The immediate thought i have when i think of birth is the process and how it is depicted on tv. How painful it truely is, and whether the melo dramtic screaming and panting is truely necessary. What also comes to mind is how everyone describes it as 'beautiful.' As we all know the process is far from beautiful so it must be the idea of bringing new life into the world rather than the excecution that everyone is banging on about. The visual aspect when I think of birth is far from a pretty one. Probably influenced by what I see on tv, I imagine a woman panting with beads of sweat flurrying down her forehead, screaming at her husband and everyone else who is in earshot.
In the age of reality tv I also started to think, will it become part of everyday tv? Todays culture is nosy one. Nothing is too much for us to know anymore, nothing is private anymore. Will we start to see live births? Although we have already started to see it it makes me sad to think thjat nothing is private anymore. With everything from marriages to births being documented on tv and the internet, what are we keeping sacred?
The point about reality TV is an astute one. Just a few years ago you couldn't have imagined that we'd be seeing live births on the TV, but this is exactly what happened in the UK over Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThe way that birth is portrayed in TV drama and movies IS usually way over the top. I personally had no energy to scream and shout when I was giving birth. Besides the nurses in the NHS in Wales would have just told me to shut up.
Emma Smith (Brit in NYC)