What It Was Like Then
Frankly, I expect more.
I live in Sun City Center, a large retirement community in Tampa Bay, Florida. Granted, we’re in a conservative region, primarily Republican voters. But technically, it is at the outer edge of the Bible Belt, whose feathered border is considered “somewhere near Orlando.” Progressive ideas would be more welcome here. Or so I thought.
Continue reading “More Nudity, Not Less”In Don’t Say the A-Word! Part I, I noted that most mainstream films skirt the abortion issue entirely. Only a few recent films have handled this topic realistically, reflecting what young people face when confronted with unwanted pregnancy.
How the film Juno dealt with the abortion dilemma was, unfortunately, typical. For unstated reasons, the filmmakers embraced a conservative, Right-to-Life theme, but they wrapped it in a palatable breezy style. It was an immediate hit and won two Academy Awards.
On cable TV, however, the issue seems to have more latitude. Creators have handled it in various ways, from a progressive female empowerment perspective to a more understated, middle-of-the-road style that some maintain is “balanced.”
Here are some TV episodes where makers have confronted abortion directly and created realistic, even poignant drama. Sometimes, it’s subtle, sometimes powerful, and once in a while, it’s straightforward. Nonjudgmental even.
• Scandal, ABC, Season 5, Episode 9 (“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”)
• Orange Is the New Black, Netflix, Season 3, Episode 10 (“A Tittin’ and a Hairin”)
• You’re the Worst, FX, Season 5, Episode 3 (“The One Thing We Don’t Talk About”)
• Degrassi: Next Class, Netflix, Season 3, Episode 5 (“#Preach”)
• Jane the Virgin, The CW, Season 2, Episode 17 (“Chapter Thirty-Nine”)
However, such portrayals don’t appear often. While these shows may have liberal slants on abortion, they are the outliers. In Season 2 of Syfy’s Resident Alien, town mayor Ben Hawthorne’s wife Kate thinks she’s pregnant, and knows Ben’s ambivalence about it. Although this produces tension between them, never once do they consider abortion.
Why couldn’t they have written dialogue like this?
“Bad news honey. I’m pregnant.”
“Well, that was unplanned. Let’s get an abortion. You on board?”
“Yup, sure am. We can’t afford a kid right now.”
“Get your doctor to give you a prescription for one of those abortion pills. The. . . the . . . what-d’ya-callthems.”
“Mifepristone. Perfectly safe and effective.”
“Good. Let’s get it done tomorrow.”
“I’m on it.”
“Oh, and bring your insurance card to the drugstore. That way we get it covered.”
“Uh, honey?”
“Yes?”
“Slight problem.”
“What?”
“Remember when I told you I’d just started working at Hobby Lobby?”
Two episodes in Season 6 of Showtime’s Shameless (Episode 2, “#AbortionRules” and Episode 6, “NSFW”) (Not Safe For Work) do confront abortion head-on. But the way they handle it is not what you’d expect.
It’s complex. Nuanced even. For details, watch the following video.
The formula for popular culture to be popular hasn’t really changed much in eighty years. What drives audiences and critics to rave about and recommend movies is influenced by the obvious (stardom, publicity buzz), but just as much by hidden forces and unacknowledged agendas. Continue reading “Don’t Say the A-Word! Part I: Juno”
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