| Summary: | Representations of rape in film have contributed significantly to the mass of representations of rape present in popular culture. The attention these have attracted, and continue to attract, from audiences, cultural critics and academics is substantial. What has often been overlooked, and what this study does, is explore how these films have been discussed across the U.K. national popular press (including individual newspapers’ online counterparts). Developing on the work of scholars working in the area of film publicity and critical reception who have suggested that film criticism may be socially impactful, this thesis contends that press discussions of films that include representations of rape contribute to discourses surrounding rape that circulate in society and culture and that, as such, they play a part in the construction of specific frameworks of thinking about rape and other forms of male violence against women. Paying particular attention to the language used to describe the rape, the language used to describe the female characters who are raped, and language used to describe the male perpetrators of rape, this thesis demonstrates how press discussions of mainstream films that include representations of rape can reinforce, propagate, challenge and reject rape myths and misconceptions surrounding rape and other forms of male violence against women.
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