Breastmilk!
I watched a documentary, BREASTMILK, on Netflix last week, after my buddy aellwynde mentioned it with her reactions on Facebook.
I almost didn't -- though the topic is one of definite interest to me (and not just because I'm currently a nursing warrior*), it's also a controversial one with more personal emotional punch than I realized until I considered putting the film in my queue.
A few years ago, I unfriended an old friend after an argument over breastfeeding politics turned ugly. It was a dumb thing that shouldn't have happened, and was largely my fault -- I posted a hurtful comment about formula moms that was meant in jest but really wasn't funny. I didn't mean it and I apologized, but unfortunately the issue is so damned volatile, things snowballed and shit happened. It's over and done with, but apparently the idea of revisiting the subject was enough to tweak those old hurts.
I got over it, though, and I'm glad I did, because it was an interesting film. I thought it was well done: I didn't agree with everything that was said, but that's good, really, because the film features a plethora of moms and professionals voicing their opinions and sharing experiences, which of course will differ. As aellwynde said, when I asked beforehand whether the film has an agenda, yes it *does* (long story short: breastfeeding is good, but not always possible, and that's ok, though society doesn't help the situation, and is that ok?), it's a subtle message that comes across in what the filmmakers edited in, because the film actually has no voiceover opinions or narration. Just real people talking, including real moms who could not or chose not to breastfeed, for real and personal reasons.
I'm not going to do an indepth review, partly because I lied - I haven't gotten around to starting my Minecraft game yet, which I really need to do before the baby wakes up - and partly because I think people are either going to watch the film or they aren't, depending on their inclinations. And the problem with films like this, in my opinion, along with similar ones like THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN, etc, are that they are full of great information and arguments that will largely be seen by people who are already informed or leaning towards that argument.
That said, there were some really good quotes in the film that I wish I'd written down, particularly by one of the professionals, a breastfeeding advocate/author, who talks about how the feminist movement pushed against breastfeeding moms, and how the polarizing politics of breastfeeding actively work against the feminist cause -- I thought one particularly eloquent comment that she makes towards the end could be made for the politics of QUILTBAG and race in this country, too. Plus, there's a very amusing discussion about nursing porn and the phallicness of breasts, complete with a sequence of nipples ejacluating to the swell of an opera aria. Hysterical.
Ok. I'mma go play now, for realz. I'll just leave this here.
*Seriously. I feel like my whole life revolves around breastmilk these days. If I'm not nursing, I'm pumping, or sterlizing the pump, or packing frozen breastmilk or shuffling bottles of breastmilk or mixing breastmilk with baby cereal or washing breastmilk out of my clothes. I was literally doing one of the above while watching this film over the course of a few days.
On the brightside, breastfeeding allows me lots and lots of time to surf Netflix.