i am creating a video montage to be shown in my classes and i need sources of mainstream media depictions of birth. i tried to get the scene from "knocked up", but for some reason it's not transferring over to my iMovie player to be clipped. can you help me think of other contemporary films & t.v. shows i could rent on dvd that show birth in some context? do you know of specific episode titles to look for? some shows i'm considering are: ER, Friends, House and Scrubs. Reality shows i want to use are Maternity Ward & A Baby Story.
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Portland
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Re: birth in mainstream media - videos needed
Mon, June 16, 2008 - 8:23 PMLesse:
ER- birth will almost always be shown as a traumatic emergency
Friends/Scrubs: birth with be a humorous painful emergency to be rescued from in the nick of time
Baby Story: Dude! I was in baby story once (albeit walking around in the background). Seeing as how that was the only episode i watched, it was about some really special circumstances- delivering a child with osteogenesis imperfecta. Definitely *not* a normal birth.
urgh. I'm sorry that's no help, but now that i'm thinking about it, birth is so often used as a comedic device in so many sitcoms that i can't think of specifics (episodes, series). All that's running through my head is the awesome Monty Python clip in "Meaning of Life"
great- now i'll be humming the sperm song for hours. -
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Re: birth in mainstream media - videos needed
Mon, June 16, 2008 - 8:26 PMooh- wait. The same Baby Story clip had a second segment showing a normal hospital birth with a midwife. It was definitely normal for the hospital- pitocin and epidural, but it was an uncomplicated vaginal delivery where the baby went straight to mama's chest afterwards. -
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Re: birth in mainstream media - videos needed
Mon, June 16, 2008 - 11:37 PMi'm not really looking for "normal" as in what you & i know as normal; rather, i'm looking for what directors, writers & producers pass off to society as what birth is - totally sensationalized, ratings-grabbing, screaming, thrashing, doubled-over in agony, doctor-to-the-rescue stuff. my montage so far looks like:
text - "When you think of birth, what comes to mind?... Does it look something like this?"
Cut to Monty Python birth sketch
Fade to Knocked Up birth scene (I had to do a lot of editing to get the story out of the way)
text - "But what does birth really look like?... Would your birth be more like this?"
Fade to a scene from "Gentle Birth Choices", father cries, sweet music
Fade to VBA2C with happy, proud mama who knew she could do it -
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Re: birth in mainstream media - videos needed
Wed, June 18, 2008 - 6:08 PMthat sounds awesome! you really have a great idea brewing! Juno has a decent birth scene @ the end. THere is another show about a birthing center on discovery health.. i think its called the birthing house ive only seen it once (we just got cable this month). Good luck and I think its going to be excellent tool for your classes. When do you start?? and you know im going to want to see the finished product!!
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Re: birth in mainstream media - videos needed
Thu, June 19, 2008 - 7:49 PMI'm guessing most sitcoms and dramas from the last 20 years would have some good "bad" scenes.
And I must say, I loved Miranda's birth on Sex in the City. Very sweet for a comedy, that moment when she and Carrie lock eyes. I had a similar moment with my friend Kari's birth........that eye lock where they need support and your eyes tell them all those things there are no words for.
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Re: birth in mainstream media - videos needed
Tue, July 1, 2008 - 12:47 AMThe first few minutes of the birth documentary Born in the USA show clips of birth in sitcoms like Murphy Brown, as well as footage of "educational films" from the mid-1900's. www.itvs.org/bornintheusa/film.html
