Tuesday, June 1, 2010

still seeing it everywhere (the power of I.F.-dar)

As I've mentioned before, once you've been inferile you develop IF-dar. The ability to recognize unspoken infertility in others.
Usually I use my IF-dar powers on those around me, always being careful to keep my ideas to myself(and Mr. S)... However, sometimes the IF-dar comes into play with media.

Mr. S and I have actually had time to watch a few movies in the past few weeks! This is amazing, as usually, between dinner, getting Acorn to sleep and my own need to get to bed early to deal with 2 wake-ups a night, we barely squeeze in one tivo'ed show.
In the last two weeks, we've watched: Away We Go, Up and Julie and Julia. Each one had infertility referenced, two in very subtle ways.
I won't go into the plots of the movies, just the IF specifics.

In Away We Go, their Montreal friends are dealing with repeated loss. Mr. S said it would've been really hard to see/hear the man's speech about feeling helpless, if he'd seen it while I was p.regnant with Acorn.
In Up, the loss is subtle. During a 'their life together' montage, Ellie agrees with Carl that she sees baby clouds, smiles and nods her head. He gets a smile on his face. We see a scene where they are painting a nursery, and then her crying in a doctor's office. Mr. S said to me, "Is that the first mis.carriage shown in a cartoon?"

In Julie and Julia, we see Julia Child wince as a baby carriage goes by. Mr. S and I knew immediately why, and that idea was confirmed later in the movie, when she received a letter announcing her sister's pregnancy. She cried and cried, saying, "I am happy, really!"
Oh, how so many of us know the "really, I am happy" crying.
Anyone know any other movies that deal, subtly, with IF? (I mean where it isn't the focus of the movie/show, as in ones where IF sucks but the characters so often get pregnant or adopt fairly easily?)

3 comments:

  1. I have only seen Up out of the movies you listed but I asked my husband too.. "did we just see a miscariage in a cartoon?

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  2. I thought the same thing Mr. S did about "Up". The movie reminded me so much of dh and I and my fear that we will not have a family of our own. It's movies like these that hint at how our world has changed.

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  3. It's funny where you see things, isnt it? Other things that non IF-ers never see.

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