It’s a significant decision – to zero in on the smaller, oftentimes microagressive, incidents that can escalate to something more sinister, but are also no less important and worthy of discussion. A victim doesn’t deserve to be verbally abused, bullied or objectified while she’s trying to work any less than she deserves to be raped or sexually assaulted in any other way. By minimising the more subtle, less direct forms of sexual harassment, we in turn minimise so many victims’ experiences and let so many would-be, past, present or future abusers off the hook.
The Royal Hotel‘s portrayal demands that many people take a second look – while they may not know of someone who has sexually assaulted someone, they are much more likely to know of someone who has partaken in other forms of sexual harassment and abuse, which are no less damaging. Or maybe they’ve done it themselves, and until now haven’t thought they’re part of the problem.
Kitty’s decision to shine a light on this nuance is an incredible feat, especially seeing as she was told by numerous potential financial backers that the film was “missing something” because there wasn’t more sexual violence onscreen.
“They wanted more violence, which is so crazy,” she told The Guardian. “We’ve gotten a lot of ‘It simmers away but never reaches boiling point.’ I think there are a lot of reviewers, particularly male reviewers, who are waiting for that scene,” she said, referring to an explicit scene of sexual assault. “That really overt act of violence, be it rape or whatever. And I think that frustrates them. It’s awful, wondering what it could be that they not only expected, but desired. We’ve had enough of that in movies. We definitely don’t need that scene.”
Kitty described these conversations as “interesting”, but ultimately “upsetting”. As well as being both of these things, they’re also rather obvious evidence that a significant proportion of the film industry have normalised scenes of sexual assault as part of entertainment value, which can work in turn to normalise these acts in real life. But more than that, it further underlines a wider lack of nuance in understanding sexual assault – and why it’s even more crucial that the director fought to showcase these microaggressions onscreen, as the unacceptable behavioural patterns that they are.