Hiding pregnant bellies
- Thread starter RoJoHen
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Oh, I'm sure sojourner "gets it." It's just that the decision to cast a particular actor in a particular role shouldn't be political. When it comes to the art of acting, there are no groups; there are only actors and roles.
^Who said it was political? I'm talking about giving individual people a fair chance to get the jobs they're best suited for. That shouldn't be seen as political, it should be seen as personal, as about understanding and respecting every person's right and desire to be free from job discrimination.
It's true that on a case-by-case basis, getting the best actor for the role is more important than matching the actor's traits to the character's traits. But for groups that have traditionally been excluded en masse from competing for roles, seeing characters belonging to their minority group played by actors outside that group creates what should be entirely understandable fears that they will be excluded unfairly from opportunities that should be open to them. And that's what makes them uncomfortable, and that feeling should be very easy to understand, whether or not one agrees with the actual casting choice in any single case. My point here is that the feeling that drives these reactions is not some abstract political ideology but a concern for one's very personal livelihood and equal opportunity in a society where equality is still not entirely a given.
It's true that on a case-by-case basis, getting the best actor for the role is more important than matching the actor's traits to the character's traits. But for groups that have traditionally been excluded en masse from competing for roles, seeing characters belonging to their minority group played by actors outside that group creates what should be entirely understandable fears that they will be excluded unfairly from opportunities that should be open to them. And that's what makes them uncomfortable, and that feeling should be very easy to understand, whether or not one agrees with the actual casting choice in any single case. My point here is that the feeling that drives these reactions is not some abstract political ideology but a concern for one's very personal livelihood and equal opportunity in a society where equality is still not entirely a given.
That was actually part of what I found so awkward about it since it was so much of an opposite from what really was going on.
You know, THIS implies that The X-Files' story arc was largely created due to Gillian Anderson's pregnancy.
On Daphne: I didn't much like the route they went with there, I see what they were going for but it didn't add up and didn't they attempt to make Miles look BAD for not recognizing Daphne's weight gain? Isn't that sort-of a GOOD thing to not notice or care about?
But it mostly looked awkward since Daphne was clearly not "getting fat."
On Daphne: I didn't much like the route they went with there, I see what they were going for but it didn't add up and didn't they attempt to make Miles look BAD for not recognizing Daphne's weight gain? Isn't that sort-of a GOOD thing to not notice or care about?
But it mostly looked awkward since Daphne was clearly not "getting fat."
Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's like they were dancing around the issue when it was so obvious to the viewers, hiding it with ridiculous reasons. I wish they had written it into the show, but I do understand why they didn't, in terms of the storyline between Niles and Daphne not being that far along. Still wish they would have found a way.
But they are not excluded unfairly, the opportunities are open to them.
But let's be honest, being deaf doesn't make someone more suitable to play a deaf character. It kinda sucks because it means there are a lot of suitable actors for very few roles but that's just the way it is.
Many in the deaf community dislike being labeled "disabled", so they should stop whining, get in line with everyone else and get the part by having the best audition. You can't have it both ways, if you're not disabled you don't get to benefit from your not existing disability. If it's just a unique language, everyone else can learn and use it in front of the camera.
Hiding pregnancies:
I always thought it was hilarious what happened on "The Nanny" when Lauren Lane was pregnant, being pregnant made no sense for her character so they tried to hide it but Lauren Lane's belly became so huge that it became impossible to hide it. They stopped trying and pretty much filmed her like she wasn't pregnant at all except for one episode where she constantly carried around gigantic bags, framed pictures etc. as a joke.
I keep reading this thread title wrong from the corner of my eye.
I think it says...
"Pregnant Hillbillies"
I think it says...
"Pregnant Hillbillies"
Weird, I keep reading it that way too.
I agree with all of these.The way that Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy was handled by the Angel crew was dreadful; it added another twist to an already convoluted storyline and threatened to turn season four into an absurd and melodramatic supernatural soap opera. The HIMYM way sounds much better.
Recently finished watching season four of Deep Space Nine. So far, I think Nana Visitor's pregnancy was handled very well. They basically utilised it in a positive way for the characters of Nerys and the O'Briens, giving them some nice scenes together, and the in-mythology explanation made a lot of sense in that it addressed Kira's pregnancy without allowing the show to be pulled off-course.
It all depends. If you can hide it, great; I admit I never noticed Roxann Dawson was pregnant. However, this probably can't work on every show - it's harder if the actress is the lead, if it's not an ensemble show, and if she does a lot of physical stuff. For instance, they couldn't just hide Lucy Lawless's pregnancy on Xena, or write her out for a while. They used that the best way they could, to give her a mystical pregnancy and a baby that goes SORAS due to circumstances and has a contentious relationship with the mother. (It's kind of funny to think that Angel later had a very similar storyline for its title character, just with fatherhood instead of motherhood, but obviously not for the same reasons.
)Sometimes it's good to write around it, sometimes to write it in, it depends on how good the storyline is. DS9 wrote in Nana Visitor's pregnancy really well. The X-Files wrote around it and gave us one of the crucial storylines of the show, so Gillian Anderson's pregnancy was a blessing in disguise.
Jane Leeves' pregnancy on Frasier wasn't hidden very well - the storyline was interesting in itself, but that's not how a woman who's just gained weight looks like. It was obvious she was pregnant, despite the fat suit.
The worst was the storyline they wrote for Cordelia on Angel - I know that they had to rewrite the story and change plans at the last moment because Charisma Carpenter didn't tell the producers she was pregnant until she really started showing, but that was really a dreadful storyline. I hate possession storylines, there's a reason why they normally never last longer than one episode. They had an entire season where the most important female character was practically missing and someone else was in her body. What's even sadder is that Charisma keeping her pregnancy a secret seems to have pissed Joss off so much that they wrote her out of the show, and she might not have even come back for a goodbye episode if Sarah Michelle Gellar wasn't busy and couldn't guest star in episode 100 (their initial idea of who should come to tell Angel he's lost his way and should get back on track).
I remember an interview with David Greenwalt where he said she told them before the fourth season started filming, the writers were two weeks into breaking storylines and could have easily changed things but Joss Whedon didn't want to and just tacked on the Jasmine being born thing. I'm pretty sure otherwise Cordelia would have been "Jasmine" with the only other change being that she wouldn't get a fist punched through her skull.
I never heard anyone except fans saying that Joss Whedon was angry at Charisma Carpenter and that's the reason she wasn't back as a regular for season 5, I thought it was a combination of the facts that they had fucked up Cordelia's character, had her and Angel in a quasi romantic relationship in season 3 that they didn't want to continue and had to find money in the budget to pay James Marsters (considering how popular Spike was he probably asked for and got a lot of money). They had effectively written Cordelia out at the end of season 3 with Carpenter playing amnesiac/possessed/comatose Not-Cordelia, so they probably figured letting her go wouldn't change the team dynamic established in season 4 too much.
Maybe it's just me but that makes much more sense than "Joss was pissed!".
I don't know which interview you've read, but I can link you to interviews where they say that they wanted Cordelia to be the big bad and the big fight between her and Angel at the end, but then they had to change the storyline and write the possessed!Cordelia pregnant by Jasmine storyline.
James Marsters being on the show had nothing to do with letting Charisma Carpenter go. At least according to the writers - that's one thing that categorically denied. http://web.archive.org/web/20060108...ub/SuccubusClub_030514_DavidFuryTimMinear.mp3 And if they had such money problems, why would they bring Mercedes McNab and make her a regular, or make Andy Hallett a regular despite his diminished role?
As to Joss being pissed off? Of course they're not going to say that in interviews. But it's hard to see exactly why they would write Cordelia off like that. The idea that they had 'fucked up' Cordelia's character doesn't hold water. They didn't actually fuck up her character except in the sense that she didn't have any agency through most of season 4 and her body was being used by another entity. That should have been all the more reason to bring back the real Cordelia and give her a chance to be do something as herself. The best way to give Cordelia back her agency and strength would have been to have her wake up from her coma and be the one to kill Jasmine. But OK, I like the story about Connor killing Jasmine. It's great for Connor's story. But Cordelia's story in season 4 was crap because it wasn't even her story. Where they really fucked up was leave Cordelia in a coma and kill her off. "You're Welcome" at least somewhat fixed things, but not enough. (And even that might not have happened.)
I thought one of the recent most funniest in your face examples was a few years back on How i met your mother when Alyson Hannigan got pregnant and in one episode entered an eating contest, won and they showed the entire belly
Cobie Smulders was pregnant at the same time.
I thought one of the recent most funniest in your face examples was a few years back on How i met your mother when Alyson Hannigan got pregnant and in one episode entered an eating contest, won and they showed the entire belly
Cobie Smulders was pregnant at the same time.
I feel like I need to go back and watch that part of the show, because I never knew she was pregnant too.
Probably my favourite example of "hiding" a pregnancy. The writing mocked the way pregnancies are hidden on TV shows while having Lauren Lane carry the most gigantic purse known to mankind into the scene and exit it carrying a giant, belly-concealing pot plant.
It's interesting to think about how very different (and IMO, much more dull) The X-Files would have been had Gillian Anderson not become pregnant. I can't immediately find the relevant link but Chris Carter admitted that it directly led to the creation of a large part of the show's mytharc. Very fortuitous for the show, really.
Ah, so that's why Sophie went AWOl that season. I didn't know that.
