A Statement About Strange Trends

This is just a quick note to speak about the curious fact that the 3 best films I have seen this year have centered on pregnant women. Not only that, but all three pregnancies are unwanted and unplanned. The fact that all three of these films can also be classified as comedies makes this even stranger.

Knocked Up, the first of these films I saw (first by a scant 48 hours) is of course the Judd Apatow super-comedy that was the perfect piece of counter-programming for the summer of the threequel. The couple do live happily ever after a long and hormonal courtship. The A-word is never mentioned, and actually, neither of the A-words are mentioned; the girl simply has the baby and builds her life around it.

Waitress which came 2 days later is about, shockingly, a waitress who gets pregnant after a bout of drunken (and unplanned) sex with her domineering, chauvanistic husband. While there are moments in this film of jolting poignancy and soul-searching, the overall tone is light and bright, and once again termination and adoption are never considered.

Juno, the third film in this series that I had the pleasure to view this evening, is about a 16-year-old high school student who gets pregnant after her awkward first encounter with the boy who will become her high school sweetheart. Both of the A-words are mentioned, considered, and (nearly) carried out (I'll let you guess which one she doesn't do). While less raunchy than Knocked Up and certainly more intellectual, I would venture to say that this is actually the funnier film.

So what does it all mean? We have three unwanted pregnancies from disasterous one-night stands, three happy (though different) endings, and three fully developed, strong, admirable female characters. Two of the films were directed by men. There is something here about a new-wave of feminist development, the idea that while men are not necessary, when we have a choice they are nice to have, and something about acceptance of new liberal attitudes (the films end with an unwed couple, a single mother, and two happily 'sexually active' teenagers, respectively), but I am just too tired to complete the thought.

More later.