5 years later, how is sexual violence told in series?

Starting from the cinema, with the Weinstein affair, the MeToo phenomenon naturally found an echo in a similar field, that of television, and in particular series. It seems like a no-brainer, but what exactly is it? How far have the changes been? What way is there left to go?

We interviewed two series specialists. First, journalist and director Charlotte Blum, who hosted the show for several years inside series on OCS, writes books on the series and produced for OCS an exciting series of portraits of directors and directors, entitled The art of television, whose season 3 will be released on November 24th. And then, Laurence Herszberg, founder and general manager of the biggest festival dedicated to series in France, Séries Mania, which is held every year in Lille.

I may destroy youflagship series of the MeToo era

Both agree on the name of the series that most represents MeToo. “For me, if we were to concentrate the impact of MeToo on what we can talk about in the series, for me the flagship series is I May destroy you, by Michaela Coel,” says Charlotte Blum. And for the journalist, the symbol comes from the very conception of the series: “We find ourselves with a woman, a showrunner, screenwriter, who recounts her own rape in a series that does not talk about anything else, on HBO, so a big chain. That today a woman can say to herself I’m going to tell this trauma to help other women, it’s going to be my series, I’m going to write it as I want, I’m going to direct it as I want and that at no time does an outside person and in particular a man intervene in my story, that I think that before #MeToo it was almost unthinkable. »

For Charlotte Blum, Michaela Coel is emblematic of this new generation of authors. But, she underlines, this generation does not emerge from nowhere: “It is a path that had been opened before by Lena Dunham, who was already talking about elements that can correspond to the MeToo movement in her series Girls, 10 years ago already. I remember an episode called american bitch which spoke very clearly about harassment by a dominant man on a woman lower in the hierarchy. And before that, other series, like madmen, Broadchurch Where House of Cards were already talking about consent and violence in an interesting way, as we recalled in 2019.

The Morning Show “give men a voice in a rather subtle way”

Among the series that directly address the themes raised by MeToo, Laurence Herszberg also cites The Morning Show, the Apple TV series, with Jennifer Hanniston, Steve Carrell and Reese Witherspoon. The series deals with rape charges against a famous TV host. “I find it interesting because it gives voice to women, it goes directly to talk about rape, about not being recognized and at the same time it gives voice to men in a rather subtle way, with this producer who says “ why do we believe her and we don’t believe me? “, explains the general manager of Séries Mania. It is interesting because it does not go in one direction. Obviously, the series has chosen its camp, it denounces violence against women and in this sense, it has been extremely important. But she talks about everything. »

At Séries Mania, series that deal with questions of gender or violence are also regularly broadcast. “We showed a series in Panorama International called The pack, in original version The Jauría, then broadcast on Arte in 2021, which is very strong. In a high school, students accuse their theater teacher of sexual harassment in the sense that in front of the camera they had forced them to stage themselves in situations of orgasm, love, etc. (…) This Chilean series is a post-MeToo series, I don’t think we would have done it the same way before. »

The shocking scene of Sex Education

Laurence Herszberg completes her list with Big Little liesin 2017, which was a pioneer, The hunting, Bad sisters – adapting Clan, a 2011 Dutch series, where women organize themselves criminally to get revenge on men. She ends her list with the excellent mini-series unbelievablewhere “we question the word of the victim and those who will take care of it, they are policewomen, because they are sensitive to that”.

Today, many series address the subject in one way or another. We think of The Good Fightor to Sex Education and this shocking scene from season 2, where Aimee’s friends come to accompany her to take the bus, in which she had difficulty getting on after a sexual assault. A very personal story for Laurie Nunn, the showrunner of the series broadcast on Netflix, as she told the LA Times.

For Charlotte Blum, this multiplication of narrative arcs within series is proof that things have changed: “The fact that it’s so open and available as a message, the fact that we have it in any series proves that the thing has been digested, it proves that there are new people in the writing room, there are more women in the writing room, there are more women behind the camera, in the direction. There is the way we are going to tell these stories and the way we are going to film these stories. All that has changed and it is recent. »

French series

And on the side of the hexagon? According to Laurence Herszberg, “French series don’t tackle the subject in the same way, head-on. Maybe because the #MeToo wave was later, so you have to take that into account. The French series are rather in a plurality of female characters who will now be able to take all the roles. The general manager of Séries Mania thus evokes the series where “what we used to call men’s roles are given to women”, such as Philharmoniewith a conductor or Toutouyoutou, with a spy.

“As for the perception of MeToo by French series, we immediately come into more political questions, such as with Tender Flesh, Reuss, two series that we showed at Series Mania. ” In Skam, the last season, we talk about marital rape. What I find interesting is that French series will expand #MeToo to include women. »

“This French delay, if we can speak of delay, is compensated by the fact that there are more roles given to women and now there are women everywhere, she analyzes. Many women who direct, and in particular actresses who direct. There is Alexandra Lamy, Emma De Caunes. In France, the #MeToo movement was taken as an awareness that women needed to be given a different role. »

But for Charlotte Blum, even when they are in charge, women still have to fight: “The work that Fanny Herrero has done to be recognized as a showrunner of Ten percent and at each interview we say “yes, but it’s Dominique Besnéhard”. In the meantime, she’s the one who holds the reins, she’s the showrunner, period. It is also a symbol of MeToo and I think she suffered a lot from it. »

Female Gaze

If #MeToo made it possible to say what we needed to see, the movement also made it possible to say what we no longer wanted. In particular, we often criticize the rape scenes in Game Of Thrones, considered free by the public. “We don’t let them pass anymore,” says Charlotte Blum. The outcry over the rape scenes in game of thrones which were extremely problematic, they didn’t just come from the press, they came from the public. And the reason why the public today is able to speak its mind, that is to say we cannot show scenes of rape from the point of view of the man who is raping, we can no longer. »

According to the journalist, who produced a formidable series of portraits of female directors for OCS in season 3 of The Art of Television (broadcast from November 24), it’s a matter of perspective. ” For Game Of Thrones the problem is placed behind the camera a lot, there is only one woman in 8 seasons in all and for all who has directed, Michelle McLaren. What Iris Brey has treated very well for a long time which the “female gaze”, the look of a woman on the rape is necessarily different, benevolent protector. I think the show proved that and the showrunners heard that and you can’t do things the same way anymore, because enough is enough. Perhaps very slowly, while reading articles or seeing interviews, the public allows itself to say: it bothers me. »

Intimacy Coordinators

Change is also taking place on the sets, with the recognition or arrival of showrunners and female directors. “Having showrunners triggered the emergence, almost the obligation to have intimacy coordinators on the sets and if there hadn’t been MeToo, it would have become less systematic. “, notes Charlotte Blum. The journalist and director reexplains the objective of this function: “We are not here to make women a sexual object of fantasy or excitement. We film their story, not their body. These are reflections that they had boosted by the feeling that that’s it, we’re listening to them. »

“In Season 1 of Art ofI had done the portrait of Jennifer Getzinger who had shot many episodes of masters of sex, where there are a lot of sex scenes. And the actresses came to see her saying, “How good does it feel to have a woman behind the camera”. It’s not normal to be afraid in your job. Intimacy coordinators existed before #MeToo, but it wasn’t as widespread. It’s really one of the symbols of what #MeToo has changed in the world of series. »

And now ?

As we can see, #MeToo has allowed a small revolution in the world of series and in more than one way. We therefore asked our two specialists how they saw the rest. For Charlotte Blum, “we are at the beginning and fiction has a major role to play. The more we are going to show spectators images of what they are going through, of what to do or not to do, the more we are going to advance society. »

Laurence Herszberg, she is already in the next step: “Now we have to work on non-white talents. We’ve created Revelations trophies, people we’ve spotted coming into the world of the series. There are very clearly young non-white talents coming in there. Watch Fanny Herrero’s amazing work in Funny. The real work is diversity now. »