Dear Colleagues

 

APOLOGIES FOR ANY CROSS POSTING

 

I think many of you may know that we are currently conducting from Aberystwyth a study into audience responses to sexual violence in contemporary cinema.  This project is funded by the BBFC, but the research team has been guaranteed complete independence and control over the research process and publication of results.  We have an online questionnaire to which we have been quite successful in recruiting responses, but we do need more.  (The questionnaire can be found at www.extremefilmsresearch.org.uk.)  Over the course of this month, and up to November 6^th (when we have to close the questionnaire and begin our analysis), we are seeking to gather as many views as possible on five key films.

 

We have already had a good response from students in the field of Film & Media studies, but we are still keen to get more of these.  But if possible, we would like to reach other kinds of students who may have seen one or more of these films. Our project is based on recruiting a large and diverse range of responses, and then searching within for patterns.  Can we enlist your help to reach both your own students and the wider student body in your institution? As the findings of this study may well be used to inform future BBFC decisions, we feel it is really important to get as many people as possible to contribute their views – whatever they are.

 

All we are asking is that you forward the message below (jiscmail doesn’t allow attachments, so I couldn’t send this in that form) to students through your department, and if possible your institution's general message e-mailing system.  Or alternatively, if you know people in other departments who might be willing, would you consider asking them to use their mailing lists to let their students know about the study?

 

Whatever you can do to help will be appreciated!  We think this is important research – and especially right now, since the government is considering legislation in an area very close to what we are exploring.

 

Many thanks.

 

Martin Barker

University of Wales, Aberystwyth

 

À Ma Soeur … Baise-Moi … The House on the Edge of the Park … Ichi the Killer … Irreversible ...

 

Do you know any of these films?  What did you think of them?

 

The past few years have seen the release of some of the most explicit depictions of sexual violence ever to reach British screens (big or small). In particular the five films at the top of the page have polarised the critics and given the British Board of Film Classification real dilemmas over whether and what cuts they should make.

 

But although policy makers and opinion formers constantly invoke ‘the audience’ in their arguments, they do so with very little knowledge of who watches these films and what they actually think of them. We want to get beyond the public debates, to find out how real viewers responded to these movies. We need your help to do this.

 

If you have seen any of these films – in any version – we want to know what you made of them. Whether you loved them or loathed them, we really want to know – and we hope you will tell us why.  If you have something to say about any of them, please visit our website at www.extremefilmsreseach.org.uk to complete our anonymous questionnaire.

 

This research is being conducted from the Department of Theatre, Film & Television Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.