It's Always Gerald's Game
TW: discussions of rape, consent and child abuse. Spoilers: Gerald’s Game It took me a while to watch Gerald’s Game . I read the book before I was old enough to fully understand the sexual themes yet it affected me to the point that I avoided the film for a few months after it appeared on Netflix. Fantastical elements aside, this adaptation presents an important issue that is rarely reflected in media: the coercion, power and abuse that takes place within relationships. Gerald’s Game follows a married couple - Gerald and Jessie – who take a trip to a remote cabin. Gerald instigates a sex game and handcuffs Jessie to the bed before having a heart attack and leaving her stranded. The narrative follows Jessie’s struggle to escape whilst trying to survive dehydration, a starving wild dog, a sinister stalker and her memories of trauma. Dialogues around sexual violence focus on the issue of consent, often as a way of determining victim credibility. The judicial system an