The uterus as a narrative space in contemporary cinema from the Americas

Abstract

This thesis examines the uterus as a narrative space in contemporary cinema from the Americas. The thesis offers a timely change in focus for film studies in relation to pregnancy and the female reproductive body as it investigates the overlooked space of the uterus, and speaks to the increasing importance of the critical medical humanities. Through close textual analysis, framed phenomenologically, I argue that the uterus is a distinct narrative space by bringing into dialogue film theory and scholarship on the foetal ultrasound to create an analytical framework, which includes biotourism, collaborative coding, and the notion of ultrasound bonding. The thesis is divided into three main chapters. In Chapter One I establish the uterus as a narrative space in Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007, USA); Maria Full of Grace/María, llena eres de gracia (Joshua Marston, 2004, Colombia/USA/Ecuador); Gestation/Gestación (Esteban Ramírez, 2009, Costa Rica), and Stephanie Daley (Hilary Brougher, 2009, USA) by bringing together Vivian Sobchack’s notion of the screen as premises for perception (1992) and Julie Roberts’ notion of collaborative coding (2012a; 2012b). Chapter Two argues for the existence of a biotourist narrative in The Milk of Sorrow/ La teta asustada (Claudia Llosa, 2009, Peru/Spain); Quinceañera/ Echo Park (Wash Westmoreland, Richard Glatzer, 2006, USA); Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (David Lowery, 2013, USA), and Apio verde (Francesc Morales, 2013, Chile). Chapter Three highlights the transformation of the foetus in Up (Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, 2009, USA); The Bad Intentions/Las malas intenciones (Rosario García-Montero, 2011, Peru/Argentina/Germany); Pan’s Labyrinth/El laberinto del fauno (Guillermo del Toro, 2006, Spain/Mexico/USA); and Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2009, USA/UK/Germany/France) by bringing Janelle Taylor’s (2008) notion of bonding into dialogue with the Marksian recollection-object. The thesis focuses attention on narrative spaces in the body in relation to film form, rather than representations of the pregnant body or the figure of the mother and, thus, differs significantly from other scholarship to offer a bold analytical shift on the subject of pregnancy.