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| - There's the Sexy Discretion Shot, and then there's this. So you're a big-shot Hollywood producer who wants to let his audience know that Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil, but you don't want them to actually see the rape. So what do you do? You put the rape in anyway but you're careful about not actually showing it onscreen. Just how much of the preliminaries the audience sees will be governed by what audience the film makers are going after, or more cynically, what MPAA rating the film makers are willing to take. That said, enough will be shown to make it clear what is about to happen; the rapist(s) will make their intentions fairly obvious in their speech and behaviour, and the victim(s) will make their non-consent equally obvious (a Scream Discretion Shot may be invoked). In works with more gritty realism, violence will be depicted (hitting the victim, knocking her down), and perhaps some of the victim's clothing may be seen torn and/or removed before the action leaves the scene. The audience may even see the rapist unfasten his belt and/or trousers just before the cutaway. The discretion may be achieved by having the rapist take the victim to another room (perhaps a bedroom or some other place with furnishings to facilitate sex, thus being a further indication of coming events). Alternatively, the camera will pan away to another character's reaction or some other view, or the shot will end and another will immediately follow. Because the event is not completely shown, the audience can become confused as to whether the crime actually took place, and to what extent (i.e. whether the victim was also murdered). This can be done on purpose, to instill suspense in the audience, to make them [[Nothing Is Scarier imagine an act more heinous than could ever be shown]], or to subvert this trope and reveal that something far more innocuous, often after a misunderstanding leads to tragedy. This trope also turns up for Black Comedy Rape scenes, and for many modern iterations of Double Standard Rape sorts of scenes (say, when the supposed victim grants consent), because graphically portraying rape as the violent crime it is would undermine those tropes. See also: Gory Discretion Shot, Sexy Discretion Shot, Vomit Discretion Shot. Examples:
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