The Healthy Response

[lillibet]

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

Comments

[jelazakazone]

Have you read Madeleine L'Engle's Crosswick Journals? I haven't read them all, but what I did read was deeply satisfying. So satisfying, I haven't been back to re-read them because I'm too afraid they won't hold up to more scrutiny. That happens with me and books sometimes. I feel that way about The English Patient and Possession too.

Hmm, maybe The Crosswick Journals are just what I need right now:)

[tcb]

that's a really good point. happy stories that don't involve drama don't make for good film. I'm sure there is an exception or two out there, but even happy stories go through drama before the end.

[lyonesse]

i wrote a werewolf novel about pacifism, basically, and i think the response is "witty dialogue". ;)

[orbitalmechanic]

But that doesn't explain why we don't, for instance, have (many) gay romantic comedies, or movies in which someone has an abortion and it isn't a big deal. If it's not a story, why not just throw it in as a sidelight, like all the people with children or people on successful birth control or successful couples who have other stories.

I think the real problem with both your missing-story examples is that people think they have to be The Story. There's an assumption about what it means to have an abortion or what it means to be gay, and it's a BIG DEAL. Now that I think about it, it's interesting that the pro-gay argument is "this is just another happy couple in love" while the pro-choice argument is a lot more like "you're condemning women to suffering"--something going on there about who gets to frame the debate in the first place. Huh.

[androidqueen]

I think one of the reasons you don't see this (and I've said this before in other places, so pardon me for being a broken record) is because as soon as you add a gay couple or an abortion or, hell, even something so uncontroversial as a stay-at-home househusband, you're making a statement with your movie/play/novel, whether you want to or not. People notice, and suddenly your plot or theme or thing-that-is-particularly-important-to-you has to fight for attention with the fact that someone's gay or having an abortion or taking care of the kids while his wife goes to work. And then people walk away from your movie and say "And what was with that abortion scene? It just seemed weird and tacked on and unnecessary." I think it's really hard to make that *part* of the movie without making the movie *about* that.

[modpixie]

Have you ever seen Hal Hartley's movie Trust? The film is about a high school-aged girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock and struggles with the choice to keep the baby and start a family with another man she knows, or to end the pregnancy. It's pretty compelling and does make an interesting counter to your thesis.