I was reading about the pregnancy article that was posted last week below the homework and it got me thinking about the movie knocked up and how it represented femininity and a woman's body image.
As most of you may know the story goes as follows, Seth Rogan goes to a bar meets Kat Heigl, gets her pregnant and comedy ensues. Society has told us that it is frowned upon by men and women to have children when they aren't married. Most often this is because of financial stability, as well as having a stable home with both parents being there to support the child throughout it's life. I on the contrary know many people close to me that have been born, or had children with out being involved in marriage, and while I do not wish to embark on that part of my life, one with out a wife, and two, for a long time, I feel that it is built solely on the character of the ones who are having the children, not merely on being married or not. That being said, I feel that the movie depicts the better side of having a child with out being married, and I feel that it makes a mockery of modern societies views on how a pregnant woman should feel about her body.
First off the movie has the roles of how society says a man and woman are "supposed" to act switched. Seth, takes almost the passive role in the relationship while Kat takes the role of the power position, having a steady job. This is a very modernistic view of a woman, as opposed to the earlier definitions from the 20's-60's provided from readings we did in class. Secondly, it makes fun of how society looks at a pregnant woman, and their weight gain. Kat works for E! and is scared to tell her bosses she is pregnant because she feels they will fire her for her larger image. Later in the movie there are many comments about losing weight and becoming "tight" as they put it.
Overall, I believe that this is a direct play off of what magazines and various types of media with in our society tell us looks good. What do you all think about this movie's view points on birth before marriage, Seth and Kat's relationship, and a womans image through pregnancy.
I think this was a really great movie to relate to the pregnancy article. I agree that the gender roles were almost reversed in this movie with the female role having a good job and the male just sitting around smoking pot and watching porn all day. I also think that these roles are accepted in our society. If I decided as a woman that I wanted to sit around and get high and watch porn all day and do nothing productive, I would be frowned upon. When I hear about guys doing so, I just laugh and think "eh, thats a guy for ya". As much as the media gives men the strength and power, they sure expect less out of them than they do women.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the article about pregnant women and their bodies, I guess I had never looked at it that way. I get so excited when I know people who are pregnant. I always run up and touch their bellies and I had never looked at that as kind of invading their personal space. I do think that it makes for more personal conversations as well. The other day I was talking to a family friend who is pregnant and asking about breast feeding vs. formula and how being pregnant makes her body feel. I never thought about how personal these conversations must be for the pregnant woman.