EDIT 2/10/10: I went to another Terror Tuesday tonight because I really wanted to add it back into my weekly schedule. While there were announcements of "beastiality" (a dog put its head up a woman's skirt for 30 seconds) and "transvestism" (a teenaged boy wore makeup for about 30 seconds) the two rapes in the movie went unmentioned (I actually think the beastiality and transvestism were played up for shock value but I'm not going to go there). Look, I'm not new to schlock movies (I know nude bodies will probably be involved somehow) and if I hadn't just sent an email to the Alamo about this issue I probably wouldn't have bothered talking to them about tonight's incident. But I wasn't fucking kidding; that shit needs to be announced. Forgetting to do it or just not wanting to say they don't want to do it isn't really good enough in my opinion. Everyone I talked to was very polite and I don't think (hope) it wasn't an intentional run around so I'm not saying "Rawr! I hate them! They suck!" but what needed to happened didn't happen. I love the Alamo locations. I still have fondness for Alamo Downtown. But Alamo Ritz is not the same Alamo that used to be down on Colorado.
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I know I just posted a rape in entertainment entry but something happened this week that I just can't help but relate.
Last Tuesday Ted and I went to a screening of J.D.'s Revenge at the Alamo Ritz as part of their Terror Tuesday programming. Usually Ted can't be persuaded to watch horror movies but when they're b-level or below horror movies we'll go. From the description on the movie page and the trailer from YouTube I was expecting a terrible, dated “Blacksploitation” film. In reality it's a very good movie. It's dated by the quality of the film and it's special effects but it's well-directed, there were no weak performances and Glynn Turman gave a very nuanced performance as Ike/J.D. Walker. There is, however, a rape scene.
Now, I'm not talking about a “throw a woman on the bed and try to hit her before she scrambles up” rape scene. I mean an extended “beat her up, rip off her clothes and force her legs open repeatedly as she screams” rape scene. It comes from the violent, gangster character of J.D. Walker and while I'm not a proponent of rape scenes it didn't feel out of place for the character. I'd watch the movie again despite the scene. My only problem was that there was no announcement that the scene was in there. I was shocked by the scene and wished that someone had told the audience about it. As I said before rape scenes can be triggers and while I don't push for all-out censorship there needs to be a dialog about movies that use such scenes to further the narrative. I grumbled to myself about it for the rest of the night until I calmed down and thought to myself, “Don't dream it, be it.” What I meant by that was, “Don't hold a grudge and be cranky to yourself. Share your very valid opinion. Be the change you want to see.” So, instead of holding a grudge against the Alamo Ritz I decided to email a comment about it.
I was nervous about sending an email. I love the Original Alamo locations and Ted and I often go to regular movies and special programming at the Ritz, South Lamar, and Village locations. I didn't think that I'd get a dick response but that's always a worry. Not everyone responds well to being asked to think about avoiding or at least warning about sexual violence in entertainment (I'm looking at you Method). I just didn't know what kind of response I'd get. I didn't want to get a negative response and thus have to rethink my movie going habits. But these issues are important and if it's not worth it to me to potentially have to rethink my opinion about people/establishments I love then I don't get to call myself a feminist. I'm very happy to tell you that we can all breath easy – the Alamo Ritz staff really is as awesome as we all think.
The first response I got was from the manager who thanked me for my comment and said he'd pass it on to the programming department. “Awesome,” I thought. “Short, polite, professional response. No one called me stupid. I'm okay with this!” Later in the day I got an email from the TT programmer. It took me a few hours to open it. It could have said anything. It could tell me that they didn't see why that scene should need a special announcement since it's part of a horror film and the audience should be prepared for all sorts of horror. It could thank me for my “concern” and that they'd “look into it” - which is PR for “We disagree but want to appease you.” I could just not get any reply. These responses would be atypical for the Alamo, but one never know. What it said, though, was that they actually do make announcements when any of the films have scenes that are sexually violent or explicit like that and that, unfortunately, the programmer had forgotten there was one in this film. He apologized for the missing announcement and asserted that they are committed to being responsible about not showing misogynistic horror films (This is the truth. I've never had to comment about a previous issue like this) and to announcing films that have sexual violence in them. “Whew,” I thought. “I can still love them.”
I'm surprised that I held so much fear of the response that I would get to my email. My initial email, in my opinion, was short and polite and while I felt that it was the responsible thing to do is to make an announcement, that I wasn't upset at them and was not going to boycott them forever. But making a critical comment (Different than criticizing) about such a touchy subject can get ugly. It encourages me, though, that people and companies like the Alamo “get it”. I love you, Alamo Ritz, even though you moved to sixth street thus making me loathe finding parking to come see you.
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