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‘Breaking Dawn’ Promises Another Ridiculous Birth Scene
Already makers of “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth movie in the Twilight series, are drumming up interest in what will undoubtedly be a blockbuster. Their focus? The birth scene. Which promises to be very, very graphic.
Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg tells Hollywoodscoop that the scene, which is, as yet, unwritten, will be graphic and intense and probably very bloody. Which? Fine, it’s a vampire movie, I suppose it should be kind of bloody. Plus, artist integrity means they’ll have to stick to the unconventional c-section and all.
But I know I’m not alone in having movie and TV birth scene fatigue. Sure, I love a good, dramatic scene where everyone’s teetering on the precipice of life and death, where emotions run high and time is of the essence. But three very uneventful births in, the more dramatic and life-or-death and screechy a birth scene, the more I’m prone to just laugh and laugh.
And for a movie that gobs of teen girls will see, I wish each ticket would come with some kind of disclaimer saying, “don’t bury the birth scene in the recesses of your mind! It’s fiction! This is now how most (any?) births actually transpire!”
Like any nice, middle-class American girl, I was never witness to a birth until it was me pushing the kid out. How rather uneventful the whole incident was (except for the part where someone hands you a whole ‘nother human life and all). So little screaming. So many hours sitting quietly with my eyes closed. I was even surprised that my head wasn’t drenched in sweat, that I didn’t scream at my husband, that every inch of wall, every thread of the sheet wasn’t covered in blood and other body/baby fluids. After all, I had come to expect any and all of that from the countless birth scenes I had watched on TV and in the movies.
I don’t expect Hollywood to provide us with health class film strips of the miracle of birth, I really don’t. And I suppose anything involving vampires is off the hook as far as reality goes. But I wouldn’t mind more movies and TV shows backing away from the screaming, pissed off birthing mom cliche. It would be nice to see a fictional birth that doesn’t involve gallons of fake blood and the near-death of mommy or baby or both.
Here are 5 movies with totally unrealistic birth scenes.
Which birth scenes do you like? Hate?
[Update]: Corrected to reflect BD is fourth, not third, in the Twilight series.
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Photo: teaser-trailer.com
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10 Comments
[...] Breaking Dawn Promises Another Ridiculous Birth Scene [...]
Labor and Delivery Nurse Confesses Her Rules of Childbirth | Strollerderby commented on Sep 07 10 at 4:34 pmJessiLynn commented on Sep 06 10 at 3:20 pmUm…. Breaking Dawn is actually the FOURTH and final installment of the Twilight Saga….. Eclipse was the third.
Emma Allez commented on Sep 06 10 at 4:49 pmurm… i would normally agree with everything said in this article. Birth scenes these days are just rediculus and nothing like reality. However for this particular movie the birth scene MUST be everything the screenwriter says it will be. This scene is of a Human woman in agony as the half human/half immortal baby inside of her fights to be born. The baby’s Inhhuman strength is breaking her bones and snaps her vertibrae at one point! Edward has to use his teeth to cut through the ‘stone-like’ membrane surrounding the child in order to save them both. Not surprising then that there will be blood, screaming and gore.. In this case it’s part of the original book so I think we can forgive the artists any cliches as long as they put on a damn good show :)
Tea Li commented on Sep 06 10 at 6:55 pmIt’s not supposed to be realistic! If it’s true to the book, it will be about a succubus, like a demon-seed parasite, growing at rapid speed and threatening to devour Bella (who suffers body fractures and unconsciousness in the process). How could anyone think it will be compared to real life??? LOL!
Twilight Fan commented on Sep 07 10 at 3:40 am“It would be nice to see a fictional birth that doesn’t involve gallons of fake blood and the near-death of mommy or baby or both”
No offense, i get your point, but you have OBVIOUSLY not read the books and let me assure you… this birth scene will probably be the most dramatic situation you can ever imagine, and that is how it needs to be portrayed on the big screen.
Bob commented on Sep 07 10 at 5:13 amIt’s the fourth and fifth movie and of course it’s not really she gets turned into a vampire after she nearly dies in child birth how more unreal can u get?
LogicalMama commented on Sep 07 10 at 12:21 pmI think it’ll be great birth control for some of these younger girls!
Huh? commented on Sep 07 10 at 2:01 pmAnd….Bob for the win with the fabulous Twithard portrayal with added points for adolescent indignance, lack of punctuation, and text-speak!
Loud Mama commented on Jun 07 11 at 4:48 pmOk so this movie would have to have a different kind of birth scene to follow the book. But I agree that it would be nice if tv and movie birth scenes were a *little* more realistic. Though I have to say with both my kids I did scream a lot esp once their heads were crowning. A lot. I wasn’t yelling at anyone, just screaming through the push and the pain. Anyway, I really hate when they show ridiculous amount of huffing and puffing. In real life if you did that the way they show it you’d pass out! And while I don’t expect reality in terms of how long labor really takes, could characters maybe push more than twice to get the baby out? I pushed for 4 hours with my 1st kid and 2 hours with my 2nd.
Canuckmom commented on Nov 21 11 at 7:02 pmAnd I thought they DOWN PLAYED the birth scenes in most movies. Mine was more screaming, blood and swearing.
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