Babies - Or Not

Plus Wake Up Dead Man, A Little Prayer, and Train Dreams

Hi friends - welcome to Soul Telegram, a newsletter about movies & meaning from Kathleen Norris and Gareth Higgins. Each week one of us writes an essay and the other shares briefer thoughts, recommending movies that help us reflect on our lives, and may even help us live better. Readers support our work through paid subscriptions, and we’re grateful.

Kathleen Norris on BABIES - OR NOT

The media is full of talk about babies, as most countries have a falling birthrate. In both wealthy nations and poor, the more education women obtain the more they plan their pregnancies, and often they decide to have fewer children. In America right-wing politicians are promoting the idea of the “trad wife” who stays home to care for her children, the more the better. Some governments offer cash incentives and other benefits to women willing to have more children. But they’re also working at cross-purposes, enacting legislation that endangers women’s lives and their fertility..

Dystopian films have been quick to seize on fears about the future of human fertility. In Gattaca society has evolved to favor children conceived artificially through genetic selection, to ensure desirable traits. Children born by what we today would consider normal conception, face severe discrimination, and do not qualify for the most desirable jobs. The movie is an enjoyable thriller about one of society’s genetic rejects (well-played by Ethan Hawke) who, with the help of friends, including a spectacularly self-sacrificing Jude Law, manages to beat the odds and attain his dream of becoming a space traveler.