Hollywood Gets Pregnant

In a scene near the end of "Knocked Up," the new film from writer/director Judd Apatow, an E! network executive comments to one of the main characters that "pregnant is in." The same could be said for Hollywood these days, with two feature-length comedies revolving around pregnancy -- "Knocked Up" and Adrienne Shelly's "Waitress" -- released within a week of each other in early June.

[Spoilers to follow]

Both movies explore the comedic possibilities of [unwanted] pregnancy: the not-so-subtle arrival of morning sickness, those uncomfortable encounters with gynecologists (or gynechiatrists if you prefer the lingo of Knocked Up's stoner posse), and, of course, the moment of birth itself, which can at the same time be scary, revealing, funny, empowering, and disgusting. Apatow and Shelly both conceived their films in the wake of becoming parents -- in fact, it's hard to imagine a bachelor such as Seth Rogen, star of "Knocked Up" and himself a screenwriter, dreaming up a movie populated with gynecologists, ultra-sounds and baby books. But even as this personal thread binds the two movies together, it also explains their divergent endings. While Allison and Ben of "Knocked Up" reconcile and ultimately "rear" their child together in unmarried bliss, Shelly's heroine and waitress of the title, Jenna (played elegantly by Felicity's Keri Russell) rejects both her abusive husband and her gynecologist-turned-suitor in order to raise her daughter alone. This crucial difference is reflected in the final frames of each movie -- Apatow ends with a montage of Allison, Ben, family, and friends celebrating their daughter's birthday, Shelly with the image of Jenna and her daughter walking together down a road until they disappear into the horizon.

Is this difference indicative of some fundamental divide in the way men and women view relationships, or is it merely a function of plot differences and artistic decisions? I'd wager a little of both, since the decisions a writer makes about plot direction ultimately boil down to the statement he or she is trying to transmit. Through this lens, "Knocked Up" is mostly a comedy about an immature man's struggle to grow up (despite its significant commentary on marriage), similar to Apatow's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." As in "Virgin," the main character can only achieve happiness when he realizes that his relationship with a woman (and his need for such a relationship) outweigh his own selfish pursuits; he is forced to make sacrifices to find what is truly important in life, as if this were the only option. While much of the humor and candor of "Knocked Up" is cutting-edge and exciting, its conformity to the three-act structure of romantic comedy (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl) leaves something to be desired.

"Waitress," on the other hand, presents a more feminist and less formulaic take on the romantic comedy. In this film, Jenna is the undisputed heroine -- a smart, talented, and compassionate woman striving to be independent and creative despite her marriage to Earl, the abusive and jealous husband whose overprotectiveness stems from a profound lack of self-esteem. Her strength comes not from the men in her life, but from her love of life and creative spark -- she funnels her emotions into the myriad of pies she invents, with names like "Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser Pie" and "Earl Murders Me Because I'm Having An Affair Pie." When Jenna admits to Earl that she's going to have a baby, his immediate response is fear at the prospect she might grow to love the baby more than him (apparently he's oblivious to the fact that Jenna already hates him). In the end, Jenna rejects both Earl and her doctor-suitor in effort to live with fewer complications. The message is clear: the love between Jenna and her daughter is enough to sustain them without the added presence of a male figure.

One commonality in these two films is that neither seriously considers abortion as an appropriate option for terminating unwanted pregnancy. That's not to say that abortion doesn't come up; both women are presented with the choice, but in both cases abortion is stigmatized either through the commentary of supporting characters (like Allison's mom) or in the protagonists' own mind (Jenna). Granted, neither of these movies is about abortion (which would quickly lead the plot to a dead-end); still Sandra Kobrin, a commentator on Women's Enews.org may be on to something when she comments that Apatow managed to turn "abortion into the "A" word, in league with the "N" word and other epithets so taboo as to be bracketed off from regular speech." At best, the stigma both films attach to abortion reflects conservative values, which the creators may or may not have intended.

Even though "Knocked Up" failed to break with convention in the same way as "Waitress", it should be noted that these films were primarily designed to entertain, and in this area both succeed admirably. Each is a laugh-out-loud comedy that creates a community among theater-goers, producing as the credits roll a moment of anticipation bordering on applause. Births are moments of happiness, and ending a movie with one is upbeat regardless of who ends up raising the child.

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Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed, and acted in "Waitress" was tragically murdered on November 1, 2006, even as her film was being accepted to compete in the Sundance Film Festival. The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, founded by her husband Andy Ostroy, seeks to help young female filmmakers fulfill their dreams by providing them with some of the opportunities Shelly was lucky enough to have. For more information, or to make a contribution, click here.