Violating Ethically:
Staging Sexual Violence
You see weird trends when you collect fight scenes. Everything from which weapons are more common than others to which genres have more/bigger/more memorable fights. On this particular occasion, I was looking for some good fight scenes for a lady friend of mine to use. It's harder than you think. Ladies have pretty much been shafted out of good fight scenes for most of history. And the slow turn against that is facing a back catalog of a century of film and 2 millennia-plus of theater. That wasn't a surprise. The surprise was finding a character that -wasn't- the focus of an attempted or completed sexual assault.
Don't believe me? Let's rattle off some famous ones: Ellen Ripley. Sarah Connor. Buffy Summers. Beatrix Kiddo. It's in the fucking origin of Red Sonja's abilities. All famous female asskickers, all face an actual or attempted sexual assault at least once in their adventures. And that's just off the top of my head.
And they come about in places that are barely noticed or remembered by casual audiences. Example? West Side Story. The tail end of the play (and film) features the Anita character winding up surrounded by Jets, where an attempted gang rape ensues. Pivotal moment that sets up the story ending the way it does, rarely mentioned or commented upon.
And that's just what's actually scripted. I haven't even mentioned cases where a director might interpret an attack to include elements of sexual assault (such as Lady MacDuff's fate).
So, one way or another, these scenes are prevalent. And guess who's job it is to make it make it happen?
((A note before my inbox explodes: I realize that there's space for a much, much more broad dialog about the abundance of these scenes, their effects, and so on and so forth. Such a dialog, while important, is waaaaay beyond the scope of this piece. Bottom line: these scenes of sexual violence exist. As a fight choreographer, it is my job to see that they are done safely and well. And that is where my focus lies today.))
I can't speak for the entirety of my profession, but I can describe what my usual process is when such a scene crosses my desk.
This isn't a checklist or a "things that must be done this way," but a stream-of-consciousness look at what works better in my eyes from the goal of keeping the scene looking the way the director wants it and the performers comfortable enough to work.
FIRST MEETING
Either an actual production meeting or a one-on-one with the director (it varies. a lot.). The point of this is to get my best guess at the director's vision. And that's for every scene I'm responsible for, not just any that involve sexual assault. Adjectives like "intense" get thrown around a lot in such meetings. By the end, I've got a pretty good idea of what elements need to be present, and a rough idea of how it should read on camera.
TALK TO THE ACTORS
Before working on the scene, I have a private chat with the actors involved (individually) and ask if there are any specific boundaries or triggers I need to look out for. I'm not interested in life stories, nor in any share time kumbaya crap. I just need to know where my performers' mental land mines are, so I can make sure their scene partners or director don't step on them.
I do this with both the actors playing aggressors as well as victims. Again, I'm trying not to get into the broader discussion of rape culture here. I will, however, say that if someone is cast as a sexually predatory character, assuming that said performer is perfectly comfortable with said material has some disturbing implications for how you regard that performer.
At 6'7" and 250+lbs, I get called to play scary, predatory characters a lot. A while back I was called up as a last-minute recast on a film, which involved an onscreen rape scene. Fortunately, I had known my scene partner for a number of years, and that rapport helped immensely in getting the job done. The thought of having to walk on a set and perform such a scene with someone I'd met five minutes beforehand is rather creepifying.
For film work, I -might- also introduce the concept of "soft limits," a term borrowed from the BDSM community. In this case, a soft limit is an action the performer highly dislikes, but is willing to do so for the sake of the scene. This is opposed to a "hard limit," which falls more along the lines of, "ask me to do that and I will punch your crotch halfway through your torso."
Personally, I wouldn't use soft limits for stage work. Asking someone to do a soft limit for a handful of takes for a camera is one thing. Asking them to do so for 8 shows a week for however long the show runs is something entirely different.
Before rehearsals start, I make sure each performer knows of the other's limits, and that said limits are not to be broken or argued. Again, life stories aren't necessary, just knowledge of where the boundaries are. Knowing where not to go, and where it's ok to go, is something that goes a long way towards preparing the actors.
REHEARSALS
These scenes are made of awkward, making rehearsal process more essential than usual. Getting the actors comfortable enough to perform is the ultimate goal here.
For rehearsal and possibly performance purposes (especially for film work), I may have the performers choose safewords. For those of you not up on your BDSM terms, a safeword is basically a nonsensical, pre-chosen word used as a "stop everything right the fuck now!" signal. For scenes which involve a great deal of crying, screaming, begging, active resistance, and what have you, it lets the performers continue without stopping the scene by misreading a performance as genuine distress. It also allows for genuine emergencies to be noticed and attended to immediately, should they arise. After all, hearing cries for mercy in a torture scene fit right in, but a sudden yell of "SHENNANIGANS!" or "RUMSFELD!", not so much.
For stage work, instead of a safeword (which would take the audience out of a scene in an instant), a nonverbal signal would better be used. This would give the cast an instant signal to follow a prearranged "something's gone wrong" plan. One method (originally developed for use by someone wearing a gag) involves a pair of coins held in the hand. To give the signal, all the performer needs to do is drop the coins. The sound of them hitting the floor alerts the other performers and crew. The scene's environment may provide other methods that can be used if needs be.
******************
This is just an overview, and I haven't gotten nearly into the number of pitfalls that can come up in working on scenes like this. I haven't gone near closed sets, nudity clauses, directors pushing actors beyond their limits, or any number of other situations. Quite frankly, the number of conflicts that can come up on-camera ranges far and wide, and I don't assume that easy or simple answers exist. That, and if I did try to address them, this would rapidly approach book-length. But hopefully, these techniques and tricks go a long way towards keeping my performers safe, as comfortable as the subject matter allows, and lets them give a good performance.
~J.
* Mention must be made of Mr. Adam Noble, who explored similar topics in his article: "Sex And Violence: practical approaches for dealing with extreme stage physicality" (The Fight Master, Spring 2011, Vol 33, No. 1.)
Staging Sexual Violence
You see weird trends when you collect fight scenes. Everything from which weapons are more common than others to which genres have more/bigger/more memorable fights. On this particular occasion, I was looking for some good fight scenes for a lady friend of mine to use. It's harder than you think. Ladies have pretty much been shafted out of good fight scenes for most of history. And the slow turn against that is facing a back catalog of a century of film and 2 millennia-plus of theater. That wasn't a surprise. The surprise was finding a character that -wasn't- the focus of an attempted or completed sexual assault.
Don't believe me? Let's rattle off some famous ones: Ellen Ripley. Sarah Connor. Buffy Summers. Beatrix Kiddo. It's in the fucking origin of Red Sonja's abilities. All famous female asskickers, all face an actual or attempted sexual assault at least once in their adventures. And that's just off the top of my head.
And they come about in places that are barely noticed or remembered by casual audiences. Example? West Side Story. The tail end of the play (and film) features the Anita character winding up surrounded by Jets, where an attempted gang rape ensues. Pivotal moment that sets up the story ending the way it does, rarely mentioned or commented upon.
And that's just what's actually scripted. I haven't even mentioned cases where a director might interpret an attack to include elements of sexual assault (such as Lady MacDuff's fate).
So, one way or another, these scenes are prevalent. And guess who's job it is to make it make it happen?
((A note before my inbox explodes: I realize that there's space for a much, much more broad dialog about the abundance of these scenes, their effects, and so on and so forth. Such a dialog, while important, is waaaaay beyond the scope of this piece. Bottom line: these scenes of sexual violence exist. As a fight choreographer, it is my job to see that they are done safely and well. And that is where my focus lies today.))
I can't speak for the entirety of my profession, but I can describe what my usual process is when such a scene crosses my desk.
This isn't a checklist or a "things that must be done this way," but a stream-of-consciousness look at what works better in my eyes from the goal of keeping the scene looking the way the director wants it and the performers comfortable enough to work.
FIRST MEETING
Either an actual production meeting or a one-on-one with the director (it varies. a lot.). The point of this is to get my best guess at the director's vision. And that's for every scene I'm responsible for, not just any that involve sexual assault. Adjectives like "intense" get thrown around a lot in such meetings. By the end, I've got a pretty good idea of what elements need to be present, and a rough idea of how it should read on camera.
TALK TO THE ACTORS
Before working on the scene, I have a private chat with the actors involved (individually) and ask if there are any specific boundaries or triggers I need to look out for. I'm not interested in life stories, nor in any share time kumbaya crap. I just need to know where my performers' mental land mines are, so I can make sure their scene partners or director don't step on them.
I do this with both the actors playing aggressors as well as victims. Again, I'm trying not to get into the broader discussion of rape culture here. I will, however, say that if someone is cast as a sexually predatory character, assuming that said performer is perfectly comfortable with said material has some disturbing implications for how you regard that performer.
At 6'7" and 250+lbs, I get called to play scary, predatory characters a lot. A while back I was called up as a last-minute recast on a film, which involved an onscreen rape scene. Fortunately, I had known my scene partner for a number of years, and that rapport helped immensely in getting the job done. The thought of having to walk on a set and perform such a scene with someone I'd met five minutes beforehand is rather creepifying.
For film work, I -might- also introduce the concept of "soft limits," a term borrowed from the BDSM community. In this case, a soft limit is an action the performer highly dislikes, but is willing to do so for the sake of the scene. This is opposed to a "hard limit," which falls more along the lines of, "ask me to do that and I will punch your crotch halfway through your torso."
Personally, I wouldn't use soft limits for stage work. Asking someone to do a soft limit for a handful of takes for a camera is one thing. Asking them to do so for 8 shows a week for however long the show runs is something entirely different.
Before rehearsals start, I make sure each performer knows of the other's limits, and that said limits are not to be broken or argued. Again, life stories aren't necessary, just knowledge of where the boundaries are. Knowing where not to go, and where it's ok to go, is something that goes a long way towards preparing the actors.
REHEARSALS
These scenes are made of awkward, making rehearsal process more essential than usual. Getting the actors comfortable enough to perform is the ultimate goal here.
For rehearsal and possibly performance purposes (especially for film work), I may have the performers choose safewords. For those of you not up on your BDSM terms, a safeword is basically a nonsensical, pre-chosen word used as a "stop everything right the fuck now!" signal. For scenes which involve a great deal of crying, screaming, begging, active resistance, and what have you, it lets the performers continue without stopping the scene by misreading a performance as genuine distress. It also allows for genuine emergencies to be noticed and attended to immediately, should they arise. After all, hearing cries for mercy in a torture scene fit right in, but a sudden yell of "SHENNANIGANS!" or "RUMSFELD!", not so much.
For stage work, instead of a safeword (which would take the audience out of a scene in an instant), a nonverbal signal would better be used. This would give the cast an instant signal to follow a prearranged "something's gone wrong" plan. One method (originally developed for use by someone wearing a gag) involves a pair of coins held in the hand. To give the signal, all the performer needs to do is drop the coins. The sound of them hitting the floor alerts the other performers and crew. The scene's environment may provide other methods that can be used if needs be.
******************
This is just an overview, and I haven't gotten nearly into the number of pitfalls that can come up in working on scenes like this. I haven't gone near closed sets, nudity clauses, directors pushing actors beyond their limits, or any number of other situations. Quite frankly, the number of conflicts that can come up on-camera ranges far and wide, and I don't assume that easy or simple answers exist. That, and if I did try to address them, this would rapidly approach book-length. But hopefully, these techniques and tricks go a long way towards keeping my performers safe, as comfortable as the subject matter allows, and lets them give a good performance.
~J.
* Mention must be made of Mr. Adam Noble, who explored similar topics in his article: "Sex And Violence: practical approaches for dealing with extreme stage physicality" (The Fight Master, Spring 2011, Vol 33, No. 1.)
