Hey World – Ignore Us!

My film is a success around the world — and that’s a problem! “Laboring Under An Illusion: Mass Media Childbirth vs. The Real Thing” was made for North American audiences. But I get mail from Malaysia and Kenya and Kazakhstan, and it’s pretty relevant in those places too. The film includes 100 clips from U.S. TV shows and movies (plus a little Monty Python) contrasted with real births. The idea was for North Americans to see the contrast between the real, the fake, and the doctored “reality” shows, and make up their own minds about what reality they want to relate to. But we export our culture so globally that our overdramatized, undignified, and unrealistic birth images are everywhere. Message to the World: Please don’t trust Hollywood to teach you about your own most profound life and love events, your own body, your own capabilities. Ignore us!

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