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.

Never,

never,

never,

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

Tim Kincaid and the Kansas City Trilogy.

It's easy to write off artists who's work doesn't live up to the cultural standard of “good”. But, quite often, you find amazing things when you investigate those creating off the beaten path. Tim Kincaid does not disappoint in that arena.

If you're not sure who Tim Kincaid is, we completely understand. Most of his film career he wrote-directed porn films under the name Joe Gauge but, for a brief stint in the late 80s he made seven fantastically bad straight-to-video genera movies. Breeders, Robot Holocaust, and Mutant Hunt are some of his better know written-directed works, but he's also responsible for Necropolis and Enemy Territory (the only movie to star Ray Parker Jr.) as a result of his producing. His movies were shot with almost no budget, contain spectacularly awkward performances, have production levels impossible to recreate while trying, and perfectly incapsulate the singular time in history where most of the country was simultaneously frightened of and intrigued by New York City; and so far, we love them all!

Though, as bad as they are, all of these cult classics retain their popularity today regularly selling for $80 on VHS, when you can find them. But despite all this, Tim Kincaid's legacy does not lie outside his porn stint.

    

In the early 70s, when the longstanding gay male stereotype in porn (and the rest of cinema) was “effeminate” city-living men, Tim Kincaid made porn films about blue collar workers hooking up in working class settings. His portrayals of gay men as people from all walks of life, influenced a generation of people. As a result, the “Kansas City Trilogy" is Tim Kincaid's true legacy. He makes porn again today, and he discusses some of the modern “taboos” he's breaking in this great interview with BUTT magazine . He also talks about making the Kansas City Trilogy and leaving porn to do “mainstream” work while he and his wife raised their sons (one of whom now makes soundtracks for his porn flicks).

All these discoveries have made us extra excited to watch a Tim Kincaid classic on the big screen. Come see it with us this weekend after a lovely Mother's Day dinner!

Breeders, Sunday May 11^th (Mother's Day!!) @ Theaters at MOA $5, 7:30