It’s All in the Delivery: Pregnancy in American Film and Television Comedy

Comedic films and TV series have long been an avenue to explore controversial topics. This brilliant book by Sturtevant (film, Univ. of Oklahoma; Hysterical!: Women in American Comedy) examines how pregnancy has evolved onscreen. From early, euphemistic representations—cue the stork—to the landmark pregnancy of Lucille Ball, Murphy Brown’s unmarried pregnancy, and perceptive takes on adoption like Juno, Sturtevant draws correlations between the way these approaches have affected the national conversation around women’s reproductive rights. She discusses a broad range of films on infertility, from the stereotypical Baby Mama to Private Life and its realistic look at the struggle to conceive or adopt. The stigma around abortion appears in 1916’s Where Are My Children??, but a 1972 episode of the TV show Maude, films such as Obvious Child and Unpregnant have recently tackled the topic. Ali Wong and Amy Schumer incorporated their pregnancies into honest, riotous standup acts. Yet, while comedies can subvert expectations, American content still favors white representation, holding to implied commentary that reinforces cultural stereotypes.