Monday, October 13, 1997
What no one would talk about
… is now a hot topic in Hollywood. But are films about incest
giving
victims a voice — or glamorizing
a serious problem?
By Aimee Phan
Daily Bruin Staff
Hollywood loves exposing taboos. Especially if it means making
more money.——–
This fall, the newest taboo trend seems to be incest, with
several movies, including "A Thousand Acres," "U-Turn" and "The
House of Yes," addressing this uncomfortable subject.
Jonathan Kuntz, visiting associate professor at UCLA’s School of
Theater, Film and Television, believes that this is just the newest
shocking topic that Hollywood is using to lure in audiences.
"Films are always looking for controversial material to get more
attention and more money," Kuntz says. "Incest is such a taboo that
it wasn’t dealt with in the ’70s and ’80s. Now it’s the newest
taboo to be broken."
Since the film industry has already tackled social issues on
relationships (May/December liaisons, interracial romances, and
homosexual love), perhaps Hollywood is only looking for the next
"controversial" coupling to startle audiences. But while some
movies, such as "Jungle Fever" and "Love! Valour! Compassion!,"
have strived to portray these relationships as healthy and normal,
it is doubtful that the new batch of movies would try to make
incest acceptable.
While this fall is seeing more films regarding incest, the
subject is not new to Hollywood. From the innocent (Luke and Leia’s
chaste smooch in both "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back") to
the erotic (Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster’s sibling affair in "Hotel
New Hampshire"), Hollywood has handled incest with both comic and
tragic tones.
There have also been several films that have handled incest as
more than a plot device, examining the horrors of child abuse and
the repercussions that the victims suffer through for the rest of
their lives. One of the first films to do this was the 1986
television movie "Amelia."
"’Amelia’ brought a lot of public attention to incest," says
Anne-Marie Eriksson, president of Incest Survivors Resource Network
International. "I personally am very grateful for that movie. It
was the first prime-time television movie about incest that was
handled well and aroused a lot of good discussion."
Incest Survivors Resource Network International is a
survivor-run educational resource for incest victims. Eriksson, an
incest survivor herself, is glad that the film industry is exposing
a social problem that has been the source of a lot of pain for many
people. But she fears that the melodrama Hollywood may inject into
the issue can scare off closeted victims of child abuse.
"I do appreciate what the media does about bringing attention to
this," Eriksson says. "Incest is a rampant problem but films often
sensationalize it. If it is sensationalized, then people [who are
incest victims] get scared off and don’t come out."
But many people are coming out. With talk shows revealing family
secrets, criminals claiming that they are victims of abuse,
domestic violence, child abuse and incest have become common words
in people’s everyday vocabulary.
Kuntz theorizes that the recent trend in films featuring incest
is indicative of the generational trend to trace indiscretions back
to bad childhoods.
"It’s the new recovered memory discovery," Kuntz says. "Incest
and molestation have been found to be a source of a lot of crime.
There are criminals who have been molested by their families and
this issue has been brought to the surface for a good reason by
criminologists."
And perhaps it was only a matter of time before films began to
mirror society.
"Secrets are being told, walls are coming down, disclosures are
being made," says Jean Templeton, a psychologist who counsels
survivors of sexual abuse. "Movies are now disclosing abuses about
children. There’s a comparable genre that says ‘OK, guys, buckle up
your seat belts, we’re gonna tell you the truth.’"
Templeton recently created "Incest: Three Real Stories," a video
used by professionals who work with survivors of abuse who are
children. She believes that the discussion of incest as a very
prevalent abuse has come a long way, and remembers when incest was
not spoken about in public and was considered a private family
problem.
"Incest deals with uncomfortable and embarrassing data,"
Templeton says. "It is a social and cultural taboo. We would much
rather think that other people do it, but we don’t. It’s not that
people don’t know about it, it’s just that people deny it has
anything to do with them."
While most films handle incest as a horrible child abuse that
only brings tragedy and suffering, there is a disturbing undertone
in some of the films that suggest that incestuous relationships can
be consensual. An example of this is in "The House of Yes" where a
twin brother and sister have been lovers since childhood.
This alarms incest-survival organizations and psychologists who
adamantly state that incest is never a consensual act.
"It is a contradiction in terms, like fighting for peace,"
Templeton says. "Incest involves sexual contact with at least one
person who is not giving consent. It’s a boundary violation. There
is no consent, there can be no consent if there is not an
option."
Some fear that this might send the wrong message to the public
about incest if films do show it as consensual or comical and
reveal nothing of the disturbing effects.
"I don’t think there’s anything glamorous about it," says Daniel
Stassi, executive director of Victims of Incest Can Emerge
Survivors in Action Inc. "[These filmmakers] probably think this
will sell movies and it’s unfortunate that they’re showing this as
entertainment."
Templeton agrees, stating that these films are providing a
disservice to survivors of incest by belittling their
suffering.
"These kind of movies not only glamorize incest, they trivialize
it," Templeton says. "Incest is a psychological wound that is
comparably lethal to those who suffer from it. It threatens a
person’s ability to function as an adult, to mate and to sleep
through the night."
It is doubtful, though, that the possibility of glamorizing
incest will turn into a favorite subject for filmmakers.
"I don’t think this will be an extensive trend," Kuntz says.
"It’s not a genre that people would want to see every week. It’s
not an attractive subject."
This should provide relief to those who deal with survivors of
incest. While incest-survivor counselors and psychologists do
encourage the idea of exploring incest and its consequences in
films, they do not want the serious subject to turn into pure
entertainment fodder.
"Incest is a horrendous wound and the heart of so much adult
pain and misery," Templeton says. "For people to turn it into
movies and then make it into a sideshow item – it is a dark and
painful subject and not just something to be toyed with."