Fannish Friday 5

[semielliptical]

Five times a character's pregnancy created a good storyline.

Comments

[ar]

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.