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June 25, 2019 9:08 AM   Subscribe

"Will it hurt?" You might get a little motion sickness. [Note, dystopian short film, see comments for details/spoilers]
posted by CheapB (19 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
That is not the only sickness.
posted by Imperfect at 10:17 AM on June 25, 2019


I don't love how easily this could be misinterpreted by pro-forced-birth people. "Hey, looks like this would really work! AND it would torture women. Win-win! Let's get right on it." What looks like a terrifying dystopia to us looks like heaven to some folks.
posted by rikschell at 10:23 AM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]


Context please? I'm not clicking it in any case, but WHAT IS THIS, PLEASE?
posted by not_on_display at 10:51 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]


It's a woman who came in for an abortion being forced to watch a hypothetical montage of a perfect family and life with "her" child.

It's horrible. It made me furious.
posted by Archer25 at 10:55 AM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]


I'm putting this in rot13 (copy and paste into rot13.com to decode it)-- yes, it's emotionally stressful to watch.

Vg'f n ivqrb nobhg n certanag jbzna orvat sbeprq gb rkcrevraprq fvzhyngrq zbgureubbq-- fbzr fbeg bs zragny vachg. Vg'f vqrnyvmrq, ohg fur fgvyy ungrf vg.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 10:58 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]


I don't intend to watch the video, so thanks for the description. But what is the motion sickness reference in the post description? Is the video shot POV or something?
posted by acidnova at 11:14 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'm going to be charitable assume this was intended to be a critique of things like those "Fetal Heartbeat" bills currently wending their way (or enacted) through a number of red state legislatures. And that we are supposed to watch and think OMG, how dystopian!

But, I guaran-fucking-tee you that this video will soon be making the rounds in many an anti-abortion website to demonstrate the exact opposite of the film's intention, with the protagonist's ambivalence at the end depicted as a triumph of the very tactics the intended audience is supposed to abhor.

Which is very fucking problematic to me, insofar as it demonstrates a pretty basic lack of judgement on the filmmaker's part. When you set out to create some kind of Black-Mirrorish ambiguity and end up making right-wing anti-abortion propaganda, it might be time to re-examine what it is, exactly, you are trying to do.
posted by Chrischris at 11:26 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]


acidnova, I take the motion sickness as the doctor lying-- like saying "this might sting a little".

A more skillful writer might have a lie with more symbolic significance.

I'm pretty sure the video was intended to be an attack on requirements for women who want abotions to listen to the heartbeat or view images of the fetus.

I have no idea what effect the video will have.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 11:30 AM on June 25, 2019


I thought this was effective and very creepy, and that she incorporated a lot of subtle touches to make the dream-world creepy and wrong feeling. The doctor being so routine about it is part of that, like he thinks people are nauseous because they're motion sick but it's clearly because this is a repulsively disturbing psychological experience.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]


Mod note: I added a note to the post, hopefully that will give people a heads up without putting spoilers above the fold
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]


And for people who are wondering, it's not graphic or gory, instead it's disturbing in a Twilight Zone way.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:26 PM on June 25, 2019


Yeah to me this just comes off weird and more than a little confusing and entirely unhelpful in any way to the pro-choice movement. And I say that as someone who MeFi (quite thankfully) moved me from the other side of the aisle on this issue, many years ago. Meaning, I'm very pro-choice, like aggressively so because I feel I have to make up for the whole time I spent under the mind-fuck that was my ultra right-wing conservative upbringing. Less mind-fucks for everyone please.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:19 PM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]


Eh, one man's mind-fuck is another's thought-provoking. More art for everyone please.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]


Apparently, knowing how to ride a two-wheeler begins at conception.
posted by condour75 at 6:37 PM on June 25, 2019


I'm sitting here seething, for a constellation of reasons.
In my work, when I encounter people making this argument, "children will make your life better / happier / more fulfilling / etc." they are almost exclusively preaching from a position of privilege. In fact, because of this, the "virtual" life depicted in the film must, by needs, begin with an outright lie: "You have a coparent to assist you."
And on this lie the entire narrative is stacked. As it is in the minds of people who advocate forced birth because "oh, trust me sweetie, you'll be happy you made the right choice."
It's arrogant, privileged bullshit.
Add me to the chorus saying that this will be appropriated by the dominionists and others.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:21 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


also for the love of jesus delete your facebook
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


The video really resonated with me. I wasn't going to click on the link, but I'm glad I watched it. Somehow, it was also very cathartic for me. I'm glad it was produced, think it's a great commentary what abortion IS vs what it is perceived to be.

The best thing about art, perhaps, is that what I just watched is a better medium to disentangle the intricacies and nuance behind what I meant in the above sentence!
posted by bindr at 6:10 AM on June 27, 2019


I think that the mention of “motion sickness” was because the woman in the video was in some kind of VR rig - and sometimes people get motion sickness from those.

I’m not labeling this as a “spoiler” because, c’mon - did anyone really need to watch more than 30 seconds of this to figure out what it was about? The most interesting thing about this was that it can possibly be interpreted as supporting either side of the debate.

My own takeaway is that most episodes of Black Mirror are way too long.
posted by doctor tough love at 12:49 PM on June 27, 2019


I seriously believe this video is worth watching. It's no longer on the front page, and I don't feel like I can speak competently on the subject, but from the comments, I almost skipped it, and I'm very glad I didn't.
posted by bindr at 10:40 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


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