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Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club
I think it's a holdover from Victorian morality, I believe that they even viewed the term pregnancy as somewhat vulgar, hence 'with child' 'expectant' and other cultural euphemisms (when was the last time you heard the word pregnant applied to the Virgin Mary, for instance?), certainly posh victorian ladies disapproved of being in the state of pregnancy, a very unsociable nine months for the mother. On top of the Victorian aspect, pregnancy opened the door for other possible abuses of the topic (prostitute, unwed mothers, abortions etc) and I imagine they were gunshy on the topic. multiple pregnancies/children was viewed as particularly lower class and usually associated with, gasp, catholicism. Also Actresses didn't want to be seen on screen looking pregnant. I'm trying to think of the earliest (post code) american film with an obviously pregnant character and am drawing a blank.
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