Monday, November 22, 2010

Knocked Up---10/26/10




Is this film a traditional romantic comedy or is it radical?

Knocked Up is a hilarious film that tackles modern social issues without beating the audience over the head with an agenda. These issues include:

Single motherhood
Pre-marital sex
Pregnancy
Abortion
Marriage
Social Class/ Status
Habitual Marijuana use
Allison is a traditional woman who seems to be seeking a traditional path to marriage and family. Ben us a radical man who does not work, runs a pseudo porn site and who smokes an excessive amount of weed. Allison and Ben’s stark differences in personality and family values eventually cause a riff in their relationship. Allison wants Ben to be more like the traditional man protects and defends his family. Ben at first resists the change, but in the end he changes to become the man that Allison wants.
The topic of abortion is discussed discretely at minimal length when the pregnancy is first discovered. The way it is discussed illustrates the filmmaker’s stance on abortion. The word is never actually used through out the film which suggests that it is never a viable or real option when faced with pregnancy. The different ways that abortion is tackled is telling of Allison and Ben’s socioeconomic class differences. Ben and his father discuss the pregnancy at an L.A. diner. The diner represents their class. Middle class and low status. Ben’s dad supports the pregnancy and never mentions an abortion. Allison and her mom talk about the pregnancy over lunch at a fancy restaurant. This feeds into the idea that Allison and her family are better than Ben and his family. Allison’s mother is unsupportive of the pregnancy. Although never actually saying abortion, Allison’s mother intimates to her daughter to “take care of the pregnancy”. She insists that the “baby isn’t real” because the pregnancy is a mistake. In Allison’s mother’s eyes it would be more socially acceptable for Allison to “take care of it”, than be an unwed single mother. In the end it Allison who makes the ultimate decision to keep the baby. Again this plays into society’s normative view of the mother as the sole decision maker during pregnancy.

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