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.
ever.
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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