I watched it and immediately thought she raped him..I believe that the monologue at the end seemingly about Serena will foreshadow who June will become through the trauma and the part where she said "and she'll rape you" and it flashed from her to Luke was no accident.
I agree with what you are saying. As a middle aged woman I felt she was empowered by her encounter with Selena and felt strength and confidence again for the first time in a long time and she took that feeling to the bedroom in a safe space with someone she loves. She took back her body and her sexuality and her power. She said when. She said how. She said with whom. Was it nice to Luke? No. Was he scared? No. Was he powerless? No. Was he confused? Yes. Could he have stopped? Yes. He wanted intimacy and she wanted to have full agency over her body. She was recapturing her power. She felt powerful. It was powerful and quite sad at the same time.
I would like your take on the look on Luke’s face in the following scene where they are building a snowman. When he is watching June with Nicole from afar and smiling with tenderness and then his face falls. Is it thinking of the night before? Is it thinking that it should be Hannah in her arms? Is it finding his wife as a bit of a stranger? That O.T. Can do a helluva lot of acting with just his face.
Thanks. Great comment! As for his expression...yes. it's all of those things I believe. It's the perfect conflicted expression. Maybe he knows that things will never be the same or that she is never really coming back to him.
I am horrified. You wrote: "I also think it’s more than a little juvenile to say that any time a partner says “wait” or “stop” or “not right now” that any continued pursuit amounts to an assault or rape."
...That is terrible. So if my partner says "stop", and I continue anyway, how is that not assault or rape?!?!?
As an abuse survivor who used to get woken up for sexual activities that I said no to and had forced on me... no, that was a rape scene. Sleep is clearly not consent. Refusing to listen and clamping your hand down when someone asks you to slow down is not consent. Holding them down and focusing only on you is not consent. If there isn’t consent, it’s rape.
That scene was definitely rape. Your whole analysis is wrong. But ofc it is since you’re a man who’s never been sexually assaulted/raped speaking on a mostly women’s issue.
Your logic does not hold up because I am a woman who has been date-raped more than once. And that was NOT a rape scene. Luke is way stronger than June & could have stopped it if he really wanted to. I agree with the author on everything he said & I could not have said it better myself. Do not cheapen the word rape by claiming it falsely!
It’s not juvenile to know that when someone says ‘wait/stop’ and you carry on, that is rape. It’s literally the law. If you are mid sex and someone says ‘wait’, even once, if you carry on, it’s legally rape. As much so as a stranger in an alley. Pinning him down and putting her hand over his mouth when he REPEATEDLY say ‘wait’ (stop), and had shown no enthusiasm or consent up until that point to begin with could not be anymore rape like if it tried. The fact that they’d had sex before and she wasn’t a stranger is a very old fashioned and dangerous trope we’ve heard trotted out for years. What an appalling, misinformed article you have written. Both legally, psychologically, emotionally, culturally and experientially wrong. A full house. Don’t write on what you don’t know.
This is disgusting. If someone says “wait” that means wait, not carry on even though I told you not to. Clearly that’s not consent. I feel sorry for any women you’ve slept with if they’ve made any notion to stop as you clearly don’t understand consent. If it’s not a yes it’s a no. You make me feel sick.
If it were a man on top of a woman in that scene, whether they are married or not, the woman saying wait wait & the man putting his hand over mouth continuing to have sex with her, it would be rape would it not? Just because it's a woman on top of a man doesn't mean it's not rape.
To suggest that Luke couldn't possibly have been sexually assaulted because he's physically bigger and stronger than June is a completely disgusting and dangerous statement. Men can be raped or sexually assaulted by women, regardless of whether or not they are physically subdued. I have to assume you are fortunate enough to have never been put in such a situation, as if you had been you would know how emotionally overwhelming and debilitating it can be, to the point where you are unable to react, let alone throw someone off you. You are entitled to your own opinion and interpretation of the scene, but I suggest that you think a lot harder before spouting dangerous and false rhetoric. Just because you are entitled to do so, doesn't mean that you should.
I also take issue with almost everything else you say regarding consent, and hope no woman ever has the displeasure of you initiating sexual assault while she sleeps. It's one thing to "agree to disagree" on a matter that is actually subjective, and another to not understand the basics of objective consent.
I watched it and immediately thought she raped him..I believe that the monologue at the end seemingly about Serena will foreshadow who June will become through the trauma and the part where she said "and she'll rape you" and it flashed from her to Luke was no accident.
We'll have to respectfully disagree on this one.
As Brix says, the word "rape" is intentionally mentioned as the camera fixes on a clearly hurt and confused Luke. You've got this one wrong, Erik.
This is exactly what I thought!
I agree with what you are saying. As a middle aged woman I felt she was empowered by her encounter with Selena and felt strength and confidence again for the first time in a long time and she took that feeling to the bedroom in a safe space with someone she loves. She took back her body and her sexuality and her power. She said when. She said how. She said with whom. Was it nice to Luke? No. Was he scared? No. Was he powerless? No. Was he confused? Yes. Could he have stopped? Yes. He wanted intimacy and she wanted to have full agency over her body. She was recapturing her power. She felt powerful. It was powerful and quite sad at the same time.
I would like your take on the look on Luke’s face in the following scene where they are building a snowman. When he is watching June with Nicole from afar and smiling with tenderness and then his face falls. Is it thinking of the night before? Is it thinking that it should be Hannah in her arms? Is it finding his wife as a bit of a stranger? That O.T. Can do a helluva lot of acting with just his face.
Thanks. Great comment! As for his expression...yes. it's all of those things I believe. It's the perfect conflicted expression. Maybe he knows that things will never be the same or that she is never really coming back to him.
I am horrified. You wrote: "I also think it’s more than a little juvenile to say that any time a partner says “wait” or “stop” or “not right now” that any continued pursuit amounts to an assault or rape."
...That is terrible. So if my partner says "stop", and I continue anyway, how is that not assault or rape?!?!?
As an abuse survivor who used to get woken up for sexual activities that I said no to and had forced on me... no, that was a rape scene. Sleep is clearly not consent. Refusing to listen and clamping your hand down when someone asks you to slow down is not consent. Holding them down and focusing only on you is not consent. If there isn’t consent, it’s rape.
That was a rape scene, and this is a crappy take.
That scene was definitely rape. Your whole analysis is wrong. But ofc it is since you’re a man who’s never been sexually assaulted/raped speaking on a mostly women’s issue.
Your logic does not hold up because I am a woman who has been date-raped more than once. And that was NOT a rape scene. Luke is way stronger than June & could have stopped it if he really wanted to. I agree with the author on everything he said & I could not have said it better myself. Do not cheapen the word rape by claiming it falsely!
This is an incredibly shit take! Wow.
It’s not juvenile to know that when someone says ‘wait/stop’ and you carry on, that is rape. It’s literally the law. If you are mid sex and someone says ‘wait’, even once, if you carry on, it’s legally rape. As much so as a stranger in an alley. Pinning him down and putting her hand over his mouth when he REPEATEDLY say ‘wait’ (stop), and had shown no enthusiasm or consent up until that point to begin with could not be anymore rape like if it tried. The fact that they’d had sex before and she wasn’t a stranger is a very old fashioned and dangerous trope we’ve heard trotted out for years. What an appalling, misinformed article you have written. Both legally, psychologically, emotionally, culturally and experientially wrong. A full house. Don’t write on what you don’t know.
This is disgusting. If someone says “wait” that means wait, not carry on even though I told you not to. Clearly that’s not consent. I feel sorry for any women you’ve slept with if they’ve made any notion to stop as you clearly don’t understand consent. If it’s not a yes it’s a no. You make me feel sick.
If it were a man on top of a woman in that scene, whether they are married or not, the woman saying wait wait & the man putting his hand over mouth continuing to have sex with her, it would be rape would it not? Just because it's a woman on top of a man doesn't mean it's not rape.
To suggest that Luke couldn't possibly have been sexually assaulted because he's physically bigger and stronger than June is a completely disgusting and dangerous statement. Men can be raped or sexually assaulted by women, regardless of whether or not they are physically subdued. I have to assume you are fortunate enough to have never been put in such a situation, as if you had been you would know how emotionally overwhelming and debilitating it can be, to the point where you are unable to react, let alone throw someone off you. You are entitled to your own opinion and interpretation of the scene, but I suggest that you think a lot harder before spouting dangerous and false rhetoric. Just because you are entitled to do so, doesn't mean that you should.
I also take issue with almost everything else you say regarding consent, and hope no woman ever has the displeasure of you initiating sexual assault while she sleeps. It's one thing to "agree to disagree" on a matter that is actually subjective, and another to not understand the basics of objective consent.
Spot on.