After watching Kirby Dick’s documentary The Hunting Ground, I considered this film to be a huge “eye-opener.” Rape is a term that many are familiar with and have heard hundreds of time. What many do not know is that sexual assault is a serious and ongoing problem. That is why The Hunting Ground is such a pivotal film.

In Dick’s documentary, we visit famous American colleges and universities that have built themselves such incredible reputations over the years. Places like Harvard and FSU have created reputations of academic excellence and football stardom. What Kirby does that is just so amazing is that he doesn’t care how idolized these schools are and exposes the truth. Exposing the truth is hard and intimidating, but Kirby does it in a beautiful way. Although intense and shocking, his film captures the audience’s attention with his incredible interviews, music, and graphics.

My favorite part of the film was definitely the ending. He shows many of the survivors taking a stand and speaking out with an upbeat soundtrack in the background, giving the audience an idea that this problem is resolving. Then, as the two main advocates of the movie are driving off to another campus, the two girls get a phone call from a parent saying how his daughter is in need of help after being the victim of sexual assault. This scene here shows the viewer that although people are starting to receive the message of how prevalent this problem is, it does not have a simple solution of one that can be fixed over night. People across the nation need to band together. I believe that The Hunting Ground should be screened on all college campuses across the country.

The brief video “The Ninth Girl” we watched in Kirby the other night before the actual movie I thought was very well done. Besides that choice of  font in the title opening (it’s a subtle video, why use humongous font sizes) the complete rushing attitude and its brevity of the short made its point very clear. It starts the viewer confused and disoriented, exactly like how the girl felt, and then moved on a rapid pace to the next scene. As she tried to get her thoughts together, she fell prey to the spotlight effect and felt as if everyone around was noticing every move she had done. I felt like the audience was with her every step of the way, as she stumbles to regain her train of thought, as do we. Even the most basic functions such as walking are a struggle. The ending of the short was also worth noting since it had such a large impact on what would happen next. When the girl was faced with the options of calling for help or not to, she actually chose the one with no repercussions on the other side, which is unfortunately what actually happens most of the time in real life situations.

After screening the hunting ground, there were a few things that struck me.

One thing that both surprised and frustrated me was the lack of action taken by the colleges to punish sex offenders. This is an issue that I think many people are already well-aware of. However, the film’s use of personal interviews to propel the narrative really highlighted the extent of this problem. If we take a step back, its important to acknowledge that colleges are revenue-generating institutions; they are just like any other business. Its easy to view prestigious schools through a more naive lens, to assume that they will favor due process and punish those who harm others on their campuses. Unfortunately, because schools are economically-motivated, they have a vested interest in maintaining a favorable public image. This allows them to attract more students, and to appease parents who want the absolute best for their children. Each additional student will happily hand over an additional thirty to sixty thousand dollars a year for the opportunity to get a degree at a respected school. Clearly, many schools value the preservation of their public image more than they care about pursing legal action against sex offenders.

There are certainly inherent flaws within the system of higher-education. Its extremely difficult to combat these kinds of issues as long a colleges acts like any other business, which they will undoubtedly continue to do. Furthermore, like any illegal or deviant behavior, such as drug use and violence, sexual abuse has existed in human society for thousands of years. Just as schools cannot eradicate drinking or drug use, sexual abuse (which is a supremely atrocious activity) is hard to combat. Its nearly impossible to screen against abusive individuals before they decide to act. Just like with drug usage, motivated individuals will find a way to act upon their desires. We also know that the excessive partying and alcohol consumption on college campuses means that sexual crimes are easy to carry out.

I don’t really have any profound insights regarding the problem of sexual abuse on college campuses, other than acknowledging that it is a serious issue, one which will take significant policy changes and systemic alterations to eradicate.

What I found interesting is just how casually institutions take reports on sexual assault. What was eye opening in this documentary was the fact that sexual assault does not discriminate based on intelligence. It happens on Ivy League campuses as well as at community colleges.

Absolutely no school should ever put athletics before someone’s safety. Understandably many of these schools with multi million dollar stadiums and athletic programs have a lot to loose if their star quarterback is convicted of rape, but I think that interestingly enough, it just points out how flawed our priorities as a society are. One human being is not worth more than the next so why is it that just because someone plays a sport well that it makes them almost untouchable/un-punishable for such a heinous crime.

After watching The Hunting Ground, I couldn’t help but wonder how many male students were subjected to that film on a larger scale and also what their reactions would be. What if that film were shown to the entire FSU football team? Would they still rally around their glorified quarterback or would morality take over and would the team come to their senses and not only give Winston the punishment he deserves but also give Emma Kingsman the apology that is long overdue. I can’t help but feel like it should be a requirement to screen this film to incoming freshman around the country to possibly prevent assaults from even taking place. Make students uncomfortable and squeamish during that film to possibly save students from an endless amount of feeling much worse if assaults were to happen to them. I personally know people who have been assaulted and this film even in itself might make them feel better knowing that they aren’t alone.

For an english course I’m taking, our professor had us read an article entitled The Inside Story. It’s written by a producer, Peter Guber, who has produced the original Batman andThe Witches of Eastwick, and more recently, The Kids Are All Right and Soul Surfer. It goes into detail on how stories for films are picked – I found it fascinating how Guber wasn’t interested in Soul Surfer until he met the “soul surfer” herself, Bethany Hamilton. Her personal story touched him so much, that he just knew he had to make the film. While it was for monetary reasons as well, (he knew many people would come see the film), this brings up the idea of passion in film. If someone doesn’t have a passion for storytelling or doesn’t find the story they’re telling compelling, they will not be successful in film. The reason why you’re telling a story and your interest in that story is just as important as the act of telling the story.

Overall, I think that this documentary was disturbing, unsettling, and incredibly effective. So many times, I think I view myself as somewhat invincible, in that nothing truly bad could happen, that’s only stuff you unfortunately hear about in the news, or about people you sort of know, or a friend of a friend. This movie served as a type of wake-up call for me. Truly no one is immune to such serious experiences. This film was so relatable because, like so many people already said, the film deals with college students; people my age, people with whom I interact every single day. This topic is much more relatable to me than I had previously thought. It definitely raised my awareness of how prevalent rape is across college campuses.

I was also appalled by how nearly all of the colleges handled the victims coming forward asking for help, justice, and safety. A college should be a place of safety for all students, not one where a victim is blamed, doubted, and not supported or helped at all.

After viewing Kirby Dick’s documentary The Hunting Ground, to me it was the most powerful documentary we have viewed all year.  Throughout the entire documentary, hearing story after story about how so many people were raped, yet almost none of them received any sort of action from their respective college or university which shocked and disturbed me.  Additionally, I believe the documentary was more relatable to me due to the fact that all of the people who had been the victims in the film were also college students who never thought they would be victims and survivors of rape, which is definitely a scary thought.  The documentary was also very effective for the people who were interviewed for the documentary all went to different schools and all had their own story, making the documentary more relatable to more people in my opinion.  Not to mention, while the documentary was about a very serious topic and was extremely serious, shocking, and disturbing at some points, Kirby also decided to incorporate some humor into the film which I appreciated for it lightened up the mood and the appalling stories of the women and men who were interviewed for the documentary.  Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Hunting Ground and believe that more parents, students, and college faculty members should see the documentary to raise awareness about the issue.

I was particularly intrigued by Owen’s story. I was actually going through my Facebook newsfeed when I saw a video clip of Ron Suskind talking about his breakthrough with Owen when he discovered he could communicate with Owen through the voice of Iago. This was about a week or so before we attended the talk with Roger Williams. I think that this documentary will be a really great portrayal and representation of Owen’s personal story. I believe Mr. Williams mentioned that it would be shot from Owen’s point of view. That will be very effective in getting an accurate point of view about what it is really like for Owen. It will also provide an interesting window into Owen’s progress.

I thought this was a fantastic documentary that did a beautiful job of discussing a very sensitive, heavy, controversial topic. i have seen many films that are centered about the topic of rape, but none of them have spoke to me as much as this film did. I think a big reason of why this movie hit home is because these girls are my age. It makes it more personal when it’s people who are your age, doing the same things in life you’re currently doing because then it makes it personable. A movie that is personable and relatable can thoroughly impact the way the viewer interprets the film. People are more like to make a difference about a topic when they feel it is close to them. No one ever thinks they will be raped or someone they know will be raped, but after seeing this movie I think it helps people realize rape is everywhere. A friend, classmate, or someone very close to you may have been raped and has never said anything because they are scared. Overall, I think this film was incredible and did an outstanding job at indulging the viewer in a topic that needs attention.