Books and book references are all over movies. In fact most of the movies you love are probably the adaptation of the book. Fun fact: The only movie I like as well as it’s book is Anne of Green Gables. Otherwise I think the book is better. This is shocking to no one I know personally.
The following are book and movie things I have read this week, being housebound with a sick kiddo, and the social issues surrounding abortion that kept being mentioned as I made my way though the books/movies. Abortion is a taboo conversation topic in my neck of the woods. I think it should be talked about more; to gain understanding and compassion for one another’s view points. This does not make one popular.
Recently I found a copy of My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel at a High School library weed. (They had already weeded out and offered books to the kids, but still had an entire room full of books looking for a home. Thus they call me.)
My daughter was enamored with the movie Dangerous Minds and she and I have seen it at least 20 plus times. We always laughed at the mention of the book My Darling, My Hamburger and vowed to find it someday. WELL someday finally happened! I read the book fairly quickly in an afternoon. This book was BANNED at my parochial school of course, but was taught in English class at the public school from, as near as I can tell from the stamps in the books, through the 1970s/80s all the way through 2009. The copyright from the book is 1969. The book is a typical high school story for the time. The interesting fact in the story, and what I am sure was discussed, or at least I hope was discussed, is the fact that abortion was illegal at the time of this books writing and during the teaching of this book until it was legal in 1973. I sure wish I could hear all the many discussions this book has witnessed. I wish someone would have left their notes in it for clues. But alas, they did not. The book does not end happy and it is a real take on abortion at the time. An extremely brave undertaking, in retrospect, of my small town to even allow it at the public school. Maybe no one knew. In the movie Dangerous Minds the teacher LouAnne has an abortion because her ex-husband was abusive, it was legal. The book Dangerous Minds by LouAnne Johnson is different than the movie, but the message is pretty similar. She is a strong woman, who has accomplished amazing things with students and her own life. Fun to read both these books this week.
The next book I read, that I found at an elementary school weed, was
A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins
the story of Frances Perkins, an American sociologist and workers-rights advocate who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. What an amazing woman Frances was! I highly recommend reading about her and learning about her life. Quite the woman Frances was. She needs to be celebrated a lot more than she is.
In the movie Dirty Dancing the main character Baby (Jennifer Grey) is named after Frances, and tells Johnny (Patrick Swayze) that she is named “Frances after the FIRST WOMAN in the cabinet”. The name fits her character well. This fact gets missed, a lot. Watch the opening of the film, Baby is READING a book on economic development because she is going to study and major in economics of underdeveloped countries and join the Peace Corp. In 1963!!!!! That’s some girl power. In the movie Baby (Frances) believes she can make the world a better place. She tries to help her new friends at all costs, to solve their problems. She even helps get the money for an abortion, which is illegal in 1963, for a summer dance worker Penny after the boy who gets her pregnant refuses. This story line is way more powerful than the movie gets billed. Baby’s father, who is a doctor, has to fix Penny’s botched abortion to save her life and makes assumptions to what has taken place, and he’s wrong. The judgement of who matters and who doesn’t comes across subtly. Lessons are learned. Baby even learns about herself and her beliefs. The movie is much more than a dance movie. I don’t believe it could even get made today with it’s content, which is unfortunate.
The next book LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST The Lessons We Learned From Eighties Movies (And Why We Don’t Learn From Them Anymore) is a library book I had put on hold. The title of this book is what drew me in! Disclosure: I am only half way through but I am LOVING this book! The reason I write about it now, beofre I finish, is this particular book discusses Dirty Dancing and the abortion factor and woman issues with sexuality and feminism tones. It also lists and discusses other movies with the same issues. Pick up this book, it’s a wonderful commentary on the times then and now. The author is much younger than I was when viewing Dirty Dancing (by a decade) but I love her views on this and all the movies so far. It aligns with my thought and is ending my week with a good read too! The following is a picture of a page, highlighted is a paragraph that had given me pause to think. I also believe this to be true, but I am not popular with this belief. Abortion is a multifaced issue. I believe the facts stated in this book are true for many people and is true for some people I know. It is not true for all antiabortion people. It should still give us pause to look at what we believe. Me personally, being pro-life/prochoice, I see this belief in people a lot….
With the current plan to try to defund Planned Parenthood I think we should revisit what the world indeed was truly like, before 1973. Think about what cost, and how very many lives will be so detrimentally affected by defunding all the free and inexpensive healthcare to keep all women healthy and safe.
Peace.
