Babies

[u2roolz]

So how would you define voyeurism?

 

Sandra Bullock adopted a baby from New Orleans, by the way.

 

Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't pay full attention to that because it's not really my business.

 

Voyeurism: a place where one would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

[u2roolz]

This, right here, is what I'm missing. What is "it"?

 

The idea that we're kind of as a universal entity on the fence between being private and public about certain things and not other certain things. As I stated before things dealing with a newborn shouldn't really be for public consumption. And the fact that some people aren't thinking twice about seeing a movie that kind of is an invasion of privacy for these newborns' 1st 6 months on this Earth really bothers me.

 

Take this: I go over to my friend's house who just had her 1st baby. She shows me pictures and is in awe. I'm happy for her.

Scenario 2: I go over to my friend's house who just had her 1st baby. She shows me pictures and is in awe. I'm happy for her. She asks me to get these pictures out to the public and onto the news.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Voyeurism: a place where one would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

 

I don't generally have a very reasonable expectation of privacy when I invite film crews into my home. Do you expect privacy when you invite film crews into your home?

 

If I may be so bold, I will infer what you mean by "it" - the intimate exchanges between a parent and child.

 

You say it doesn't "bother" people, implying to me that you don't think it effects them - that they simply are entertained by it. On the contrary, I think many people understand the level of intimacy on the same level as you, but are awestruck by it. Not only its existence, but the way a camera can actually capture the etheral intimacy that is generated when a child and parent interact in a loving way. I look at many people from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, but the way I look at my girlfriend probably generates something different, even if all my muscles line up in the same way as when I smile at a colleague. Isn't that amazing that we can see that? Isn't that what makes actresses and actors great at their craft, to be able to create that etheral intimacy with another actor or actress?

 

As someone who has never been a parent, being able to see that between a parent and child, which their consent (just like how the participants in this documentary consented) would be magical. I don't particularly want children, and lord knows I won't have them without a lot of intention and money, so to be able to see these kinds of exchanges wouldn't be all that different from me watching a spacewalk; something I'll also never do.

[Guest Speed Racer]

She asks me to get these pictures out to the public and onto the news.

 

Why is this a bad thing, if she consents? Using this hypothetical as an analogy to the documentary confuses the medium and the message. In the first instance, the medium has a message, in my opinion (the message which I explain in my post about intimacy). In the second instance, the medium is the message. These are apples and oranges in my opinion - but I still think there is nothing wrong with your friend wanting to do that (hello, Flickr?).

 

Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't pay full attention to that because it's not really my business.

 

But, if I might be so bold, you intentionally exploited it - which is exactly what you're speaking out against, no?

[PopTodd]

And how do you feel about this...?

[u2roolz]

But, if I might be so bold, you intentionally exploited it - which is exactly what you're speaking out against, no?

 

Yes. I realize that. That was part of the joke.

[Lammycat]

How's the baby (-ies) messed with/harmed by doing this movie and why are the first 6 months more special than any one elses last 6 months. It'smerely a personal preference that you wound't want to put your kid in a documentary. I may not want to, either (though it might have been kind of cool, I don't know). I don't find it cruel or maligned or anything, though (and of course I haven't seen it). Babies are good actors, too.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Yes. I realize that. That was part of the joke.

 

Wow. That's pretty crass.

 

Chances are, these babies will grow up to put themselves in far more harmful situations during their teen/young adult/adult years than this documentary can even hold a candle to. Hell, the kids' first hangovers will hurt them more than having a camera man watch them suck on a coffee table.

[Lammycat]

This film sounds pretty interesting. I hadn't heard of it until this thread. I'm a big fan of documentaries. babies are cool, too. Thanks for the head's up. PT.

[u2roolz]

How's the baby (-ies) messed with/harmed by doing this movie and why are the first 6 months more special than any one elses last 6 months. It'smerely a personal preference that you wound't want to put your kid in a documentary. I may not want to, either (though it might have been kind of cool, I don't know). I don't find it cruel or maligned or anything, though (and of course I haven't seen it). Babies are good actors, too.

 

It turns us all into nosy neighbors, but with a $10 movie ticket.

[Guest Speed Racer]

It turns us all into nosy neighbors, but with a $10 movie ticket.

 

How are you nosy if you're invited? If anything, the viewer is less nosy than anyone in these peoples' lives, if only because the viewer can only digest what the parents consent to them seeing.

[Sir Stewart]

Yay babies!

[marino13]

The problem here is that the babies are defenseless to make that choice for themselves......oh wait, that's an argument to another topic.

[Vacant Horizon]

I am upset at the documentary titled Babies. Do we really need to follow and film 4 newborns first breaths on this planet only to be shown to the mass public for consumption? Where does it end?! Between Kate Gosselin, Octomom & this film it's hard to believe anyone who preaches about privacy in today's public forum. (hey..quit being a baby about it!!)...

 

Plus, they have the nerve to release it on Mother's Day weekend. Seriously some things should be left in private. These 4 babies should grow up and sue the filmmaker and parents for not getting their permission to film them.

 

Edit: We all need to ask ourselves would we allow this filmmaker or anyone for that matter to do what he did to you and your wife/husband and your baby?

 

I hope that Thomas Balmes can sleep at night because I can.

 

Let's objectify our newborns immediately out of the womb because that's what we do best.

 

every time i see a baby on a movie or a tv series i am just floored. anyone who has had a baby would know that many many sacrifices are made by the baby to 'be in a movie'. reprehensible. at the same time, i can only raise my two boys.