The Healthy Response
I've been thinking about Juno and about Knocked Up, both of which deal with surprise pregnancies and the decision to keep the baby and both of which have inspired the critics to question why abortion isn't examined more closely as a choice in either movie. I haven't seen either one--I just don't get to the movies much these days--so I can't actually judge whether this is true.
But it occurs to me that the problem is that abortions don't make a good story. I mean "Julie found herself pregnant, examined her options, and decided to have an abortion. No one outside her family and the father--all of whom supported her right to choose--ever knew, she went back to school the next day, and while she occasionally wonders what that baby and her life with it might have been, she has no regrets." There's no hook.
This is unfortunate, because I think that's a pretty typical story and one that actually should be told. This is related to the gay-villain problem, I think. "Kyle realized he was gay in high school, came out to his entirely supportive parents, joined the Gay Alliance, had a couple of relationships and a few casual encounters before meeting Jim. They bought a condo together and had a lovely wedding. Both enjoyed professional success, neither succumbed to a tragic illness, and they lived reasonably happily ever after." Not really a movie in that, either.
A friend once sat next to a tv writer on a plane. He talked about his days on the staff of Dynasty and said that the secret to writing soap operas is that no one is ever allowed to have a healthy response, because that kills the story. If everyone always reacts negatively, then the drama never ends. I think of this often, from the comfort of my largely-boring, very happy life, and wonder how to make healthy reactions dramatic, how to tell stories about quiet contentment, how to create positive narratives about drama-free lives. Because those can be just as revolutionary as any shouting in the street and are, in some ways, more symptomatic of the real changes that our society is experiencing. And that's pretty dramatic.
But it occurs to me that the problem is that abortions don't make a good story. I mean "Julie found herself pregnant, examined her options, and decided to have an abortion. No one outside her family and the father--all of whom supported her right to choose--ever knew, she went back to school the next day, and while she occasionally wonders what that baby and her life with it might have been, she has no regrets." There's no hook.
This is unfortunate, because I think that's a pretty typical story and one that actually should be told. This is related to the gay-villain problem, I think. "Kyle realized he was gay in high school, came out to his entirely supportive parents, joined the Gay Alliance, had a couple of relationships and a few casual encounters before meeting Jim. They bought a condo together and had a lovely wedding. Both enjoyed professional success, neither succumbed to a tragic illness, and they lived reasonably happily ever after." Not really a movie in that, either.
A friend once sat next to a tv writer on a plane. He talked about his days on the staff of Dynasty and said that the secret to writing soap operas is that no one is ever allowed to have a healthy response, because that kills the story. If everyone always reacts negatively, then the drama never ends. I think of this often, from the comfort of my largely-boring, very happy life, and wonder how to make healthy reactions dramatic, how to tell stories about quiet contentment, how to create positive narratives about drama-free lives. Because those can be just as revolutionary as any shouting in the street and are, in some ways, more symptomatic of the real changes that our society is experiencing. And that's pretty dramatic.