UNAPOLOGETIC POWER
Funny Or Die’s Brilliant Smackdown of Republicans’ “Legitimate Rape”
IT’S ALWAYS HILARIOUS WHEN WHAT OUR CULTURE GLORIFIES IN TV AND MOVIES — VIOLENCE -IS REVILED when women use it to make a point.
Scores have been written about male reviewers’ reactions to the uncompromising violence of the two female leads in Thelma & Louise.
The movie was condemned “as a man-hating film because [Louise] shot and killed a rapist,” Susan Sarandon once said of her character. “[But] how come they don’t call men ‘man-hating’ when they shoot and kill each other in hundreds of films?”
A similar hypocrisy emerges today over Funny or Die’s fake pharmaceutical ad mocking Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s concept of “legitimate rape.”
“Are you a woman who sometimes finds it difficult to afford expensive birth control?,” the faux ad begins. “If so, you’re probably suffering from sexually liberated uterine tendencies, a serious medical condition. Fortunately, now there’s a treatment that can help. It’s called legitimate rape.”
The spoof then depicts actress (and the spot’s cowriter) Laura Napoli being slammed to the ground by an unseen attacker while she calmly spouts the apocryphal benefits of her uterine’s resistance to unwanted pregnancy. Two adorable uterine eggs are depicted ferociously punching away invading sperm. The video ends with the tagline, “Legitimate rape. It’s like regular birth control. Except as imagined by crazy people.”
The BRILLIANT spot is the the most explosive salvo in a war of words between those who believe sexually active women are entitled to control their bodies — and those who believe women’s wombs fall under the control of Republican legislators and their righteous god.
Naturally, the video packs such a wallop that some complain about its violent imagery.
“I found this video very offensive,” writes “Dan” at Joe.My.God. “It was reprehensible for Akin to raise this preposterous notion in the first place, but just plain disrespecful… to depict a woman being “throttled around” for popular amusement….Rape (actual or staged) is NOT entertaining!”
A commenter at YouTube pouted: “Sorry but i really detest rape being painted in any sort of humourous light. i understand where this is coming from but the first 30 seconds or so is really disturbing even though it’s trying to be funny. this is just the same as any other rape joke to me and at the end when it says “sexual assault is a serious issue…” that sounds like such a hypocritical statement.”
Even Gawker, which typically celebrates boundary-pushing satire, feebly wonders if the video “goes too far?”
The answer, in short, is no.
