[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-150625-en":3,"doc-seo-150625-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},150625,8796096645457,"Arica Lee","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/800003749518d68ffe3?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345340919836971",7,"Healthcare","Birth on Film - Learning, Sharing, Caring","Birth on Film examines how pregnancy and childbirth are portrayed in mainstream cinema, television, and online media, and how these depictions shape expectations, fear, and attitudes toward the medical model. Drawing on commentary by midwifery and advocacy voices and on academic analysis, it traces genre patterns from early 20th-century implication to later horror, sci‑fi, and pregnancy romcoms. The discussion highlights that independent, women-led films and platforms can counter dominant narratives by foregrounding subjective experience, bodily autonomy, and hidden voices, while also critiquing representation through feminist “male gaze” frameworks.","ALL4MATERNITY  \nDescription  \nBirth on Film  \nLaura Godfrey Issacs – Artist, Birth Activist and Midwife at King’s College London  \nHow birth is depicted on film is an important issue – we live in ‘an electronic age’ where pregnancy and birth is represented in unprecedented ways, and few witness a birth first hand before their own labour, whereas nearly all access media images on film.  \nPage 1  \nLEARNING | SHARING | CARING  \nALL4MATERNITY  \nWhen I was working as a student midwife a woman I was looking after, who had a BBA (born before arrival) or unplanned home birth, noted that she did not think herself in established labour – as, in the birth programmes she watched the women were screaming so much, which was not matching her own experience, that she ended up having the baby unexpectedly at home, after which she commented – ‘it wasn’t that bad!’.  \nLesley Page, former President of the RCM, writing in her editorial ‘Birth in the Bright Lights’(2013) suggests how she would like to see modern birth as ‘not just a scene in a hospital labour ward…(but) the start of life and the family’. Sheila Kitzinger (2001) also wrote about how birth is portrayed on film; the sudden onset of labour, the inevitable rush to hospital, followed by screams, pain and a medicalised birth which, she suggested, normalise and encourage women to‘submit’ to this potential scenario.  \nHowever, independent, campaigning films and those produced by women themselves via YouTube and social media, often challenge dominate media narratives about birth and present women’s subjective experiences, hidden voices and bodily autonomy – which, I would suggest, is where we and women preparing for birth should be looking for images of  \nPage 2  \nLEARNING | SHARING | CARING  \nALL4MATERNITY  \nchildbirth – not to Hollywood or mainstream media.  \nThe History of Birth on Film  \nWhilst, in the first part of the twentieth century pregnancy and birth was only suggested in film, not explicitly named – for example in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), by Tennessee Williams, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, in the second half of the century it appeared in all genres of film.  \nMany themes have emerged in mainstream films such as pregnancy horror – epitomised by Rosemary’s Baby (1968) with Mia Farrow, directed by Roman Polanski, and then later in sci-fi such as Aliens (1979) directed by Ridley Scott. Another familiar genre is, The Momcom (or pregnancy romcom) such as ‘The Back up Plan’(2010),‘Knocked up’(2007) and ‘Baby on Board’(2009) . It is widely thought that Demi Moore’s naked pregnant photo ‘More on Moore’ by Annie Leibowitz for Vanity Fair (1991) initiated a time where pregnancy was connected with ‘glamour and desirability’(Hanson, 2004) and ushered in a whole new genre of pregnancy Romcom films.  \nSimilarly, the first birth was only shown on British TV in 1957, variously described as ‘revolting’ and ‘tasteless’, whereas content analysis of American soap operas as far back as 1988 represented eight times the national pregnancy average, and BBC portrayals in 1993 showed a birth every four days (Clements, 1997) . Fast forward to 2018 and we are used to numerous television programmes such as Call the Midwife (BBC 1, 2014) and One Born Every Minute (Channel 4, 2015), and a proliferation of images and portrayals on the internet and social media, from ‘YouTube births’ and documentaries, to campaigns and commercial projects, with birth seemingly ubiquitous on film.  \nAnalysis of birth on film  \nPage 3  \nLEARNING | SHARING | CARING  \nALL4MATERNITY  \nSubstantial content analysis (Morris &  \nMcInerney 2010) and opinion of reality birth programmes suggests they reinforce and normalise the medical model of childbirth, increase fear and provide few positive examples of the midwifery or social model of birth.  \nThis can also be seen in many mainstream film representations, where the narrative often elevates the obstetric discourse and implies that women shoul","cbCaiofORCQWqTez","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiofORCQWqTez","pdf",174225,1,8,"English","en",105,"# Birth on Film\n## Learning, Sharing, Caring\n## The History of Birth on Film\n## Analysis of birth on film\n## The Male Gaze","[{\"question\":\"Why is the depiction of birth on film considered an important issue?\",\"answer\":\"The document argues that many people do not witness birth firsthand and instead rely on media images, meaning film and television strongly influence how pregnancy and childbirth are understood and expected.\"},{\"question\":\"How does mainstream media portrayal affect women’s attitudes toward childbirth?\",\"answer\":\"It is suggested that mainstream programs often reinforce and normalise the medical model, increase fear, and provide few positive examples aligned with midwifery or social models of birth.\"},{\"question\":\"What role do feminist ideas like the “male gaze” play in interpreting these media images?\",\"answer\":\"The document links feminist film theory to how women are framed and controlled in narrative film, discussing how industry structures and representation can compromise women’s power and bodily autonomy.\"}]","Birth on Film - Learning, Sharing, Caring | PDF",1787824031,20,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"birth-on-film-learning-sharing-caring","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/birth-on-film-learning-sharing-caring/150625/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-27",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Why is the depiction of birth on film considered an important issue?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The document argues that many people do not witness birth firsthand and instead rely on media images, meaning film and television strongly influence how pregnancy and childbirth are understood and expected.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does mainstream media portrayal affect women’s attitudes toward childbirth?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"It is suggested that mainstream programs often reinforce and normalise the medical model, increase fear, and provide few positive examples aligned with midwifery or social models of birth.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What role do feminist ideas like the “male gaze” play in interpreting these media images?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The document links feminist film theory to how women are framed and controlled in narrative film, discussing how industry structures and representation can compromise women’s power and bodily autonomy.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,118,122,126,129,133],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},40,"healthcare",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":29,"slug":125},9,"Religion & Spirituality","religion-spirituality",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":29,"slug":128},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":132},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]