Top of the lake...

I was watching this British show that was sort of dark.  In a way, it was like "Criminal Minds," but with just one man.  "Cracker" is an old show, with the proverbial mess as the lead character.  I liked the psychology part of it and, frankly, I like the functional mess part.  However, I did not watch the last season because I saw a familiar story-line coming.  You see, in America, the cop/detective/lawyer (main female character) is not actually raped, just almost raped.  In British television, the rape happens.

I can think of four shows, "Cracker" included, where this happens.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.  I've watched three, but I did not finish "Cracker."  I just couldn't.  I know it was earlier than the ones I had seen and might have been the first, but I felt it a cheap, manipulative stereotype, especially given the psychological bent of the series.  And, frankly, I just couldn't go there.

I started watching a series, "Top of the Lake," and WHAM.  I discovered that it was about a 12-year-old who was raped ... and pregnant.  Damn.  I really didn't want to go there.  I watch, almost compelled.  I learn the detective was gang raped at 15.  Damn.  I keep watching, almost without will, caught up in her anger.  Then I learn that the community service the youth of the community are sentenced to is actually being pimped out.  More sexual assault.  Damn.

I was not surprised when I learned that the series was created by Jane Campion, who wrote and directed the movie "The Piano."  Man!

One might think that that was just too much sexual assault for one series, but, to me, in a way, it was not, because we live in a world where sexual assault is just so darned ignored.  I mean, it's a bloody weapon of war used even by UN peacekeeping troops!  It's everywhere.  And nothing really happens to those who use that weapon, whether on the supposed battlefield or in our own homes, schools, institutions of medical care, churches, etc.  EVERYWHERE.

I like the stereotypical guru played by Holly Hunter, the spiritual leader of a bunch of women come out to the wilderness to find themselves.  Maybe, given their stories, to find a sense of personal justice.  GJ spouts off some pretty interesting mystical commentary.  The part I liked best was in Episode 5 of the first series:

GJ: Are you dying?
Jude: Yes
GJ: Nothing wrong that that. Very natural. The body knows what to do. Just go with the body. [long pause] Are you frightened?
Jude: Yes
GJ: You're not going to experience this death of yours. [nods toward Turangi] He will.
Jude: [surprised, relieved] I'll be dead.


I liked what she said about death, about trusting the body, and what she said about experiencing death.  I mean, Jude was the person who was going to die, but GJ basically redefined what it means to "experience death" it that death is "experienced" by those left behind.  I thought that makes a bit of sense in a way that gave me food for thought.

The series is so full of stereotypes that it is a bit campy in a theatrical sort of way.  I can understand it's criticism as much as I can understand its success.  I mean, you have the mother dying of cancer and the teenager who will not talk to anyone, only show the "yes" or the "no" written on the palms of his hands.  The men in the show are all misogynistic, the women are all broken or lost or sold out, the teenagers sullen and rude.  The dogs are violent.  Alcohol flows freely.  Corruption runs a deep and complicated web throughout the story.  I could go on and on, but I suppose there is no real point to that.

The point, for me, was that it was a show that shoved rape culture in the face of its viewers, in a world where the idea of "rape culture" of oft denied as if it the very idea was some sort of offense.   And yet, just today, I read about a teenager who was raped by two males, then raped again by the  driver she flagged down for help.  

Call me strange, but I think I want to become someone who has the words "yes" and "no" on her hands and no longer talks.  For there is the hurt of what happened to you and then there is the hurt of what happened to you being something that is ignored, dismissed, or excused away.  Both hurts are almost too much to bear.

If not actually too much.

I think I'll go back to watching cheesy sci-fi for a while.