{"id":390,"date":"2009-11-28T09:53:42","date_gmt":"2009-11-28T17:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=390"},"modified":"2009-11-28T09:53:42","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T17:53:42","slug":"baby-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=390","title":{"rendered":"Baby Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I\u2019ve been trying for some time to track down the new Babies<\/em> documentary trailer, after first seeing it before Where the Wild Things Are<\/em>. I remembered feeling troubled by the way the film other-izes and makes cute foreign lifestyles and traditions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to be curmudgeonly and express distaste for everything, but it feels odd when everyone in the theater is laughing at African and Asian babies (\u201cHa ha, they\u2019re fighting\u201d and \u201cHa ha, they have a goat that\u2019s drinking the bath water\u201d) while the whiter babies are simply seen as adorable, as normal.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t look like this was the intention<\/em> of the film or the trailer, but \u2013 when we\u2019re filming & editing from a westernized position (I believe the film is French) \u2013 these biases arise unintentionally.<\/p>\n

I think the trailer will have to be online soon. In the meantime, I snapped a bunch of pics in the theater as I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox<\/em> as if I were some bootlegger trying to peddle wares in the LA Santee market.<\/p>\n

Check out the contrast in depiction of lifestyles (yes, perhaps this is partly the point<\/em> of the film, but doesn’t it make it even more problematic?). Enjoy.<\/p>\n

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Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3>