Keira Knightley in anti-DV ad
Trigger warning
The ad is for Women's Aid, a UK organization that works to end violence against women. It's definitely difficult to watch, but of course that's the point. Thoughts?
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Keira Knightley in anti-DV ad.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/12847
Is there a transcript? I'm at work and don't have audio on my computer.
But just seeing the visual with text it's really really powerful. I almost started crying at the end.
Her: Oh you’re here. You’re hurt. Here [hands towel]
Him: How was he today? Your leading man.
Her: Oh [name]...please.
Him: Did it feel real?
Her: It is my job. [She gets hit. Pause, looks off to the side to the camera crew] Sorry, we didn’t agree to that. That wasn’t in the script.
Him: Whore[?] You’re[You?] stupid…
Her: Please, I didn’t agree to this! [Her screaming and crying]
"I almost started crying at the end."
I did. Hard to watch.
It is high time that this kind of ads starts playing and more often in our TVs. When people see it, like it or not, comments will be made among those watching it and that is always a good thing. I admire Keira's acting but this ad sets her apart from the dozens of celebritys, actors, artist or singers who contribute only in name or quick photo up.
Patrick Stewart has been with Amnesty International and doing ads for raising this kind of awareness too. I think you have a good point though. When celebrities make ads such as these, they're doing more than just signing their name or getting a photo op. They're raising awareness.
Good.
I *just* (like 20 minutes ago) submitted a community post about this. So basically my comments are there.
Rachel, I just saw that - great minds think alike!
I really love these anti-DV ads. I think it brings a real sense for people who still believe some of the myths about DV. I volunteered at a DV and SA shelter for nearly a year while I was in college. I would've stayed longer if they had the funding to put me on staff. It's not a drunk husband randomly giving his wife a little slap for some stupid reason, it's real fear, it's real violence, it's a real problem. However, it's a private problem that many people don't see so they don't think it's any of their business. We need to bring this issue out in the open and show people the reality and the seriousness of it. Hence why I really love these ads.
hm...... spare the cynic in me to see this ad as good thing. These sorts of ads do a great job of portraying the physical and most dramatic forms of DV, but do little to highlight the day to day, mental abuse. By showing Keira (who I really admire for taking on this role) as being abused in the worst kind of way, it makes the average person think "hm, well he only hits me a couple of times a year, and it never really leaves a big bruise, so I must not be in a DV relationship." These ads are geared towards hollywood and selling a story, not actually reaching out to the average DV victim.
Unlike many other ads (I am thinking of the dreaded waitress in the restaurant one) this ad does hints at the methods of domestic violence her assailant uses. Ie. no makeup, smashed window, wants to know where she is. Which rocks, if only the whole ad was more about the forms of abuse a assailant uses to maintain the power and control over a relationship instead of the climatic ending where Kiera is violently attacked. Most survivors don't suffer this sort of physical abuse, or at least not constant or dramatic. A couple of hurtful words can be enough to maintain the power and control over the relationship, instead of a punch. But that wouldn't be as sensational.
I wish women's networks didn't have to exploit dramatic stories of abuse in order to get funding. I think its self damaging, it doesn't engage society or survivors in the real reasons (patriarchy) behind domestic violence. But that story wouldn't really sell.
ellyroxanne -- i agree -- I wish there were ads about psychological, emotional and verbal abuse -- about the control and power. Abuse is not a man losing control --it's him KEEPING control. It's a value issue, not an anger issue.
This is a good point in that DV can be something other than just physical abuse, but considering it's already a struggle to get people to see that physical violence is a problem, it would be even harder to convince people that verbal and mental abuse is something worth their time and money.
You're probably right in that it might not reach out to the average DV victim (though it certainly was something I related to), this isn't really geared towards victims, necessarily. It's about raising awareness, and money so THEN organizations can reach out to victims.
I understand what you're saying though. It's not perfect, and I'm not generally a "baby step" kind of person, at least it's something. And in fact, this ad is pretty shocking, I don't even know if I'd call it a baby step.
you're right about babysteps, Crash, but I was thinking on this more and thought about reactions of, "psh, well *I* wouldn't let that happen to me," "why wouldn't she leave? seems cut and dry to me!" "if you hang around to get beat up then you deserve it, dummy," and other such veins....
So it might be a babystep in the wrong direction since physical abuse is accompanied by the previous mind control games they do to get the woman in that situation. I'm sure someone could create an ad where the guy is gaslighting her, emotionally blackmailing, verbally abusing etc. Heck, they wouldn't even have to come up with it - just interview some women!
But I suppose something is better than nothing.
That's a really good point. Bringing in issues of black mail or threats might help curb victim blaming. Of course PSAs can only be but so long, but maybe if this were made into a series or something?
I think they were trying to demonstrate that it wasn't just a situation of occasional physical violence. On her way home, she was washing off her make-up. She knew that by going home with a lot of make-up on he would be upset and jealous. And when she did get home, his body was scary and looming in the window showing the essence of fear in their relationship.
What I didn't like though was how the abuser was represented as a big scary faceless man. Because in real life, those men have a face and are not consistently scary.
Yep...he should have looked like the guy next door...a good looking professional.
I clicked the comments to say exactly what you've just said. It's a lot like the problem with the portrayal of rape. If you only show stranger rape in dark alleys, people often don't see themselves as rapists or rape victims in date-rape type scenarios.
this is really excellent. I've had my hair grabbed and slammed into the ground repeatedly by my husband (getting the divorce)(and yes, that quick couple seconds of the ad did trigger emotion) and I've been thinking, "you know, if someone --especially someone who knew me & loved me-- ever just looked in the window and saw what was going on, they'd be horrified by the visual." I wish I had his attacks on tape to remind myself and educate others.
I've thought, anyone who thinks DV is private or no big deal should act out a scene and see how it makes them feel -- probably would be shocking on either end.
that is, hair grabbed and head slammed into the ground...
I'm shaking a bit.
I've liked Keira for a long time now, and this just makes me admire her even more. I hope this ad will bring more light to an extremely important issue.
I love these types of raw advertisements that really show the uncomfortable reality of violence towards women; although I think an ad that actually shows the abuser the possible consequences he might receive in response to his actions, ie. him getting arrested, or a neighbor coming after him with a bat, could be more effective in making the abuser think "hey, maybe people aren't going to take it any more, and I better be careful". Also, It would show the law enforcement, and everyday people in a more positive light, and heroic stance, possibly enticing, and encouraging them to act out more against abusers.
Just an idea
Also, how about a commercial that also shows him trying to rationalize his behavior following the attack, and then a flash forward to him being led away in handcuffs with a slogan like "It doesn't matter what she did or said, you made a choice."
I don't know, just another idea.
These types of commercials would break the current attitude towards domestic violence, just as the anti-smoking ones broke the general cultural attitude towards smoking. It's part of psychological conditioning, just like the passive victim blaming language that is used in many articles.
yah or "it's not her. it's YOU." or get non-abusive men to speak out...
I LOVE the idea of "it's not her, it's you."
That has to be part of a campaign somewhere!
There used to be actually, called Violence Against Women Australia Says NO. There's also a corresponding video about the women who are being abused.
It's in the right track, but there are still some problems. The first is that my you-tube search mainly came up with spoofs. Others involve what was discussed above, such as only focusing on physical and sexual assault. My main issue is that the friend and the sister sit back passively. I was in an abusive relationship for a year and a half. I didn't stay for that long because I didn't recognise it was abusive (I did from early on). I stayed because at worst people I went to told me it was my fault, and at best, they sat back passively because they 'didn't want to take sides'.
Lynne, good points. I dunno if an abuser would think that, though. I would see your version as an uplifter to the WOMEN, though, that people support them and are there to help.
On the other hand, the camera pulling away while she's still being kicked draws a desire to reach out and she's slipping away... I liked that. The line about calling cut is a little on the corny side, in my opinion.
Oh I just got that they were referencing calling cut on a movie set. I assumed at first that CUT was some sort of British 911 or anti-DV place. Silly me.
It's hard to watch, but it's better than the ads we have here that just show images of women with bruises and say things like "You can get out" "There is help" and "It's not your fault", while these things are well and good, they don't really hit as hard as "Wait, I didn't sign up for this!" "This isn't what we agreed on."
This ad makes me think of the life I used to have. It makes me think of all the women who have this life. It makes me think of the women I know personally who live that way. It makes me want to do something.
it's worth noting too the only speaking part she has in this ad is saying "can we cut... i didn't agree to this" bc i think that's one of the main points of this ad. the violence needn't be extreme, the signs and behavior needn't be day-to-day or normalized. the point can be dv should not be in anyone's "script" so to speak, as well as the fact that victims don't "agree" to dv, they're subjected to it. my $.02.
I already commented on the similar post on the community side of the blog, bu since the lively discussion is over here:
It doesn't look like an informative commercial. It looks like the first 2 minutes of a crime drama. Or maybe a trailer for Keira's new movie. People are going to be entertained watching it, and then at the end, when they find out it was "just an ad" they'll be pissed off.
jjgirl, interesting. I wonder how I would have viewed it without any prior knowledge of the subject.
I wonder if it might be MORE effective for people who don't know that it's a DV-ad. I mean, all of us watched this video expecting what we saw.
Tara - because she turns and looks to the audience, taking herself out of the "role" in a way...hmm
I don't see how anyone would be "pissed off" that this isn't an ad for a new Keira Knightley movie. I actually think by the end of it they'd be more like scared or reflective on what just happened.
llevinso, as I wrote in another comment, I think a lot of reactions [sadly] would be along the lines of:
"psh, well *I* wouldn't let that happen to me," "why wouldn't she leave? seems cut and dry to me!" "if you hang around to get beat up then you deserve it, dummy," and other such veins....
Well, I think a lot of people would be watching waiting for "in theaters June 2009!" or something along those lines. And then go "damn, its no a movie" and go back to eating their chips or whatever. Haven't you ever seen a commercial that you thought was a movie trailer, and then gone "oh crap, its just an ad for Tide" or something?
Or maybe you honestly don't know people who are like that. I'm not sure. I know I do, though.
I understand what you're saying, how someone might be disappointed that it isn't a movie and then go on about what they were doing. I just think the wording you used: "pissed off" was a little strange and extreme.
I do see how someone could not be affected at all by this ad and go on about their day after seeing it. But I also see how somone could originally think it was an ad for her new movie, then realize what it was actually about and it would get them to put down their chips for a second and stop and think. Maybe it would just be for a second or two but I still think that's something.
that was extremely hard to watch but people need to see it.
Definitely a downer. :-( Needs to be seen, though!
one of the most chilling and most effective DV ads i have ever seen is one where a man comes home and his wife tries to feed him dinner (pizza?) with which he is not pleased and the encounter escalates into horrendous violence, slapping, hitting, pleading, beating, punching, crying, all heard off screen (which i am telling you adds to the horror like nothing i have ever seen - your imagination goes wild) the visual is of a small child sitting at the top of a flight of stairs looking down and taking in the whole thing. i have chills just thinking about it - VERY upsetting - and a huge underscore for not only what damage DV does to the one being physically/emotional/psychologically abused but to the other members of the family as well.
Oh, I remember that one. It started out as a parody of the ads for pizza-bagels. The transition point was the husband flipping out and shouting, "Pizza's not for breakfast!"
Really powerful, since it starts out so obviously silly.
Wow, you did say trigger warning but I was not prepared for that, which was I suppose the point. Yay for Keira doing this, she's the perfect choice. The result of all her badass girl roles is that I see her as the farthest thing from a victim, and then this happens it shows that anyone can be going through this in their homes when we cant see them.
I get the context that this was not an everyday scenario, but what I found most compelling (and I really am not sure I could watch it a second time--I started crying in my office) was that they wrote it as if it was her, not a character. The bit about her turning to say "hold on. that wasn't in the script" right as it's escalating was both a brilliant point about DV and a way to connect the violence to her, Keira Knightly, whom we "know". Really just stunning. And hopefully the impact will be to provoke that broader conversation.
I get the comment that this was not an everyday scenario, but what I found most compelling (and I really am not sure I could watch it a second time--I started crying in my office) was that they wrote it as if it was her, not a character. The bit about her turning to say "hold on. that wasn't in the script" right as it's escalating was both a brilliant point about DV and a way to connect the violence to her, Keira Knightly, whom we "know". Really just stunning. And hopefully the impact will be to provoke that broader conversation.
No one signs up to getting beaten in a relationship. The vid, although bone-chillingly realistic, sends that important point home. I could never imagine what it must be like for a woman in a relationship have every hope she had come crashing down like that.
I hope many, many men see this and get the message.
yes, yes, it's powerful and triggering and all that. but it's a good example of why i tend to dislike efforts geared toward "awareness raising", for one thing. great. my awareness has been raised. i am aware that women are beaten to death, even really hot ones who have glamorous jobs. now what.
second: most domestic violence is not that clear cut. and who gets into a relationship thinking, gee! sign me up for a good ass-kicking once in awhile! i totally deserve it! usually, it starts with controlling behaviors that alienate the victim and remove her access to family, friends, money, etc, and THEN the relationship becomes violent.
third: i wonder if an ad portraying violence in this fashion would make the viewer even more prone to making sanctimonious statements like "well why would anyone stay with an a-hole like that? especially a rich hot woman like kiera knightley?"
fourth: my friend's husband claimed that what he did wasn't abuse because he didn't ever put her in the hospital. he slapped her. he pushed her. he spit on her. but he didn't slap her and kick her in the stomach repeatedly. i can see some dickhead pointing at the tv, or some poor woman desperately trying to rationalize the situation, saying, see? this isn't DV! all he did was slap me! DV is when you come home and someone kicks you in the stomach over and over!
so, yeah. big points for effort. but ultimately...it reinforces many unforunate stereotypes...
kbkb: you said: i can see some dickhead pointing at the tv, or some poor woman desperately trying to rationalize the situation, saying, see? this isn't DV! all he did was slap me! DV is when you come home and someone kicks you in the stomach over and over!
that would happen no matter what. Even if the beating was identical, it still wouldn't be "their" situation for whatever reason. Women in DV situations often don't even recognize their being abused because they're not like [THAT].
wow that was upsetting, but i am so glad to see celebrities taking a stance on extremely important issues. i have always liked keira and this makes me love and respect her even more.
I frequent a sports message board that has a lot of guys, and I know they're not the most feminist-type people (esp. since it's a forum with other guys, you know, getting macho or w/e), and I usually let them know the other side of the argument w/o pushing it too much, but this comment just pissed me off, the topic being this ad:
"I respect the hell out of women, but seriously, ever since the Chris Brown/Rihanna incident, this whole issue has gotten blown way out of proportion. I'm getting a little tired of all the guy-bashing in the media lately, and this ad isn't going to help it one bit. Apparently the ad will be shown in movie theatres.
It's a pretty disturbing video, and well done, but I am not looking forward to having to watch this before enjoying a movie."
I replied that I didn't even have the coherency to point out his ignorance at the moment because I was so flabbergasted. I just couldn't believe anyone would say that....
O and my boyfriend just watched the clip and said, " some guy just randomly isn't going to do that, and what is the lbood from in the first place?" Wow. I have lots of teaching to do :S
I figured the blood was from him punching the mirror, but I wasn't quite sure why he would do that when she wasn't home?
My ex used to punch inanimate objects all the time. It intimidated me. It was kind of like, next time, this wall could be your face. And he'd do it when I wasn't around too. I'm come over to his place and the first thing I'd see was a big fist-sized hole in his wall. It was scary. It was like that was the signal to know he was in a bad mood. He'd also use it as a way to show how worried about me he was or some other bullshit. He'd be so worried because I was late or something that he thought something bad had happened that he just had to violently break something, you know? What a jackass.
I have to say that I actually have a real problem with this ad, since it's not going to come with a trigger warning when it's shown in theaters. If I saw this in the theater it would pretty much ruin the movie for me or I would have to just get up and leave. I understand the need to drive home the reality of this violence, but for lots of us it's already real, and it's blatantly insensitive to survivors and victims (and ironic) to not respect survivors'/victims' need to not have this sort of material forced on us or to have some kind of warning ahead of time. I'm not entirely sure how to get around that, but I think we need to work on better ways of raising awareness about domestic violence that don't force people who have already experienced it to be potentially re-traumatized with no warning. We've already bared enough of the costs of domestic violence, put it on someone else now.
I'm sure some people will say I should just suck it up and be triggered for the greater good, but that's a personal decision--whether survivors' want to put their own health second to raising awareness, and that's a choice that survivors' should get to make on their own and not have forced on them.
that is a really really good point and i totally agree. BUT i would hope that this would only show in movie theatres before movies that already have a warning for violence- so the viewers would be prepared to see violent scenes.
one can only hope. at any rate I will probably just not go to the theater for awhile.
Is it being shown in movie theaters? I assumed TV.
"The two-minute clip, which debuts April 6 in movie theaters"
source
The video has been removed.
The YouTube vid was removed, and my mom just told me that they pulled the ad in general. Haven't gotten more confirmation on it, so maybe I've got false information, but if they really are pulling the ad, it's a shame. I agree that it needs a warning message prior to it because of it's violence, but I think that in general, the public needs to see ads like these. For people who have not experienced DV and are not triggered by violent scenes, the general public has been really desensitized to violence and need something of this scale to drive the point home, unfortunately.
I looked into whether or not the ad was being pulled, and from what I can tell, it's not true. Also, according to CNN, the ad will be both on television as well as in theaters.
These urls still work (as of now) for those who want to see the ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt7JZSrDJA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctoZbeD-GlY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQqCzJjev_8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4RjsqPYaS0&feature=related