Condit (1987, 1990) categorized representations of abortions on television into three types: 1) regulatory programs, 2) miscarriage/false pregnancy and 3) pro-abortion. These three types form the norm of generally acceptable abortion themes on television. Women going through abortions were portrayed as having autonomy over their decisions, but were always depicted as having to endure emotional conflict throughout the decision process. Press & Cole (1999) believe a woman’s decision to go through with an abortion and social class codes the viability of their choice.
The authors go on to suggest middle-class women portrayed on television are often shown contemplating abortions under selfish motives for a problem that has multiple solutions. In contrast, lower-class women are depicted as having financial hardship, which is considered a legitimate circumstance for choosing abortions.
I agree with Press & Cole in that abortions on television (and in film) have become dependent on the character’s social class, however, I believe a character’s age equally reframes the viability of choices for abortion.
In the television program Glee, the popular cheerleader Quinn Fabray becomes pregnant and at one point is not sure whether she will keep the baby. Although in the end she decides to go through with the pregnancy, the question of abortion was brought up immediately, without any thought. Also, in the movie Juno, the sixteen-year-old high school character, Juno MacGuff, becomes pregnant. Her first instinct is to visit an abortion clinic but, like Quinn in Glee, decides to go through with her pregnancy. Both characters later give up their babies for adoption. In both situations, it seems as though youth, like financial hardship of lower-class women, is seen as an equally legitimate circumstance to choose to have an abortion.
Press & Cole’s study aimed to understand the relationship between women’s ideas about abortion, the family, and their own identities with television images. Their findings resembled Detweiller & Taylor’s (2003) arguments on the roles of television in that they looked at how television acts as a teacher in both molding social behaviour and reflecting our values in its programs. If television acts to inform us and molds social behaviour, will this result in society adopting an even more exaggerated ageist mentality? Perhaps young characters on television and in film will continue to be portrayed as having legitimate circumstances for abortion because of their youth and this will be reflected in the attitudes of individuals. I believe this would be an unfortunate outcome since every situation is unique and complex and needs to be looked at under its own lens.
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up an obvious but important point when it comes to alternative factors in abortions. Age is a factor that falls close to class and even political views. It affects the decision of those who are presented with this conflict. Yet whether to abort or not, returns back to the class structure that Press and Cole speak about and the Friday Night Lights episode we watched in class. It all comes down to class…whether or not the mother is a teen. As we saw, Mrs. Taylor got pregnant at an older age and still had the baby, whereas if Becky’s mother were to accidently get pregnant, she probably would abort the child due to economic instability. In this case, age is not a factor. Yet what is primarily significant about age is that it determines a different situation. It offers alternatives that are not often considered for adult women such as abortion and adoption. In cases of teenage pregnancies, there is more at stake, therefore the decision is complicated and often makes for good television.
What I find interesting is that the depiction of abortion on television is scarce and the percentages of abortions in actuality are low. Therefore, this can be either read as television reflecting our society, or the influence of television on us. This is the million dollar question; one that Press and Cole are attempting to answer. Is television influencing or forming the moral code in TV watchers? And further more, is their class structure and experience being implemented in their decision making?
What I think television and popular culture does with the issue of abortion is find a level of humanity within the emotions and moral system of youth. They try to make teens understand the gravity of the decision to abort a child, and the mental emotions that accompany the choice. In the case of Friday Night Lights, we have all agreed that the illustration of abortion is an accurate and reasonable one. We can argue that television which deals with issues of abortion are in a way a type of education for dealing with conflicts of teen pregnancy; teaching their audience what options they have and in some cases what they should do.
Hey Vanessa, you brought up some really good points in your post. But I’m going to play a little devil’s advocate here and bring up the point that there is obviously a clear Christian leaning in abortion-themed episodes. As Elona put into question with her response “Is television influencing or forming the moral code in TV watchers?” The answer is yes because in these specific episodes, abortions are portrayed in a primarily Christian perspective. That is, that the seed in question is a living, breathing being and therefore the life cannot be extinguished based on one individual’s mistake, sins, whatever the case may be. Therefore, it is harder for women to undergo this procedure. The biggest example that comes to mind is Miranda Hobbes from Sex and the City. A thirty something, successful lawyer, that just happened to be fairly liberally and highly feminist in nature, happened to get pregnant from her on-again-off-again boyfriend Steve. Immediately her first reaction is an abortion because she wasn’t ready for a child, which is when we hear about her friends who also had to go through with the procedure, but mostly when they were in their teens-20s (ironic? Not really). Miranda eventually decides that she’s an independent who will be able to provide for her child with or without Steve’s assistance. What made this so strange is that knowing what Miranda’s strong character was like throughout the show, it seemed odd that she’d go along with this, which makes me think that the moral code for abortion is well established in media. The ideology is instilled even in the most liberal of characters that if you do have an abortion, you are responsible for taking a life, a murderer, a baby-killer. No one wants to be associated as these typecast but I feel like it’s a social stigma that the Christian church has developed to brand women who do have abortions. It’s unfair and problematic on so many levels. I really think that these harsh associations don’t put into consideration the circumstances, and the reasons why some women have to save a life from a subpar existence, but are unreasonably stigmatized for doing so. The Christian ideology that the seed in question is a living being has infiltrated the minds of a large percentage of the population so understandably it would be hard to grapple with this, even for someone like Miranda who is pretty liberal, relatively atheist and logical. Therefore I do believe that the media is still heavily enforcing Christian ideals so that the viewer at home can also take from these episodes a common belief, and ultimately shape the moral codes and behaviours towards taboo issues like abortions.
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