personally, i feel it's pro-choice. the characters are never heard discussing the idea of abortion as a moral issue, and the topic isn't even brought up in a shocking way. what mulligan does show is how terrible it is when abortion is carried out under illegal circumstances. the film focuses more on the romance, but i feel if it is saying anything about abortion it's arguing for it to be legal. then again, these are just my first impressions, and i'm pro-choice myself so that could be coloring it a bit. what do you feel the film is trying to say?
I agree that the film is pro-choice (even though Angie doesn't go through with it). I personally think that scene is the best in the movie. The director captures a feeling of creepiness and coldness Angie feels as she prepares herself (or tries to) for the illegal abortion.
I think it's Natalie Wood's finest moment of her film career.
Yeah, I think it would be kind of ridiculous to make the message of the movie a focus on pro abortion. The baby more or less represents their relationship, they can either choose to nurture it and care for it, or kill it altogether and put it behind for, what they first thought, would be a better life.
i'm not saying that the message is even about abortion, which is why i made the point of saying that it focuses on the romance. abortion is, however, a huge part of the film, so i was just asking if people thought the filmmakers were saying anything for or against it.
I doubt the stark depiction of what a woman had to go through to secure a medical procedure was an indifferent choice. Her choices all sucked and they showed that: marry a guy she barely knows or put her life on the line for what could be a safe, swift process.
I don't know that you can label that "pro-choice" per se, but it sure put a dismal light on women's options before Roe v. Wade.
It's never really clear why she does not go through with it.
When Steve burst into that room and saw what that woman had laid out and what she was going to do, he rebelled and told her to get dressed...she refused..until she turned around and saw for herself that it was a dirty blanket and a spotlight..god only knows what kind of infection she would have gotten..then she started to cry when she saw what could have happened to her.
Bear in mind, that's when abortions were illegal! I don't think the film was making a statment about abortions, just that she considered it as a way out of a very bad situation. Many women faced that during those times.
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything!"....
When Steve burst into that room and saw what that woman had laid out and what she was going to do, he rebelled and told her to get dressed...she refused..until she turned around and saw for herself that it was a dirty blanket and a spotlight..god only knows what kind of infection she would have gotten..then she started to cry when she saw what could have happened to her.
For me it was more like she never wanted to do this and all was she waiting for was some good word from the future father of her baby. It was always Rocky who found the doctor, then who looked at the watch...
I agree. I kept getting the feeling by all her looks and stuff that she didn't want to go through with it. She originally brought it up because she was hoping he would assume responsibility and help her with the child. At least that's my take.
Tonight after the showing on TCM Sally Fields said she thought the abortion scene was so powerful. She remembered as a teenager being very impressed by it. Of course it was a taboo subject then.
"intofilm replied Jul 10, 2008 Tonight after the showing on TCM Sally Fields said she thought the abortion scene was so powerful. She remembered as a teenager being very impressed by it. Of course it was a taboo subject then."
I didn't know Sally Field was a fan of this movie. That would explain why she starred in Mulligan's "Kiss Me Goodbye" (a much lesser film).
I don't think the film "feels" one way or another about it. Abortion was still illegal when this film was made, and the Production Code was still enforced: there was no way a heroine could commit a crime and still remain a heroine. Q.E.D. The notions of "pro-choice" or "anti-choice" don't really obtain in this time period--it's an anachronism.
There's no question that abortion is portrayed grimly. The first place they meet, with their $400, looks like the meat-packing district, which makes for quite the meta-commentary. And, as others have noted, Rocky takes Angie out of the abortionist's room when he sees the conditions, and realizes the woman isn't even a doctor. She's a classic back-alley abortionist, the kind that the pro-choice movement has been invoking for 30 years, but the film is merely reflecting reality, not sending a message (in the immortal words of Jack Warner --or was it Sam Goldwyn? Claims vary--"If I want to send a message, I'll call Western Union").
This is hardly the first film to pose this question for a female character. But films in 1963 still had to operate within a specific set of rules, and for a romantic heroine--even in such a dark romance as this--there was only one choice. No one got a happy ending without following the rules.
Good post, klg19..and very well put. The mid 60's was the decade of 'Free Love'..but you had to make sure you used protection if you didn't want to get pregnant. The birth control pill was introduced in 1960...but maybe Angie wasn't 'experienced' yet.,,i.e., maybe she was still a virgin. It only takes once!
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything!"....
The birth control pill was introduced in 1960...but maybe Angie wasn't 'experienced' yet.,,i.e., maybe she was still a virgin. It only takes once!
Just because the Pill was introduced in '60 doesn't mean that every sexually active woman was taking it. The introduction of the Pill was only the beginning of sexual liberation of women. It's taken decades for attitudes to change. There were still strong moral and ethical issues women must have struggled with that many of us today would find quaint and outdated. Just the act of visiting her GP for a prescription would have seemed an admission of shameful rampant promiscuity for many young women. Much the same as today where there are still people too embarrassed to buy condoms, even though they are on supermarket shelves.
Secondly, I think the film made it quite clear that Angie was a virgin prior to her encounter with Rocky. In the scenes in the warehouse where they were hiding from her brothers, Rocky asked why she had slept with him (not in those exact words of course). She replied that it was an experiment, and that it had not gone particularly well. She said in a paraphrased way, "It is not like you read about in books or see in movies. They brainwash you to think there are bells and banjos".
That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets. reply share
For Catholics even today it's as grave a sin to use the birth control pill or any other contraceptive method aside from the rhythm method (and some priests are even against of that one too, since the basic dogma behind the contraception ban is: "be fruitful and multiply", so having sex -or not having it- without the intent of populating the world with more Catholics is against God's mandate) as it was 40 years ago (or 1000 years ago, for that matter). There are still GPs that refuse to prescribe it (even to married women) due to "moral issues". Of course abortion for the Catholic church is a mortal sin, way worse than using the pill, but one is a direct consequence of the other.
Nowadays I'll venture to say that the majority of Catholics (myself included) wish the church would revise its stance towards birth control, and even abortion (I'm pro-choice and a lot of Catholics are)...Some polls say that about 90-96% of all sexually active Catholic women have used some form of birth control *other* than the rhythm method at some point in their life; another shows rhar 82% of Catholics (men and women) felt even in the current state of affairs, you could use birth control and still be a "good Catholic". This even though the Catholic Church has repeatedly stated without uncertainty that the use of contraceptions is a grave sin. The point is now we can openly question the Pope's decisions about how we live our life vs. how we live our faith (and due to that some things are slowly beggining to change e.g. on Nov/2010 Pope Benedict XVI lifted the ban on condoms as a last resort tool to prevent disease) but back then: forget it! That was strictly taboo.
I think the film very cleverly provided enough ambiguity to avoid offending the censors and other people. By not having them discuss the moral issues, they pleased the pro-choice people. And the fact that the couple couldn't go through with it, pleased the pro-life people.
They left it ambiguous why they backed out. The pro-choice people can argue that they backed out because of the safety issues (unclean, possibly unqualified doctor, etc.) The pro-life people can argue that the couple backed out because they just couldn't kill their baby. Natalie seemed to be having second thoughts before she even turned around to see the set-up.
I'm pro-choice myself, but I interpreted it that they just couldn't kill their baby. Not just for moral reasons, but because they had started to get to know (and like) one another better that afternoon. I think for her, it was meeting his parents that made him seem more likable.
Ms. Field referred to this film as a romantic comedy. Not in its entirety! It is two separate films: from the beginning to Angie's declining the abortion, then to Angie's joining Rocky (the one-man band) in the street.
I found the part about pursuit of the abortion frightening. There was not a shred of romance or comedy in that sequence.