I don't know if I'll have time to do this (or come up with 5), but I'm going to throw out to the audience Piper Halliwell from Charmed. Haters to the left, but seasons 5 and 6 were my favorites.
I like Kira's pregnancy in Deep Space 9--I thought it was a very clever way of dealing with the issue of Nana Visitor's pregnancy without trying to hide it. The scifi setting gave them the opportunity to do something that many TV shows running into that problem can't even dream of doing, and they did it. Which I think is cool. :D
Anne Shirley's first pregnancy, which ended in stillbirth, is one of the saddest moments in the series for me. It's also one of the rare moments where I really liked one of the later books. (My favourite is Anne of the Island, and I'm of the opinion that the books only go downhill from there. I couldn't even get through the ones about her children, last time I tried to finish out the series.)
Harcourt's pregnancy in the Temeraire series was also a good one. I found it entertaining how it all came about, and it bought some time in the spotlight for an aspect of aviator culture that I find really, really interesting, namely the problem of succession among Longwing captains. Which isn't really a problem, but the culture surrounding aviator culture on all sides makes it into one? And the fact that parts of the pregnancy put captains of active dragons out of commission for some time--especially if, like Harcourt, the delivery is difficult and dangerous. Which, considering that we're talking about the Napoleonic Wars, isn't a rare occurrence. I wouldn't be surprised if childbirth was scarier than battle for a lot of the women in the corps.
I don't know that Meg's pregnancy in Little Women created a superawesome storyline, but without it, the scene where they surprise Laurie with the twins wouldn't exist. And that one is just really cute. D: There's a passage near the end of the story with the twins' thoughts on their aunts, particularly Aunt Dodo (Jo) and her professor friend, which I think is cute, too. There's some terrible "tonstant weader fwowed up" type writing, but it was the 19th century. You sort of have to accept that.
I like Sophie's pregnancies in the Aubrey-Maturin books (I wish the books were all about Sophie with occasional reference to Jack, instead of the other way around, sigh), too. And The First Four Years is my third favourite Little House book after These Happy Golden Years and Little Town on the Prairie. And part of that is reading about Rose and then the little boy who died. D:
My fandoms tend toward books more than movies, and I think that makes it easier for me to think of good examples, because in general, I think books often handle pregnancies much better. Books in a series, probably less so, but bad pregnancy plots in TV shows are usually desperate grabs for attention or poorly-planned workarounds for a pregnant actress, and there's not nearly so immediate a need for anything like that in a book.
Here, some more uses of pregnancy that I think are effective, with the caveat that my list of fandoms tends to look like a Yuletide fandom list all the time. So I count things without much of a fannish presence among capital-F Fandom in journal-based communities.
• Maude - now that I've thought of it, probably one of the most effective instances of all time. How many times do you see people complaining that in fic, all pregnancies seem to end with keeping the baby? Maude, meanwhile, goes straight to "How would I feel about myself if I got an abortion?" • Rosemary's Baby - I'm resisting the urge to add good movies about pregnancy, but this is pregnancy as a means to an end, so I think it qualifies. • I Love Lucy - I'd happily argue that the episodes about Lucy's pregnancy are among the best in the series. • The Dick van Dyke Show - Without which the episode where Rob's convinced they took the wrong baby home would never have happened. • Downton Abbey - It complicates Mary and Matthew's relationship, adds interest (for me, anyway) to Cora, and allows for a really good, poignant look into who O'Brien is at her core.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 02:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 08:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 03:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 04:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 04:39 pm (UTC)Anne Shirley's first pregnancy, which ended in stillbirth, is one of the saddest moments in the series for me. It's also one of the rare moments where I really liked one of the later books. (My favourite is Anne of the Island, and I'm of the opinion that the books only go downhill from there. I couldn't even get through the ones about her children, last time I tried to finish out the series.)
Harcourt's pregnancy in the Temeraire series was also a good one. I found it entertaining how it all came about, and it bought some time in the spotlight for an aspect of aviator culture that I find really, really interesting, namely the problem of succession among Longwing captains. Which isn't really a problem, but the culture surrounding aviator culture on all sides makes it into one? And the fact that parts of the pregnancy put captains of active dragons out of commission for some time--especially if, like Harcourt, the delivery is difficult and dangerous. Which, considering that we're talking about the Napoleonic Wars, isn't a rare occurrence. I wouldn't be surprised if childbirth was scarier than battle for a lot of the women in the corps.
I don't know that Meg's pregnancy in Little Women created a superawesome storyline, but without it, the scene where they surprise Laurie with the twins wouldn't exist. And that one is just really cute. D: There's a passage near the end of the story with the twins' thoughts on their aunts, particularly Aunt Dodo (Jo) and her professor friend, which I think is cute, too. There's some terrible "tonstant weader fwowed up" type writing, but it was the 19th century. You sort of have to accept that.
I like Sophie's pregnancies in the Aubrey-Maturin books (I wish the books were all about Sophie with occasional reference to Jack, instead of the other way around, sigh), too. And The First Four Years is my third favourite Little House book after These Happy Golden Years and Little Town on the Prairie. And part of that is reading about Rose and then the little boy who died. D:
My fandoms tend toward books more than movies, and I think that makes it easier for me to think of good examples, because in general, I think books often handle pregnancies much better. Books in a series, probably less so, but bad pregnancy plots in TV shows are usually desperate grabs for attention or poorly-planned workarounds for a pregnant actress, and there's not nearly so immediate a need for anything like that in a book.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 02:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 11:15 pm (UTC)• Maude - now that I've thought of it, probably one of the most effective instances of all time. How many times do you see people complaining that in fic, all pregnancies seem to end with keeping the baby? Maude, meanwhile, goes straight to "How would I feel about myself if I got an abortion?"
• Rosemary's Baby - I'm resisting the urge to add good movies about pregnancy, but this is pregnancy as a means to an end, so I think it qualifies.
• I Love Lucy - I'd happily argue that the episodes about Lucy's pregnancy are among the best in the series.
• The Dick van Dyke Show - Without which the episode where Rob's convinced they took the wrong baby home would never have happened.
• Downton Abbey - It complicates Mary and Matthew's relationship, adds interest (for me, anyway) to Cora, and allows for a really good, poignant look into who O'Brien is at her core.