HBO's WESTWORLD - Should Filmmakers Have to Defend Their Controversial Story Elements?
People seem to be easily offended these days, and I think it's crazy when there are people who complain over the content of certain films, TV shows, and other forms of art. People have the right to choose what they want to watch and what they don’t want to watch. Filmmakers and artists have the right and freedom to do what they want to tell their stories in whatever medium they are working in. They shouldn’t have to defend the creative choices they make from people who have differing opinions because those people aren’t going to watch it anyway. If they do watch the things they don’t like, then the only reason for that is that so they can bash the artists for what they’ve made.
The only reason that I bring this up now is because the team behind the upcoming HBO series Westworld felt compelled to come out to defend their use of rape and violence against women in the series. The first couple episodes of the series were recently screened for some press who were rattled by what they saw.
I haven’t seen the series yet, but according to THR, “The opening scene features a lifelike female android (played by Evan Rachel Wood) being dragged off-screen (by her hair) to be raped off-screen by a villain of sorts called the Man in Black (portrayed by Ed Harris).”
Yeah, I’m sure this will make some people cringe and feel uncomfortable, but it serves the story that they have set out to tell. In case you’re wondering how that scene can serve a purpose in the story, it's what's known as an Inciting Incident. In this case, it's an act of violence to make the audience want to root for the robots when they begin their uprising against the humans. It’s crazy to me that some people just don’t understand the basic structures of telling a good story and making the audience feel certain emotions for the characters that fill it.
In defense of the choices that the creative team made in Westworld, showrunner Lisa Joy explains:
"It was definitely something that was heavily discussed and considered as we worked on those scenes. Westworld is an examination of human nature. The best parts of human nature — paternal love, romantic love, finding oneself — but also the basis for parts of human nature —violence and sexual violence. Violence and sexual violence have been a fact of human history since the beginning. There's something about us — thankfully not the majority of us — but there are people who have engaged in violence and who are victims of violence.
"When we were tackling a project about a park with premise where you can come there and do whatever desire you want with impunity and without consequence, it seemed like an issue we had to address. In addressing it, there's a lot of thinking that goes into it. Sexual violence is an issue we take seriously; it's extraordinarily disturbing and horrifying. And in its portrayal, we endeavored for it to not be about the fetishization of those acts. It's about exploring the crime, establishing the crime and the torment of the characters within this story and exploring their stories hopefully with dignity and depth and that's what what we endeavored to do.
"The point in Westworld is they’re robots. How you treat a robot with human-like qualities? Is that reflective of how you would treat a human? It's a little bit different than Game of Thrones, where it is human-on-human violence. But to your larger point: Is it something we think about? Yeah, I think the criticism is valid. I think it’s something that people take into account. It’s not something we’re wanting to highlight or trying to highlight, but I think the criticism is point taken on it."
Critics and most audiences should understand this stuff! As I said before, it’s a basic aspect of storytelling. If it serves a purpose to the story then no one should be crying about it, and the creative team shouldn’t have to be defending the choices they made to tell their story.
Instead of bashing the filmmakers for being bold, maybe people should try to understand the reasoning behind it. You aren’t condoning the act of rape and violence by accepting it as part of the story because the full story in itself is against those things, why do you think the robots rise up and fight back!?
I just don't think that filmmakers and artists should be made to feel guilty over their creative decisions. They shouldn’t have to bend to the will of political correctness when making films and TV shows because people complain. This is their story, and if you don’t like the story they are telling then you don’t have to watch it.
I just want the talented filmmakers out there who are creating the great movies and TV shows that we watch to have the freedom to do what’s best for their stories without being criticized for their choices to include difficult and controversial elements. Do the people who don’t like seeing certain things in films and TV show just want to pretend that these kinds of things don’t happen in real life?
Now, here I am defending the filmmakers and artists for their work. I just feel that when filmmakers set out to create art and tell a story, they shouldn't feel constricted in how they tell it. So that’s my rant for the day! Feel free to agree or disagree with my point of view in the comments below.
Westworld comes from Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams, and it's based on the 1973 Michael Crichton film of the same name. The series is set to premiere on HBO on October 2nd.