From Reddit.

It all started when the OP watched Jurassic World (2015).

I didn't see it, but the fictional mother that OP describes
sounds...pretty weird.

https://www.reddit.com/r/childfree/comments/1er2uyf/how_childfree_people_are_portrayed_in_movies/

Anyway, they're quite right that it makes NO sense for adults who don't
like being around PESKY kids to change their minds and MISS those pests
all of a sudden!

Some comments:


Even_Saltier_Piglet

"Mainstream media promotes parenthood and emphasises the attribute that
CF people have to do more for parents because it's soooo haaaaard on
them.

"Most people love that stuff because they are like that themselves, and
seeing it in mainstream media makes it legitimate."



[deleted]

"The CF (childfree) woman in movies is always a career driven confident
boss babe [think Gabrielle Union in Deliver us from Eva] who is wealthy
but meets a man with kids and realizes her life is actually empty and
miserable and the happy ever after ends up with her becoming step mum to
a brood.

"The CF man? Some old cranky man who yells at the neighbour's kids or a
40 year old virgin still living in his mother's basement."



Mean_Pandaaa

"TV show After Life shows several CF characters and treats them with
respect. I highly recommend it."




Belgand

"The biggest problem is that positive, realistic portrayals of childfree
people in media typically don't bother to even bring the issue up. They
simply don't have kids. They never talk about wanting kids. Nobody
brings it up or harasses them about it. It's a total non-issue that
isn't remarked on at all.

"That means that it's generally hard to point them out as being a
positive portrayal. So it's only the negative portrayals or pro-child
agendas that typically stand out."


BeastKingSnowLion

"While I'm not discounting propaganda reasons, some of the problem is
basic storytelling structure and a reliance on clichés. Basically, (in
the mind of a Hollywood writer or the producer they're paid to please)
there's no reason to bring up a character's child-free status unless
it's going to change or they "learn a lesson" over the course of the
story. Otherwise there's no character arc.

"The real issue is they never think outside the box, like having the arc
be that a character that thinks they want kids realizes they don't. Or
have the nosy character that pesters the CF character about kids be the
one who has an arc and learns to let other people make their own
decisions. But they like their cliché comfort zone..."

_____________________________________________________


Anyway. There IS a way - more than one - to portray childfree characters
in a positive manner.

Think of the 1998 movie "Elizabeth" with Cate Blanchett. (For those who
don't remember, that's about Queen Elizabeth I.)

And here's a thread I started about childfree characters, in 2015:

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.movies.past-films/c/UTIbph8pEuM/m/KdKVJIc3eLwJ

Also, click on "Dismiss" in the upper right corner so you can read the
last lines.

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