{"id":1518,"date":"2007-06-05T22:15:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-05T22:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/06\/pregnancy-and-the-a-word-at-the-multiplex\/"},"modified":"2007-06-05T22:15:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-05T22:15:00","slug":"pregnancy-and-the-a-word-at-the-multiplex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/06\/pregnancy-and-the-a-word-at-the-multiplex.html","title":{"rendered":"Pregnancy and “the a-word” at the multiplex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Chris Knight<\/a> of the National Post<\/i> notes that three of the top six movies at the North American box office last weekend happened to revolve around pregnant women (and a pregnant ogre).<\/span><\/p>\n

In Shrek the Third<\/a><\/i>, the pregnancy represents a reasonably happy addition (or set of additions) to a reasonably happy marriage.<\/p>\n

But in Waitress<\/a><\/i>, the marriage is a distinctly un<\/i>happy one, and in Knocked Up<\/a><\/i>, there is no marriage at all \u2014 in fact, beyond the original one-night stand, there isn\u2019t even a relationship<\/i> of any sort until after<\/i> the conception takes place. (It\u2019s kind of like a shotgun wedding, but without the shotgun and without the wedding.)<\/p>\n

So why, Knight wonders, don\u2019t the characters in those latter two films give any serious consideration to abortion:<\/p>\n

Consider Jenna, the waitress in Waitress who fumes that she should never drink because it makes her do stupid things \u201clike sleep with my husband.\u201d When she visits the town\u2019s new doctor (played by a nervous Nathan Fillion), he starts to tell her that his practice doesn\u2019t perform \u2014 but that\u2019s as far as he gets, as she tells him she\u2019s keeping the baby. Even though she doesn\u2019t want it and feels no love for it, even though she bakes pastries with names like I-Don\u2019t-Want-Earl\u2019s- Baby Pie, she\u2019s determined to eat healthily, take care of herself and give the rug rat the best start in life she can.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Alison in Knocked Up, who also decides as a matter of course that the baby will be kept. The father, played by Seth Rogen, actually has more of a conversation about the alternative with his pack of stoner friends, but even they can\u2019t bring themselves to say the word, preferring the rhyming term \u201csh-shmortion.\u201d (And note how dismissive that sounds: \u201cWhat do you think of abortion?\u201d \u201cAbortion, sh-shmortion!\u201d)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s instructive that Waitress (PG-13 rating in the U.S.) and Knocked Up (a well-deserved R) can\u2019t ignore the topic completely, but clearly don\u2019t want to say any more than they have to. Human relationships feature few taboos that movies aren\u2019t willing to explore, but abortion is beyond the pale for most.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Knight goes on to bemoan an \u201cabsence of discussion\u201d about this issue \u2014 not only in \u201cmainstream\u201d American films like these, but also in the recent Romanian Palme D\u2019Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days<\/a><\/i>, where a woman apparently seeks an abortion without ever considering that perhaps she ought to keep the child.<\/p>\n

FWIW, I haven\u2019t seen the Romanian film yet, but I think there may be a little more \u201cdiscussion\u201d in the American films than Knight allows for \u2014 and what\u2019s more, I think the films derive some of their power from the fact that they raise the issue and then point beyond it, claiming the thematic high ground as it were. Let\u2019s start with Waitress<\/i> \u2014 and warning, there be spoilers here<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Given that director Adrienne Shelley was, until now, best known for starring in a couple of extremely independent films directed by Hal Hartley nearly two decades ago, it is somewhat funny to hear her movie described as \u201cmainstream\u201d. Suffice to say her film retains some of the semi-absurdist quirkiness that one associates with Hartley\u2019s films, and there are a number of decisions her characters make that aren\u2019t examined in very close detail \u2014 and the fact that Jenna keeps her baby may be one of them.<\/p>\n

But consider Jenna\u2019s declaration that \u201cI respect this little baby\u2019s right to thrive.\u201d If one believes that preborn children have a \u201cright to thrive\u201d, then what is there to discuss? And consider the powerful, transformative effect that the birth of this child has on Jenna \u2014 giving her the courage to ditch her abusive husband and the strength to put certain other aspects of her life in order.<\/p>\n

I do not necessarily assume that Shelley set out to make a \u201cpro-life movie\u201d \u2014 but I do think the film suggests, in its own way, that affirming life in the most basic sense is the key to truly living. (I am vaguely reminded of how, in the 1980s, Woody Allen called himself \u201cpro-choice\u201d yet consistently depicted pregnancy as a hopeful thing and abortion as the death of hope.)<\/p>\n

And now, Knocked Up<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Yes, the father\u2019s boorish buddies come closer than anyone else to using \u201cthe a-word\u201d. But what about the scene between Alison and her<\/i> mother? The elder woman tells the younger one to \u201ctake care of it\u201d, and tells her to wait until she\u2019s ready to have \u201ca real baby\u201d. What a callous line! The reason Alison is so torn up over what to do is precisely because the creature growing inside of her is<\/i> real. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s all that big a stretch to say that Alison chooses to keep the baby because<\/i> she recoils at her mother\u2019s attitude.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not necessarily saying that writer-director Judd Apatow and his team of improvising actors were trying to go all \u201cpro-life\u201d on us. But I do think they were at least finding comedic value in subverting conventional wisdom, here and elsewhere in the film, and if the conventional wisdom happens to be pro-choice\u2026<\/p>\n

There may be movies that merely dodge the issue, but I think these two films do something a little different. Instead of dodging it, they take aim at it \u2014 however briefly \u2014 and then they move beyond<\/i> it. They may or may not be anti-abortion<\/i>, but they are arguably pro-life<\/i> \u2014 and that\u2019s not a bad thing to focus on.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Knight of the National Post notes that three of the top six movies at the North American box office last weekend happened to revolve around pregnant women (and a pregnant ogre). In Shrek the Third, the pregnancy represents a reasonably happy addition (or set of additions) to a reasonably happy marriage. But in Waitress, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPregnancy and "the a-word" at the multiplex<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris Knight of the National Post notes that three of the top six movies at the North American box office last weekend happened to revolve around pregnant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/06\/pregnancy-and-the-a-word-at-the-multiplex.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pregnancy and "the a-word" at the multiplex\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris Knight of the National Post notes that three of the top six movies at the North American box office last weekend happened to revolve around pregnant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/06\/pregnancy-and-the-a-word-at-the-multiplex.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-05T22:15:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RmZTbNjyHYI\/AAAAAAAAAZA\/3QK_gIM2FOI\/s400\/waitress2-a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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