Downton Abbey Rape Scene - Well Handled Or Not?

[sp1814]

Like most people who watch it, 'Downton Abbey' is appointment tv in our house, so I heard the warning before the programme started.

I was very surprised by the rape scene, but I also thought that it was extremely well handled. You saw nothing graphic, but even so - you knew what was happening.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/downton-abbey-rape-scene-receives-over-90-complaints-8866085.html

Do you feel that it was well handled?

Do you think that the storyline doesn't belong in the show?

[mccfluff]

i liked sunday night "fluffy, don't believe a word of it, historically inaccurate" downton

so no, it didn't belong in the show and that's end of for me :-(

[sp1814]

Hmmm...that's interesting. I work with a woman who says that it's not the rape that she objects to per se...it's the fact that it's jolted what was a nice fantasy programme, into reality....

[aelmpvw]

with all the spoilers i'm going to have to start watching downton live

[mccfluff]

exactly Sp....

[Bella28]

A few days ago most ABer's were complaining of dreary story lines and being shabby. This last episode was dark in camera work with a dark storyline.

[belrec]

The scene was OK but the problem is they just seem to be putting in problems to make storylines.

It is Eastenders syndrome (I made that up) no-one has that many traumas and troubles in one life time let alone a few years.

Seems a shame that the happy couple will be possibly torn apart :-(

[sp1814]

Personally, I miss Miss O'Brien.

No-one to boo and hiss any more.

I will reserve judgement on the rape storyline. It would be terrible if they went all 'soapy', with Anna falling pregnant.

That would be, for me, pure Eastenders.

[pips1]

Miss O'Brien is played by a lovely actress in real life, I was shocked when I saw who she was and how she really looked, she is married to the actor who played PC Bellamy in Heartbeat.

[anneasquith]

we did hear some lovely singing :)

[quizzywig]

I stopped watching it when they were about to kill the lovely matthew off - don't miss it one bit!

[horselady]

Spoilt the show for me I'm afraid, we all know these dreadful things happen in real life, but Downton was pure fantasy of a life I would never live and that's why I loved it.

[friedgreentomato]

The dark story line was a shock, but very well handled and it would have happened housemaids were fair game.

[lankeela]

Worse thing for me was the dreadful one tone voice of the bloke wot dun it. Exactly the same voice and character as he was in Eastenders. One question - even though she only opened the door into the room how did that housekeeper woman know what had happened, she didn't ask her and yes she was crying but anything could have happened to her?

[emmie]

perhaps it was well handled, but i didn't like it at all. they were fair game in real life, it's been well documented, but that doesn't mean to say that we have to see women, and even if was implied subjected to endless rapes and assaults, many dramas do this, and i find that fact quite disturbing. not enough if you have been a victim of rape, you watch a programme unwittingly, and there it is in your face.

[emmie]

because she could see the state she was in, she was punched and smashed around, her face was all bloody and her clothes were torn.

[Zeuhl]

/many dramas do this, and i find that fact quite disturbing. /

If it is proportionate to the reality it is dramatising I can't see why anyone would be disturbed

/if you have been a victim of rape, you watch a programme unwittingly, and there it is in your face. /

That is because that person has unresolved issues.

It would be healthier for them if they took action to resolve those issues rather than relying on the rest of the world to never remind them of it.

[emmie]

so you think that someone who has been raped wishes to be reminded of it.
there are avenues to go to to get help, called doctors, counsellors, you don't do it by sitting there watching a drama.. not to mention when do you ever see a male being raped in a drama, or even implied,

[emmie]

that scene was done explicitly so it will drive a wedge between her and her husband, she will not want him near and he won't know why, as she said in the scene, that men were hung for rape in those days, and her husband had already a criminal record if he went looking for the man, so she said nothing...