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10 Movies You Can Watch On Netflix Instant That Are 100% Rapeless

By Rebecca Pahle | Lists | April 24, 2014 |

By Rebecca Pahle | Lists | April 24, 2014 |


I don’t claim to speak for everyone, but I personally am pretty dang sick of rape being used as a plot device this week. I mean, I am normally, but following the extended controversy over that Game of Thrones scene I have a particularly strong desire to plug my brain into some entertainment where none of the characters are under the threat of sexual assault. Maybe it’s just me, yanno? But if you feel the same, here are ten movies on Netflix Instant that will fulfill that need.

Senna
This BAFTA-winning documentary on Brazilian Formula One racer Ayrton Senna is a great watch for people, like myself, who neither know nor care about racing in particular or sports in general. It has rivalries, tension, hope, heartbreak, fast cars, and no rape.

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ParaNorman
The best animated film of 2012 (sorry, Brave and Wreck-It Ralph), ParaNorman’s climatic final scene might make you cry, but it won’t be tears of rage that a female character was raped to establish how eeeeevil a male character whom we’re later asked to sympathize with is (*sideeyes Vikings*).

The Avengers
Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk join forces to save the world from Loki and his evil alien minions. None of them are rapists.

There Will Be Blood
There may be blood, but there will never, at any point during this Oscar-winning epic of American ambition and milkshake slurpage, be rape.

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North & South
Who wants a BBC costume drama where a spirited young woman has to decide if she wants to lock lips with a brooding hottie played by Richard Armitage? I do, I do! Who wants a movie where there’s rape for shock value? Not me! Bam! North & South.

Sherlock Jr.
The most well-known scene in this 1924 Buster Keaton classic, in which Buster’s projectionist/wannabe detective protagonist gets sucked into a movie where things keep changing on him (He’s on a busy street! No, it’s the edge of a cliff! No, it’s a lion-filled jungle!), is technically impressive even by today’s standards. Also impressive: No rape! Thanks, Buster K.

Safety Not Guaranteed
Aubrey Plaza’s safety isn’t guaranteed if she decides to take resident crackpot (or is he?) Mark Duplass up on his offer to go time traveling. But her safety from rapists is guaranteed, as there are none in this movie.

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Headhunters
Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau co-stars in this excellent 2012 Norwegian thriller as Clas Greve, a too-perfect-to-be true stranger with a mysterious past, an impeccable ability to carry himself in a suit, and an absence of a desire to rape his sisterlover (if has one—the writer left that out). There’s a lot of violence in Headhunters, but none of it is sexual in nature. That’s how I like ‘em.

Man On Wire
It’s called Man on Wire, not Rapist On Your Computer/TV Screen.

The Conversation
Gene Hackman reminds us how terrible it is that his last movie before retirement was Welcome to Mooseport and not The Royal Tenenbaums (moment of silence) in this ’70s classic about paranoia and how human beings connect with each other (or don’t). An obscenely attractive Harrison Ford, in one of his first movie roles, is there. Rape isn’t. Hoorah!

(After this week Rebecca never wants to write against Game of Thrones tendency toward violence against women again, so she really wishes they’d stop doing it.)