Totally Awesome Multimedia Friday

"A romantic comedy about an unplanned pregnancy, an abortion, and a great first date in an unlikely location."

I found this via our Twitter feed -- maybe it was through Pandagon? -- well, can't remember now, but really need to share it around.

You know how Juno was cute and indie and all, and had people talking about real feelings and all that, except there was the weird unrealistic part about a kid deciding to go through pregnancy, labor and an adoption process like it's no big thing?

And you know how Knocked Up probably had no redeeming characteristics AND had the extra kick in the nuts of making boy and girl get together for life over a decision to carry to term a pregnancy that should never have happened? Like, "well this is the parent of my future-child so I guess I'd better get used to seeing his face every morning"? What is up with that?

Over time, these movies and many others have led me to several disappointed conclusions, namely:

• Even though you'd like to see some cute hipsters AND some funny lines AND an honest take on the question of whether to have an abortion, two out of three is the best you'll ever get.
• When you're a movie character, you always have to make decisions that don't make any sense, or else it's not a comedy.
• If you get pregnant, the guy whose sperm's involved will stick around IF you lock him in by producing a real live baby. Well also, sometimes you produce the baby but he doesn't stick around. Idunno, men are confusing, but anyway the main thing is you produce a baby, OK?
• If you DON'T have a baby, it's gonna be morose, trust me. Whether there's a miscarriage or an abortion, the critics will likely use the phrase "a sobering drama."
• Anyway, you can't have a movie ABOUT an unintended pregnancy that ends in abortion, because most abortions are pretty uneventful and over quickly, so the story would be not that exciting and it would never make feature-film length.

Well, most of those beliefs were shattered Wednesday night when I found this video I want to share with you. The only myth still standing is #5, because this doesn't break the half-hour mark. But I can forgive it. The acting and the lighting are just a tad awkward in a few places, but it really picks up around the drum/dance part and I was left completely charmed. It's got humor and a good heart and wonderfully captures some possible major alternatives to the tiny narrative box where we've imprisoned abortion, in both film and cultural psychology (I guess) at large, and it's nice to have even one portrayal like this, you know? Thank you Gillian Robespierre, Jenny Slate, and everyone else involved in making this excellent mini-movie.

Obvious Child from Gillian Robespierre on Vimeo.