May 9, 2014

Foreign-body birthing movies.

Not familiar with the “foreign-body birth” genre? Well, I kinda coined the term to write this, but it refers to any movie where a woman (or theoretically a man, but it's Mother's day folks!) is forcibly or corrosively impregnated by an alien/robot/demon/were-kangaroo, carries the fetus to term, and births whatever creature results from the coupling.

Now that you're familiar with the genre, I'll tell you: Never, in the history of cinema, has there been a compelling reason to show a foreign-body birth on film. Never has anyone I know ever exclaimed: “Oh my god! The birthing scene though! So amazing right?!”

What's that? A “foreign-body” birth is necessary for your story? Well, go right a head and put that in there if it helps you tell your story. But for the love of everything not cringe-worthy; do not show it on screen.

No one want's to see them.

They're uncomfortable, they're 100% not needed to convey ideas, and they're usually written by men. Men don't have a natural fear of giving birth like women do, and I get the curiosity to explore things you'll never be able to tangibly experience. Toying with biology is common place in storytelling, but seriously, really, truly; we do not need to see a non-human creatures coming out of a vag.

And, while we're on this topic, we don't need rape in movies either.


So, how about we spend this Mother's Day examining how amazingly disrespectful it is to force things into or out of vaginas. It's degrading to not only to the women on screen, but the people involved at all points of the creative process. There are better ways to convey pure evil, helplessness, power recovery, inhumanity, et. al. without relying on these tropes, so let's keep them out of our pop-culture. Let's do it for our moms, sisters, wives, neighbors, co-workers, and audience members at large. Let's do it not just because it's the right thing, let's do it because there are far cleverer ways to convey these ideas.

Happy Mothers day! And if you don't celebrate greeting card holidays, happy birthday to everyone born in May, including my mom!

-Colette



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