Rape Culture Reinforced by the Media 16 | Page 8

The classic movie 'Say Anything', although less explicit, is just another culprit of media reinforcing rape culture. The movie consists of a high school boy, John Cusack, head-over-heels for a girl whom he pursues throughout the entire movie. Once their love is finally realized, thier relationship lasts only briefly over the summer before Diane breaks it off. Diane is going to Europe and decides it is the best thing for the both of them. John Cusack's character disagrees and results to riding around town doing anything he can to win her back. In his persistence and determination to not except no for an answer, John Cusack wakes his ex girlfriend up in the middle of the night by holding a loud speaker outside her house. He proceeds to play their song until she is too captivated by the romance, if you may call it that, to deny him any longer. This reinforces the notion that persistence is admirable, desirable, and you should be willing to do anything to get the person of your dreams. While this may be seen as romantic in the conext of this movie, what is it really saying to the audience? The movie is tellng the audience that no doesn't actually mean no when pursuing a female. Not only does it promote un-relenting behavior, but it also encourages the audience to believe that stalking and harrassment is ok. The context of the movie is not realistic and therefore provides male audience members with false expectations about what is acceptable behavior towards women. Finally, men are influenced that all of this behavior, whether it be aggressive or insistent, is actually romantic. This creates a huge misconception that is reiterated throughout classic romance stories. This misconception leads men to associate harassment and violence with being sexy. Not only is this movie reinforcing every aspect of rape culture but it creates unrealistic expectations of romance with our current society towards women.