Last year I saw three movies with the same antagonist, the "uptight" upper middle class white mom. Seeing them in temporal proximity brought the theme to the forefront of my mind and for some reason, I started ranting about it to my friend today. The movies are American Beauty, Spanglish, and Radiant City (a "documentary.") Each of these movies focuses around a particular family and in each, the uptight, controlling mom is portrayed as the cause of the stress the family is experiencing. I know blaming the mom is hardly a new theme in American culture, but this is demonization of a specific type of motherhood. I can understand the urge to critique the style of parenthood that involves living in lifeless suburbs and shuttling your children from one activity to another in your over-sized minivan, but can all this dysfunction in American culture really be placed on the shoulders of middle-class soccer moms?
Although I'm not a film scholar, I am very tempted to write seriously on this theme, because I'm convinced that suburbia has negatively affected women and children to a greater extent than men, but moms in particular are often portrayed as the driving force behind the current configuration of suburbia. The writers of these screenplays might want to read some Dolores Hayden, to learn a little more about the relationships between gender, housing, and family life.
My question to you, dear readers, is, "Can you think of any other movies critical of suburbia and motherhood?"
Possibilities:
the wife in The Truman Show
Claire Wellington in The Stepford Wives (2004 version)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
When did middle class white mothers become the bad guys?
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Moms, give yourself a break
I love Shannon Hayes recent post, "Homespun Mom Comes Unraveled." Shannon's story was featured recently in the New York Times. Reading these articles got me thinking about the discussion I witnessed last weekend at a screening of The Business of Being Born. Moms are so hard on themselves and each other.
The Business of Being Born is the brainchild of Ricki Lake. Apparently Lake wasn't satisfied with the birth of her first child in the hospital and sought out midwives and home birth for her second. She became somewhat obsessed with the topic, attending conferences and reading all she could. Rather than become a midwife, she decided to enlist the help of a friend, who happened to be a filmmaker. During the filming her friend gets pregnant and has to decide whether to go with a home birth or not.
I enjoyed the movie itself. Some of the statistics and historical footage of hospitals from the early twentieth century were shocking. I didn't realize what the standard procedures in most American hospitals were. The movie is definitely pro-midwife, but I thought did a fair job of being open minded.
On the other hand, the post film panel turned fairly quickly towards accusations and judgment. I don't know if the phenomenon is exaggerated in this time and place, but the pressure to be a perfect mom is on. For whatever reason it was amazingly easy for the discussion on the pros and cons of home birth to turn nasty. Home birth advocates are often highly judgmental of anyone advocating painkilling drugs. One the other hand, doctors are often dismissive of the risks of caesarean sections. According to the documentary approximately 1/3 of the births in the US are caesareans, a much higher rate than an other industrialized nation. The US also has extremely high rates of death and injury to both mother and baby in comparison to most industrialized nations. What's not clear, is whether one factor causes the other, or whether they are both simply the result of a substandard health care system. The movie also implies that in most European countries normal births are supervised by midwives and the outcomes for mother and baby are better. Again, the two things aren't necessarily causal, but it's certainly something to consider.
I haven't had a baby (yet) but the wisest advise I heard during this discussion was for women to share their birth stories with each other. Women have wildly different experiences of labor. Some women have massive orgasms while giving birth, most don't find it so pleasant. When I asked a friend about her experience of having her first baby at home she said, "It was the hardest thing I have ever done. It was like climbing a mountain." I can sympathize, having done some mountain climbing. I'm familiar with the feeling of just putting one foot in front of the other, taking it one step at a time, the entire time thinking to yourself, "I can't do it, there is no way I can do this, I have to stop." Only with a baby you can't just stop and turn back around. The funniest part of the movie was the film a New York midwife giving birth, the entire time whining and whimpering that she couldn't do it.
Many home birth advocates love the book Spiritual Midwifery, a classic from the heart of the counterculture. While I'm fascinated with the birth stories and the gumption of the midwives, I'm not sure the tone of the book is entirely helpful. Denying the fact that labor hurts isn't going to reassure expectant mothers that they can deal with labor. Passing judgment on anyone who decides to get an epidural isn't going to improve things for mothers and babies. On the other hand, the movie pointed out that most labor room doctors have never seen a birth without drugs. Many new moms don't seem to understand that having a caesarean section is major surgery. It's risky. The second or third caesarean is all the more risky.
Useful information about the risks and benefits of various choices is helpful. Declaring one way of giving birth is the only "right" way, no so much.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Joss Whedon, a Writer Before His Time
Beorn and I have been watching lots of Sci-Fi since we no longer have cable. Giving up on broadcast TV (including cable) is a relief. I know lots of people enjoy their TiVo, but that's one area in which I don't feel the need to be surveilled. Now I'm watching the occasional new episode online and mainly relying on our extensive video collection. Recently we re-watched the entire FireFly series and Serenity. When FireFly was first broadcast in 2002 I wasn't a big fan, but after five years the series has grown on me.
In 2002 FireFly's western setting appeared strange, in my mind consigning it to B-movie land. For whatever reason I couldn't get past the mixture of space travel and the wild west. Fast forward to 2007 and the mixture doesn't seem so strange. Considering the recent surge in science fiction and fantasy TV series, Firefly's eccentricity seems less geeky and more visionary.
Once you get past the strangeness of the western costuming (I used to be a costumer for a community theater company, so costumes are important to me.) the characters are just as challenging and fascinating as those from the more widely appreciated Buffy. Like the new BattleStar, Firefly deals with challenging, relevent themes, like what happens to veterans after the war is over and the freedom to be unhappy.
The special effects rather than distracting from the story, either through their showiness or amateurishness, are almost invisible, a natural part of the world. Characteristic of Joss's world, the female characters break out of stale stereotypes. Kaylee, the ship's mechanic, manages to be girly, sexy, and a mechanical genius all at once. The character isn't tough or boyish because she has mechanical abilities and although she sometimes displays little-girl characteristics, she's not asexual as female geeks are frequently portrayed.
If there is anything to find fault with in either the series or the movie, it's that the male characters are less interesting than the females. At times the men seem flat and predictable in comparison. (Also the naming of the series, which rightly should be called, like the movie, Serenity.)
If you haven't watched these sci-fi classics, or were turned off five years ago, I highly recommend you take a second look now.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Halloween plans
I'm still not back in the swing of things. My blogging is still terribly irregular. Beorn is strangely interested in attending some sort of Halloween party. Too bad we don't have time to get together costumes or figure out where to go that we won't stand out as super old and square. I want him to dress as Hagrid, because he's perfect for it. One year I made him a Wizard of Oz themed costume, the gate guard for the Emerald City. He wants to dress as Hagar the Horrible.
I have also had an idea for a Halloween movie fest. One of my college roommates had us all watch two movies about the summer in Switzerland that inspired Mary Shelly's Frankenstein: Haunted Summer and Gothic. Apparently since then there has been another version made, "Rowing with the Wind," starring Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley. I hate Hugh Grant, so it's probably delightfully terrible.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Married Date Night
Beorn and I have been having a little bit of a difficult time. We have our ups and downs, both of us being in school at the same time is very challenging financially. Beorn tends to retreat into the computer and online gaming. Last weekend, after some complaining on my part he made an effort to spend time with me and have a "date night." We went to sushi and then rented movies. Sunday night we watched "Little Miss Sunshine." I think it is now on my list of the best movies ever. It's been a long time since I laughed that hard. If you have seen it click below for the rest of my review, if you haven't, then go rent it right now!
The thing that I loved about the "talent show" scene was the way that it played up the double standard in America about little girls and sexuality. According to the pageant organizers it's OK for little girls to be sexual as long as they are emulating the proper role models.
I love this video, where the cast talk about working with the little girl, Abigail Breslin.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Harry Potter and the Suspension of Disbelief
Today my dear friend Trillwing pointed out something very interesting about Harry Potter. So here is the question...Why does Harry Potter wear glasses? If you can transform someone into a cat, wouldn't it be fairly simple to fix the shape of their eyes?
In response to this I thought that certainly Harry Potter fans must have thought of this and explained this plot flaw. As the story line of Galaxy Quest points out, fans often have the important details of fiction worked out more clearly than the stars (or writers) do.
So here are a few quotes from The Leaky Lounge...
"why doesn't Harry or a better witch at charms or transfiguration, just say, "REPARO!" and fix Harry's eyesight!!!"
"I've actually wondered about this too - I mean Hermione fixed her teeth didn't she? And yet, it always seems there are things in the wizard world that just can't be fixed with magic. Also, I believe Arthur, Dumbledore, and Percy (?) all wear glasses, so maybe its not that simple."
There are also some interesting speculations about the symbolic meanings of Harry's glasses and the possible plot significance of the glasses. I'm still not satisfied with any of the explanations.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Cat Blogging
Drinking: a brazen hussy ala Dr Brazen Hussy
Watching: (sadly, there's nothing on) National Treasure
Playing: The Lord of the Rings Online (we gave up on WOW a few months back, which explains the lack of gaming related posts. Now LORO is in beta, giving us a chance to take up gaming again.)
Cats: super cute
The Princess
BOC (big orange cat)
Type your summary here
Type rest of the post here
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The Golden Compass as a movie?
The meteoric rise of cgi has resulted in the making of many of my favorite books into movies. At times I'm not sure how to feel about it. Kermit pointed out that photos and clips of "The Golden Compass" are online.
Without giving the story away, it's the first book in Phillip Pullman's trilligy, His Dark Materials, which tackles some very heavy themes including death, sacrifice, the human soul, and the role of God and the Church in oppression. According to the BBC, "Pullman acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy tells of a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God." That is some pretty heavy shit for a movie that will most likely be marketed to children and families.
I'm not sure how I feel about this story becoming a movie. It could be done so poorly. Pullman is an atheist and a strong critic of C.S. Lewis' stories The Chronicles of Narnia. Personally I liked both series.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Movie Review: Bridge to Terabithia
In case you haven't seen it yet, I must warn you now, Bridge to Terabithia is not at all the movie that is portrayed in the TV previews. It's not a bad movie at all, just not what the previews promise.
I remember reading the story as a pre-teen and being struck by how sad it was, but there is no hint of that in the previews. I didn't want to spoil the story for you, but it isn't something I would want to take a child to unaware.
I would classify the story as part of the tradition of literature called Magical Realism, which blends aspects of fantasy and realism. In this particular story the realism hits rather hard at times. When one is expecting a straight forward fantasy story ala The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, sudden realism can be quite a shock. Apparently the book is often censored by parents when read in elementary school classrooms. I'm not saying that children shouldn't read it, it's just that parents should have some warning that their kids might be upset and need to talk.
On the positive side, the characters are much more multifaceted than are common in children's movies. Bullies and neglectful parents are not shown as one dimensional villains, but real people dealing with life in imperfect ways. To their credit, Disney created a movie that stays fairly true to the book, but why their marketing people then strayed so far from the mark in creating the previews I can't understand.
