Some Women In The Film Pretended To Be Abused
This film, "Searching for Angela Shelton," is quite different from the general conventions of how a sexual abuse victim usually behaves in films and in person. Many people believe that a sexual abuse victim would be fearful and behave rather like a hermit. They stayed away from men, did not discuss what happened to them, and kept quiet about their own feelings which was especially true in the earlier years where women were prevented from expressing themselves or were afraid to let their feelings be known in an effort to be polite. Women were taught to accept what men do to them and blame themselves for it. This film while not particularly entertaining or ethical to the women, does empower women by enlightening women to the fact that they are not the ones to blame for the horrible things people do to them.
This film, "Searching for Angela Shelton," did show that women can take their power back however, it also exploited their problems. This film could have been much more effective in supporting the recovery of women by not making a mockery of them by making their situation seem humorous at various moments. It was really despicable how the film made it seem so normal, so nonchalant, so casual, so cavalier, so common, so frequent that a large number of women are abused. The film interviewed too many people for the viewers to be able to connect and sympathize with any particular woman. The film should have took the viewers through the beginning, the middle, and the end of how the abuse takes place so people could realize whether they are in an abusive relationship or not. I also believe that it would have been good if the film would have interviewed an expert on this subject as it would have added an experts advice on the situation.
The blame does not completely rely on the producers of the film as many of the women interviewed have a role in making this film good or bad. In general, many women told compelling stories of their sexual abuse and how they dealt with it. However, it seemed that too many women were telling the same story as though they wanted the attention of the camera and desired the sympathy of the viewers. It seemed quite blatantly obvious that some women were pretending to have gone through an abusive experience as some were so boastful, almost proud of their experience to the point where it was simply disgusting to listen to them. For example, the chubby fast-food woman described her experience in such a generic manner that sounded so derivative from a cheap soap-opera drama. Overall, the producers of the film could have chosen a more wholesome cast of characters.
張惠妹