[Commlist] Push: Childbirth in Global Screen Culture CFP

Push: Childbirth in Global Screen Culture CFP for edited collection

Editors: Amy C. Chambers, Xi W. Liu, Kate Taylor-Jones

Proposals due: 27th May 2022

The act of childbirth is a global experience and yet, on film, it often 
remains hidden behind careful framing and a stereotypical and often 
inaccurate imagination of this event.  Muriel Zagha (2019) notes that 
childbirth ‘remains a richly problematic object for film’ and to date, 
there has been little sustained scholarly attention on this topic.

The experience has for the most part been heavily mediated via the lens 
of cinematic genres, indeed, as Anne Carruther’s (2021) notes there it 
is not really possible to neatly group and locate films that present a 
gynae-narrative once the ‘supporting structures’ of genre conventions 
are removed.

Horror studies has been one area where work has been done on images of 
childbirth and gestation. However, all too often in this genre, the 
pregnant person’s body is positioned as abject and their pain and 
suffering offered up for spectatorial enjoyment.  Pregnancy horror or 
gynaehorror as termed by Erin Harrington (2018), is also explored by a 
number of scholars including Amanda DiGioia (2017), Sarah Arnold (2013), 
Kelly Oliver (2012), and Lucy Fischer (1996).  For the Anglo-American 
comedy genre (examples include Nine Months [Colombus, 1995], What to 
Expect When You’re Expecting [Jones, 2012], Father of the Bride Part 2 
[Shyer, 1995], Knocked Up [Apatow, 2007]), the breaking of water and the 
uncontrollable nature of the gestating/labouring body is seen as itself 
as a comic act. With the exception of Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (2016) and 
Leigh Janiak’s Honeymoon (2014) these gynae-horrors and -comedies are 
exclusively directed by men (see Chambers, 2020). Reality birthing 
programs and documentaries such as One Born Every Minute (2010-2018, 
Channel 4), woman-directed documentary films The Business of Being Born 
(Eptein, 2008), and Birth Time (Hunter, Naylor, and Sutton, 2018) have 
developed the spectrum of the visual of childbirth but it is one that 
continues to enhance and promote the medical model of childbirth.
In comparison, films such as Pieces of a Woman (Mundrucz, 2021), Umameru 
(Goda, 2010), and Roma (Cuarón, 2018) present a vision of ‘corporeal 
normality’ (Carruthers, 2021:2) and woman directors such as Haimy 
Assefa, Naomi Kawase, Luk Yee-sum have sought to approach the topic with 
a more nuanced and interrogative lens. This is alongside fictional TV 
dramas such as Birthcare Center/Sanhujoliwon (2020, tvN) that have 
focused on exploring both pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period and 
The Handmaid’s Tale (2017- , Hulu) that has placed the whole process as 
part of the nightmare of dystopian state power.
This collection will seek to expand beyond mainstream and often solely 
man-directed representations of pregnant and labouring bodies as abject 
and monstrous and/or comic and uncontrollable. We are particularly 
interested in chapters (solo or co-written) that include a global 
perspectives that focus on potential topics such as:
•	Socioeconomics of labour and childbirth
•	Gendered experiences •	Non-binary and trans experiences of childbirth
•	The wider gestational journey and its impact on birth
•	Defining childbirth in the cinematic frame
•	Childbirth and narratives of nationhood
•	The interplay between childbirth and educational policy features

We are especially interested in chapters with a focus on indigenous, 
Latin American, Asian and African experiences to ensure a wider 
understanding of the issues and to ensure a multiplicity of voices.
Initially we are after 300-word abstracts detailing the focus of the 
proposed chapter and an indication of approach and a brief biographical 
note. To ensure continuity and cross-engagement between the works the 
plan is to run an online workshop between all the participants to ensure 
peer to peer learning and development as the project continues.
This project is committed to ensuring meaningful change via a focus on 
decolonisation practices and to provide a safe and supportive 
environment for those working with us. We believe that there is an 
urgent need to amplify and listen to marginalised voices and acknowledge 
the need to develop and explore the wider structures that surround us. 
We wish to firmly state our commitment to supporting the rights of 
trans, non-binary, and gender diverse communities and their experiences 
related to the topic we are working on.
Please note: since we wish to expand the discussion of childbirth beyond 
the narrative of horror, essays that focus on mainstream Hollywood 
examples such as Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, 1968), Demon Seed (Fielding, 
1977) The Brood (Cronenberg, 1979), Alien (Scott, 1979) and sequels, The 
Terror Within (Notz, 1989), Alien Resurrection (Jeunet, 1997), and more 
recent examples like A Quiet Place (Krasinski, 2018) will not be 
considered. Similarly, we will not be interested in chapters where 
analysis relies heavily upon Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection and 
Barbara Creed’s monstrous-feminine and the monstrous womb/matrix.

Please email enquiries and proposals to (amy.c.chambers /at/ mmu.ac.uk) by 27th 
May 2022.
https://amycchambers.com/2022/01/10/cfp-push/


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