What does it mean to take seriously, in our present conjuncture, the thought that cultural politics and questions of culture, of discourse, and of metaphor are absolutely deadly political questions?
-Stuart Hall, “Subjects in History”
"What is at issue here is not, 'What are the facts?' but rather, how are the facts to be described in order to sanction one mode of explaining them rather than another?"
-Hayden White, "Fictions of Factual Representation"
“[D]iscussions of the practice and study of journalism have lost sight of the varied forms through which journalism makes its name. Particular, the communicative role played by journalism has pushed aside both its cultural and critical functions. This has prevented the establishment of a broader understanding of all that journalism does beyond the information relay established via its communicative role”
-Barbie Zelizer, "Journalism, Communication, Culture, Critique"
"Don't start from the good old things, but the bad new ones." -Bertolt Brecht
Post your comments, questions and position statements about the readings and the film The Business of Being Born here.
I was sitting, watching this clip of a predictable yet adorable movie I want to see in the future, when I couldn’t help but notice the final scenes of the clip were about midwifery and a woman having her baby at home. Just like in the article we read about how television portrays midwifes and home births, this movie seems to mock the process and ultimately push the perspective that home births are crazy and odd (the bongo? really?).
This was the clip I didn’t attach:
Wow – Jen. Very interesting. I heard about this film, and it seems like the frames promoted on the 90s and 00s sitcoms are very consistent. We’ll hopefully take a look at this in class.
Sean Kennedy
April 14, 2010
Position Statement
“In these [television] representations, midwives consistently assume an authoritarian persona and are depicted as self- involved, disengaged, unhelpful, and generally mean “caregivers” antagonistic to all family and friends, including the partners of the expectant mother. Though the midwives are not “mean” to the expectant mothers, they also are not particularly mindful of the birthing mothers as active, engaged individuals.”
In this reading, the author takes up a convincing position where television characterizes the decision of using a midwife during pregnancy as irrational and unreasonable. All three episodes researched depicted the relationships between midwives and mothers as impersonal, and midwives are oppressive rather than collaborative. After reading this journal, I feel that Kline has a point. Most television programs do promote the idea of going to the hospital to give birth instead of perhaps giving birth at home. They portray having a baby at home is unconventional and unreasonable. Throughout this class, I have read about cases where people in power of media channels control what is put out into the mainstream public knowledge and public argumentation, which could alter an individuals understanding and point of view on the matter, and this is no different. The television producers, writers, and even the heads of studios are making statements about their positions on certain aspects of life when making a television episode, and in the case of midwifery, they are stating that choosing to have a midwife is the incorrect way to go about a pregnancy. Who is to say there is an “incorrect” way to have a baby though? Is there really a “right” way to give birth? The women are bringing the children into the world, so shouldn’t it be their decision in the way they choose to do so? These comedies that Kline examines are misrepresenting the whole idea of the “midwifery model”, and the people who create these shows should take into account that women all over the world give birth at home, with caring midwives aiding them through their pregnancy, and a healthy baby is safely brought into the world.
The author also provides a research study conducted on the “metasynthesis of midwifery care research found that key themes in women’s discussions of their midwives were that attributes ‘unique to the midwife as a person’ included ‘being non-judgmental, intelligent, and clinically competent…holding knowledge and awareness of her limitations…being compassionate, calm, confident, ethical, and humorous…sharing information, advocacy, and being ‘present’ to the woman when she is in need…experiencing joy in the practice of midwifery’” (Pg. 27). If most women in the real world experience this kind of compassionate treatment from their midwives, then the question I pose is, why must television producers and writers cast such a bad shadow over midwives in their television programs if, in reality, they are kind and caring through the entire pregnancy? Are they just furthering their opinions in whether or not it is more suitable for a woman to seek out obstetricians?
Position Statement- Kline; Midwife attended births in prime-time television
“Most viewers will not have the personal/cultural experiences and understandings needed to resist the preferred meaning offered by the texts. Thus, if these texts are viewed uncritically and the overall narrative accepted at face value, audience members are presented with consistent storylines in prime-time television (esp. in the context of storylines depicting the midwife attended home birth gone wrong) that recuperate the medical model.”
Although I agree with Kline’s overall argument that television often sends one dominant ideology or “preferred meaning” to audiences, I must admit this quotation from the text brings me some hesitation and discouragement. I may not be the best critic considering I had never heard of two of the television shows prior to the reading, but I did do a little independent research to further my knowledge on them. As Kline states, “the shows analyzed are comedies, doubtless the (problematic) midwife representations are a function of comedic conventions. In comedies, character actions are not meant to be taken seriously and shows are funny precisely because characters do silly and absurd things.” I would have to agree that all three of these shows seem to be popular due to their light-hearted and vaguely humorous storylines. Fictional television comedies often play off cultural norms to capture a wider audience by straying away from situations or topics that may be seen as controversial. Considering the years these specific episodes were produced the storylines seem to follow the normative view at the time, that a home childbirth with a midwife is somewhat unusual. For this reason, I feel the texts Kline chose to analyze were probably not the strongest, because audiences most likely tune into these shows knowing they’re not going to be intellectually challenged or informed. Although it could be argued that it is during these times where the underlying dominant themes can become even more concrete and normalized, I do feel for the specific example of childbirth this is not the case. Giving birth is an experience almost every woman will go through and something that is not often taken lightly. Whether it is the search for the right doctor, hospital, or midwife; making decisions on taking medications, having the baby naturally or having a Cesarean Section; taking courses and classes on pregnancy, motherhood, and child birth; or things as simple as figuring out what the best foods are to eat when pregnant, one can see that this is somewhat of a complex process that takes significant time and both physical and mental energy.
When the time comes, most viewers are not going to belittle the childbirth experience by forming their decisions and opinions on a fictional show such as Gilmore Girls. These types of shows are created for a laugh and it is easy to make a joke out of what may be seen as the “rarities” in life; however, I do believe that in the bigger picture if every medium where to be delivering this same message then it would be problematic. In today’s society, we have many other educational sources, which prevent me from seeing how a light-hearted, situational comedy should be solely to blame for following these more “normal ideas.” With access to various forms of media, internet, educational programming, teachers, other people and their experiences, and information in general, I believe people will look to more than one source (especially that one source being a fictional television show) when making an important decision, such as the ways to safely give life to another human. Therefore, I do believe that most viewers have the understanding and intelligence to not accept these types of television shows at face value and to know that they are not primarily produced to inform or educate, but are a source of entertainment for the public. I would hope that anyone going through pregnancy would not reflect on an episode of “Girlfriends” or “Gilmore Girls” when making such a significant decision, but I do see the dangers in the dominant ideology that medical establishments, doctors, and hospitals are the only or most credible, trustworthy sources when there are various alternatives that are crucial to consider. Do people really believe that most viewers will believe what they see on a fictional television show and accept it at face value? Does Kline think people have become that uncritical and passive?
Kimberly N. Kline, “Midwife attended births in prime-time television: Craziness, controlling bitches, and ultimate capitulation”
“In sum, these representations undermine the mid-wife attended birth as an irrational choice, depict the midwife as a controlling bitch, and ultimately affirm the need for the dominant medical model.”
I do agree that television shows such as Dharma and Greg, Girlfriends, The Gilmore Girls, and many other television shows today that are similar to those do represent what I stated of Kline above. No matter who you are, a woman having a baby is going to have desires and concerns on how they would like to deliver their baby. Any person who is going to have a baby wants their delivery to go perfect and have a perfectly healthy child. Though this is not always the case, most of the time it is the case.
Women are shown on television giving birth and they are out of their minds. They are screaming and acting crazy. Television influences both men and women to believe that giving birth is this very dramatic moment. Giving birth is a moment in time where there is nothing like it (in a good way), but it is not the experience that television shows. There is so much more to giving birth then what they show on television. Television often show a woman who water breaks out of know where and it just gushes out everywhere, where it is very embarrassing. The baby is about to come out before the hospital or once they get to the hospital they are screaming out of their minds and cannot take the pain. Then they have their baby or their is an emergency and they do a C-section. For the most part that is not at all how going into labor and having a child is like.
We need to remember that women have been doing this forever and they have been doing it before there was any medicine to help them with the pain or C-Sections. And we are still doing it today. Women were made to bare children and we have to remember that. With so many shows depicting a totally different experience then most giving birth, it is starting to make people believe that giving birth is a dramatic and scarring moment in life. But it really is a beautiful thing and something that is hard to even describe in words.
The idea of how the midwife birth is an irrational choice, and the midwife is a controlling bitch and the ultimate need for the dominant medical model is very untrue as well. There is no truth to that at all. People are uneducated about all the ways and factors that go into having a baby either medically or having a midwife. One way or the other, the best way to have a baby is the way that one is most comfortable with. But that does not mean that having a midwife is irrational, or they are controlling and end up with medical treatment to come in and be the hero. Also, there is much more that goes into having a child in a hospital also. There is a lot of business that goes into having a baby at the hospital and we learned that from the video.
All in all, the depictions that television is making about women having children either medically or with a midwife is not representing what birth is really like. The depictions of birth and having a midwife only occurs when there is an uncomplicated case of pregnancy and this is also not correct. The positive, strong, and joyful way of having a child is being lost because of these television shows (Rooks). So, why is it that as time is changing we are depicting something so beautiful and a miracle to be expressed as something dramatic and not a true representation of how giving birth really is? Does this mean that more and more women go into thinking that giving birth is this dramatic and horrifying event? Even though television needs to keep our attention and when there is drama we seem to like it, should television be more representable in the way giving birth really is? What do you think this says about our culture today?