Motion Graphics

The Mystery of Victim Blaming

The idea for this short film was derived from two incidents that happened in June 2015 in Taiwan: one was the dust explosion at a “Colour Party” that caused the death of 15 young people and left many others injured, while the other incident was a rape case at a university due to excessive alcohol consumption. In both cases, there was a strong tendency especially on social media to also blame the victims for what had happened. The film “The Mystery of Victim Blaming” deals with this very phenomenon of misplaced criticism. In impressively illustrated images full of evocative metaphors, the film takes the example of a rape case to shed light on the psychology behind such judgmental behaviour and shows how traumatic such additional stigmatisation is for the victims. The aim of the film is to sensitise the public to this phenomenon in order to stop people from commenting in such a critical manner both on the Internet and in real life.

Statement by the Jury

This film generates attention for the still little acknowledged issue of victim blaming. The film approaches this issue through wonderful, symbolic images, which – at a closer look – are as simple as they are multilayered and transcendent, explaining the deepest human motivations behind such behaviour and, at the same time, making clear how devastating such comments of blame are for the victims. “The Mystery of Victim Blaming” is beautifully made and leaves a deep impression.

Red Dot: Best of the Best