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https://theconversation.com/mothers-have-long-been-absent-from-dystopian-stories-maternal-cli-fi-is-changing-the-narrative-232475>
"Writing over 30 years ago, feminist film scholar E. Ann Kaplan famously
described mothers in cinema as “an absent presence” – background figures that
might facilitate the narrative but who are rarely, if ever, its focus.
I am palpably reminded of this watching the opening scenes of Mahalia Belo’s
assured debut feature film
The End We Start From.
Skilfully adapted by Alice Birch from Megan Hunter’s 2017 novella, the film
opens in the bathroom of a London townhouse.
The headless torso of the heavily pregnant unnamed woman (the excellent Jodie
Comer) potters in the background, chattering to her off-screen partner (Joel
Fry). Steam from a running bath slowly clouds the camera lens. The sounds of
rushing water drown the woman out until she is silenced.
The End We Start From is an ecological disaster story set in a near-future
London besieged by floods, so it is unsurprising the film opens with this
watery submersion.
Nonetheless, it is hard not to read the scene as a nod to the long cinematic
history of erasing mothers. Belo sets this tradition up only to tear it back
down in her insistence on viewing the cataclysmic events through the eyes of a
new mother."
Via Muse, who wrote:
"This Christmas an in-law kindly gave me a gift box of two pretty mugs and a
variety of teas. It is completely true that I love tea, and I even collect
teacups upon occasion. However, my tea cupboard is bursting with teas I will
never have a chance to drink before I have to throw them out. I also have many
more mugs than I ever use. Time to quietly re-gift.
My myotherapist is a lovely woman from Britain who married an Australian. She
is currently on maternity leave. On her last day of work in January I brought
the box to give to her. When she opened the package up, she actually started to
cry. She told me that this Christmas people gave her husband things like an
expensive cooking knife set. Not one of her gifts was for her, but for the baby
to come. Mine was the first gift meant for her alone.
This article about maternal cli-fi is genuinely important."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
