Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27079851-20171120082917/@comment-5106672-20171202220404

Utter solitude wrote:

GothicNarcissus wrote:

Conversely, here we'd be talking about consent based on physical attraction proper. But I do really think people are reading too much into this, because I can't quite figure a real life equivalent to finding out the person you consented to sleep with can shapeshift into a form you may or may not find attractive. The show didn't go there. Did Wish!Hook find Rapunzel specifically attractive and wanted to have sex with her? Did he just want to get laid to relieve the adrenaline and she was the closest breathing woman available, so who cares if she's truly Gothel? The show does not tell us, so the whole discussion kind of falls flat because a) the situation is ambiguous enough and b) let's repeat that, there are no comparable real life situations. I think you make a lot of good points here. For me, I don't expect the show to act just like real life (there are enough shows out there that do just that), it's the lack of punishment for the offenders in this situation (which has happened before). We haven't seen what will happen with Gothel, ofc, but given past situations on the show, i doubt any actual negative consequences will occur.

It touches on very real situations and how they're handled irl (or not handled) and how people react to it speaks to that too. I can't speak for everyone, but that's why I get up in arms about it personally. I get your point, but again, I think it's worth pointing out that the show has always been open in framing rape as a very negative action. Be it Regina and Graham, Zelena and Robin (which were more unanbiguous cases) or Gothel and Hook. Within the story, moral accountability is something the show has been very inconsistent about in pretty much all cases (including mass murder), but from a narrative standpoint it has always gone down the harsh judgement path.

On the other hand, I agree that if you, writer, don't want to fully explore the fallout (both on the victim's and the perpetrator's side) of something so sensitive because other plot points have priority, you'd better not write it into your narrative at all. That bugs me too.