I hated the 40 year old virginmistercreepyJune 16 2007, 17:57:39 UTC
and loved Knocked Up, so now I guess I've become its defender. It's funny, as a guy, I had a lot of trouble with Apatow's portrayal of "guy issues;" now, I should say unsurprisingly, I find all these women are having trouble with his presentation of "lady problems" (I put them in quotes b/c the problems are actually genderless and shared but anyway).
I see what you're saying. And I think the film does give somewhat of a sense that abortions are something shameful that white people do to preserve their pride and lifestyle. The way Alison's mother talks about her half-sister (btw) certainly lends itself to that interpretation...
I guess maybe because I'm a guy though I didn't read the scene exactly as you did. I read the scene as Alison's first realization of the real pain that pregnancy would bring as her first important decision. And my sort of backing, I guess, for not reading it your way is my reading of their decision to have the child as not particularly... noble, I guess? It's extremely messy.
Nowhere in the film are we given the feeling that we should be feeling as Alison's mother does, and she's the one who feels that way about abortion. I think it's clear from both Ben's and Alison's scenes/reactions that the idea just confuses them...
I guess I didn't feel like abortion was being villified but the mother for being uncaring and unsupportive of her daughter. Maybe because I already bring to the table supporting pro-choice, the scene just gave me sympathy for Alison as she did not have a good support system in her mother.
I wrote about the movie in my journal if you want to check it out. Including a part that pissed me off too...
It is a deeply flawed movie, but sometimes you have to love those anyway.
I see what you're saying. And I think the film does give somewhat of a sense that abortions are something shameful that white people do to preserve their pride and lifestyle. The way Alison's mother talks about her half-sister (btw) certainly lends itself to that interpretation...
I guess maybe because I'm a guy though I didn't read the scene exactly as you did. I read the scene as Alison's first realization of the real pain that pregnancy would bring as her first important decision. And my sort of backing, I guess, for not reading it your way is my reading of their decision to have the child as not particularly... noble, I guess? It's extremely messy.
Nowhere in the film are we given the feeling that we should be feeling as Alison's mother does, and she's the one who feels that way about abortion. I think it's clear from both Ben's and Alison's scenes/reactions that the idea just confuses them...
I guess I didn't feel like abortion was being villified but the mother for being uncaring and unsupportive of her daughter. Maybe because I already bring to the table supporting pro-choice, the scene just gave me sympathy for Alison as she did not have a good support system in her mother.
I wrote about the movie in my journal if you want to check it out. Including a part that pissed me off too...
It is a deeply flawed movie, but sometimes you have to love those anyway.
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