A lot of horrifying things have been shown on NBC's Hannibal, but one thing you haven't seen – at least yet – is a storyline depicting rape.
There's a reason for that: Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller deliberately set out to create a show that doesn't use rape as part of its plot, and he has a strong opinion about its use as a plot device on television.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Fuller spoke about his decision to not depict rape on Hannibal, and also discussed the challenges he now faces with a storyline introduced in the new season of the series.
This season will bring in Francis Dolarhyde, otherwise known as the Red Dragon. In the Thomas Harris novels – on which the Hannibal TV series is based – the character commits rape on corpses and near-corpses, among other atrocities. Fuller stated that this storyline was one of the greatest issues the series faced in keeping the promise not to depict rape.
"It became a tricky matter of de-emphasizing women being targeted, and making more pronounced the crimes against the victim's family as a whole," said Fuller. "We didn't wanna glorify it — well, not 'glorify,' because I don't think any of the crime procedural shows are actually 'glorifying' rape. But it is certainly explored so frequently that it rarely feels genuine."
Fuller also spoke about what bothers him when other TV series so often turn to rape to further plotlines.
"There are frequent examples of exploiting rape as low-hanging fruit to have a canvas of upset for the audience," Fuller said. "The reason the rape well is so frequently used is because it's a horrible thing that is real and that it happens. But because it's so overexploited, it becomes callous."
However, Fuller's tune changed when asked about the Sansa Stark scene in Game of Thrones that had many fans of the HBO series up in arms. Fuller chose to defend the HBO series' decision to include rape in its storylines, and what he said actually seems to refute his original opinion on the subject.
Not only did Fuller state that the Game of Thrones scene was "handled tastefully," he also mentioned the show's historical reference (although the series contains fantasy elements such as dragons, zombies and magic, many still consider it a historical series), using that as an excuse for why the Sansa Stark scene was necessary.
"It feels like we're in the Wild Wild West, and that's part of how they're choosing to explore the story," Fuller explained. "I see why they've made the choices they have in the stories they've told, so I can't criticize them for using that tool."
He also felt that Sansa's rape on Game of Thrones is the writers "building towards something for this woman to overcome," which sounds a lot like using rape as a plot device to strengthen a female character — something that is, for the most part, completely unnecessary.
So exactly what message is Fuller sending? Is he saying that rape scenes on television are not okay, unless they're depicted in a (sort of) historical setting and strengthen the character? It's not okay — except when it is? Given these mixed messages from Hollywood, it seems the debate over the use of rape as a plot device on television will continue.
The season premiere for Hannibal airs on NBC on June 4.
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