[ SECRET POST #2254 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2254 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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15. http://i.imgur.com/Kvb5F08.png?1
[family guy (?), warning for cartoon rape]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 058 secrets from Secret Submission Post #322.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[intrigueing]

You'd rather a character get a baby -- which 80% of the time ruins the character, if not the whole show -- and massively, completely change her character forever, rather than have her go through a few silly scenes for a few episodes? You sure about that? I'd vastly prefer the goofy holding big bags and stuff. It's actually kind of fun to watch them try (and always fail) to hide it, IMO.

[(Anonymous)]

Yup.

I mean, sometimes the bump-hiding is done in a way that's funny. Like when Lauren Lane was pregnant on The Nanny, they went so over the top because the trope of hide-the-bump is ridiculous and made it really funny. (she randomly held a poster for a new musical and in big words it said "BABY!" in case you hadn't known it already)

But other times like... When Alyson Hannigan was pregnant in an earlier season of HIMYM, there were just some... weird framing shots that took me out of the show. Huge bags, she held a "30!" decoration in front of her during Ted's birthday party on the roof... I mean, with that, they could have introduced an interesting storyline about pregnancy when one person is working and the other is out of work and they're living in an enormously expensive apartment in NYC while struggling with debt incurred by Lily. (I think that was when Marshall was out of work, and that's why he wanted to jump across the roof...)

[(Anonymous)]

You know it's weird. I didn't even notice the pregnancy at the time. I mean I knew something weird was going on in the back of my head but when I looked up why she disappeared for a couple episodes I had to rewatch them because I couldn't believe they'd snuck it by me. And then they did it again with Robin!

[nomorenoodles.livejournal.com]

No, Marshall had a really well playing job at Goliath National Bank at the time. He was unemployed the season before that. He just wanted to jump across the roof because, well, it's Marshall.

[(Anonymous)]

I loved the way the West Wing did it. Margaret was just randomly pregnant for one episode. That's it. The characters would ask about it, but no one had an answer, except a vague thing with Josh going 'I didn't know she was married...?' and getting a look before going 'Oh, right'. Intimating she was gay and a surrogate for someone.

Then NOTHING MORE is ever said about it and the next time she shows up, she's not pregnant.

[(Anonymous)]

what even is this comment.

"Ruins the whole show"? "Massively, completely changes her character forever"? I guess I forgot that pregnant women and children are demonspawn from the deepest pits of hell.

Or maybe you're just a gigantic asshole.

[(Anonymous)]

character =/= actress

a character who would never have a child suddenly having a child out of fuckin nowhere would, yes, ruin the whole show, genius

[otakugal15]

We get your hate for Bones.

*clings to Brennan who is still amazing despite having a kid now*

[intrigueing]

Nah. But it's a sad fact that most TV writers are morons who can't handle a pregnancy storyline in a remotely competent way. I'm just going by statistics here.

[(Anonymous)]

oversensitive much?

and no, that's not what they were saying

[greenvelvetcake]

Having a baby is kind of a big deal to most people. Having responsibility of a whole other human being can change a person.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it just ruins them.

[kallanda_lee]

Yeah, it sort of does...unless they find clever ways to get the baby out of the way like Xena, or Angel.

Obviously it depends on the show, but a baby on a show that is more action or plot-oriented is a bit of a disaster. I mean, unless you want you character to come across as a shitty parent, you need to write some interaction with the kid, and that will generally already really impact storylines. Plus the baby bits are just really boring to people not interested in babies.

Often Hollywood has a hard enough time writing women, let alone mothers. Sadly oftentimes "mother" becomes the most significant characteristic of a female character after she's given birth.

[(Anonymous)]

You thought what they did with Connor on Angel was clever? ...Seriously? That was one of the most gut wrenching and unnecessary plotlines I've ever seen.

[(Anonymous)]

Same anon, I thought of something else. I mean, it's also more interesting to me to see how people deal with an unexpected pregnancy. Most shows I watch, there's a lot of "We're going to have this baby because we planned for it" and I just don't think that's how it goes most of the time IRL, you know? It might change some attitudes IRL to see people dealing with pressures of unplanned pregnancies.

You're right that 80% of the time the writers are like "BABBY?! HOW DO WHAT NO I UH BABY DOES THINGS?!" but if they COULD roll with that kind of punch more often I'd like to see what they could do with it.

[(Anonymous)]

Same. The only example I can think of rn is Bones, but I thought her pregnancy was handled quite interestingly and appropriate for her character. Also I like her being a tough mamabear.

I kind of side-eye people who think a pregnancy will ruin an entire show. Though I guess if you hate babies it would ruin it for you. YMMV

[(Anonymous)]

I mentioned above that I adored In Plain Sight's handling of this, from the discovery that Mary was pregnant, to her honest exploration of adoption - and the fact that she ultimately rejected that part due to very in-character control issues - and the time we got to see her with the baby. There were work-life balance issues, but given that she basically raised her own sister, there was no 'how do I be a mom' flailing.

[hwc]

Talking about holding big bags and stuff.

[kallanda_lee]

That's glorious.

[(Anonymous)]

Surely that's not so much a feature of pregnant characters in and of itself as it is of showrunners writing pregnant characters badly?

[intrigueing]

Yup, exactly. TV writers generally suck at writing pregnancies and don't seem to realize they have to sustain this character arc for the female character in question for as long as the baby is alive. Unless they go the "convenient miscarriage" route.

[kallanda_lee]

Yeah, same. I sort of liked how they handled it in the X-Files back in the day, with Scully being missing. It wasn't perfect, but man I'm so glad they didn't bring in a baby at that point.

[charming_stranger]

Yeah. I didn't know at the time that Gillian Anderson was pregnant, and it never occurred to me that she might be. And the narrative worked just fine.

[deadtree]

the reactions to your comment here are so weird ._o I'm reading it like "baby shows up = show becomes about baby, dnw" rather than some kind of commentary on RL mothers or whatever. Which I totally agree with! Because either the baby becomes a central part of the show (which is almost never handled well unless it was planned out carefully... which isn't usually the case when it's the actress who decides to get pregnant and not the writer), or it shows up and then is never mentioned again.