Maternal readings of pregnancy and childbirth on the small screen [blog post]

Feasey, R (2015) Maternal readings of pregnancy and childbirth on the small screen [blog post]. MaMSIE.

Abstract

Extant literature on ‘reality’ programmes such as A Baby Story (1998), Maternity Ward (2001) and One Born Every Minute (2010- ) make reference to the various ways in which representations of pregnancy and childbirth on television can be seen to either romanticise or demonise the birth experience in relation to notions of authenticity, reality and rigid stereotyping (Maher 2004, Stephens 2004, Morris and McInerney 2010). At a time when women are said to be ill-informed about the birth experience (Maushart 1999) and naïve in relation to notions of age related infertility (Bonifazi 2003), the role and responsibility of ‘reality’ programming might be understood as a key player in educating a future or expectant mother about the experience of childbirth. Therefore, examining the depiction of pregnancy and childbirth in factual and fictional programming is an important part of both media and motherhood studies because the medium has the power and scope to inform and educate alongside its ability to entertain a contemporary audience.

Item Type:	Other
Note:	Full text available at URL above.
Divisions:	Bath School of Art, Film and Media
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2015 23:36
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2022 19:40
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/6016

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