Black Snake Moan
Christina Ricci on Black Snake Moan
"I think there are millions of women like Rae out there," said Ricci. "The link between childhood sexual abuse and promiscuity in women and low self worth and post traumatic stress and low self esteem has been well established. And when I read the script, she was such an honest representation in a way without judgment on that kind of person and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s so great to see someone who’s not sugar coated’ because that implies judgment. Then when I started doing more research about survivors of childhood sexual abuse and really understanding and reading testimonials and statistics and really understanding what she would be suffering from and the pain and fears and anxieties that were really her motivating emotions, I just felt so much compassion for her and felt really compelled to kind of protect her by playing her."
Though promotional materials jokingly read "It's hard out here for a nymph," in reference to Rae's nymphomania, Ricci took it more seriously. "I recognized it because I have read over time and you see a lot about this occurrence, and this sort of phenomena of women being created this way unfortunately and having this be the response to sexual abuse. But then once I started reading about it, because the first thing I wanted to look at was this nymphomania idea and so I did research online and found out that nymphomania is basically a defunct word and any psychiatrist worth their salt will tell you that it basically means nothing now except that it’s a male fantasy. There is sex addiction but nymphomania is really not something that’s really widely used. It’s like calling someone crazy. It doesn’t mean anything really."
The word is even used in the film, but Ricci approached it from a more clinical perspective. "I went back and looked at, okay, what is she probably suffering from? And what she would have been suffering from, what fits the description, post traumatic stress is the thing which best fits what she’s going through. And if you think about it, if she’s a child who everyday is being sexually abused, then everyday she’s living with this dread and fear knowing something’s coming, knowing it’s going to happen at some point. And ironically the only time that she experiences relief or calm is after the abuse has occurred because it’s when at least she can relax knowing it’s not going to happen again until the next day."
That is all backstory to where Rae is in the film, offering herself to men with abandon. "If the only way she ever found relief before was from the abuse, now she’s an adult with this horrifying, crippling anxiety and fear. She’s got to then become almost her own abuser because no one’s ever taught her another way to get any kind of relief or release from her pain. So she creates these situations of degrading, anonymous, painful sex and that’s her way of abusing herself and creating at least momentary relief. And also, when I was reading tons of testimonials, there’s a lot you read expressed by many individuals that they’d rather die than ever be raped again. And so you can kind of understand her saying this is never going to happen to me again and it’s not going to happen to me again because I’m going to do it to myself first."
Black Snake Moan opens to theatres on March 2nd.
For the first posters, trailer and more movie info, go to the Black
Snake Moan Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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