant by day and a vigilante by night. She targets “nice guys” who, under the garb of saving the “bad girls,” take advantage of them. The film, by portraying victims and perpetrators belonging to all socioeconomic classes, emphasizes the ubiquity of rape. The promise of the young woman that Cassie, and, by extension, Nina, could be, is extinguished by rape. Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020) is another reinterpretation of the rape-revenge through the female gaze. It is a modern fairytale with dark and sinister undertones, where myth, custom, and folklore underscore the pervasiveness of sexual violence. Bulbbul undergoes a transformation after being violently assaulted by the men in her marital home. She survives and avenges not only herself but also other women in her community. The paper elucidates the universality of patriarchal violence by comparing rape-revenge films set in the East and West. It offers a contemporary perspective on issues of sexual rights and the safety of women. Cassie’s and Bulbbul’s fight is not only against the rapist but the entire patriarchal system – including “nice guys” and sexist women, who become indirect facilitators of sexual violence.
keywords: female gaze; feminist cinema; myth and folklore; patriarchy; sexual violence