Thinking Out LoudEarlier this year the Netflix sensation Adolescence confronted audiences with the darkness of online spaces where young men are exposed to and sometimes radicalised by porn and gendered violence. Striking in this tragic story was innocence lost to online worlds—spaces foreign and inaccessible to parents.
Australian playwright Suzie Miller’s Inter Alia—filmed at the National Theatre in London and now in cinemas—touches on similar themes and is equally disturbing. Rosamund Pike plays Jessica Parks, a Crown Court Judge who juggles work and a hectic family life with manic dexterity. Her courtroom is one of compassion for victims and searing censure of aggressive prosecutors.
But with an accusation of sexual assault close to home, things rapidly unravel.
This play is no picnic, but it does feel like another important warning as to where we are heading. Miller says that part of her motivation for writing the play was the realisation that sexual assault is a community issue, not just a legal problem.
Among a host of concerns raised is that of consent. Consent education in schools and universities has picked up pace recently in response to appalling statistics revealing how frequently even the low bar of consent is shockingly disregarded.
It’s important these discussions take place, but it’s clear that we need something more substantial to guard against harm and to create flourishing, deeply respectful relationships.
On that front, the biblical notion of every person “made in the image of God” and therefore worthy of ultimate care and respect is unsurpassed. Such a commitment to the value of every life means we transgress something sacred when we treat others like objects for our selfish gain. It is both a warning and invitation to never lose sight of the full humanity of all those we encounter.
This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook.