Rohde, Christine M.

English

Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)

book reviews186             volume 4,  number 2ily for several generations. Using a wooden funnel, she forces the girl to absorb large amounts of fresh cow’s milk, diluted with some plain water. She also makes the girl swallow handfuls of pounded raw millet (tedda). The Tuareg refer to this custom, as well as to the practice of fattening, as “filling” (adanay). In the beginning, the young girl is force-fed until she gets used to it and starts to partici-pate routinely by lying down on her back and pulling her lips wide open. If she resists, the woman should not hesitate to pinch her or pull back her fingers, sometimes even until they break. (Saskia Walentowitz 76-77)Randall and Walentowitz offer distinct, contrary readings of Tuareg wom-en’s power. For Randall, the forced immobility of Tuareg women—an immo-bility that is meant to aid them in maintaining their size—confines them; for Walentowitz, however, this same immobility ensures these women’s centrality to Tuareg social life.This collection of essays offers studies on a wide array of countries: Austra-lia, Central Niger, Ghana, India, Ireland, Northern Mali, the United King-dom, and Tanzania. From these essays one learns that in Tanzania, “when a woman is pregnant, the people around her must pay no attention to her state and, as for herself, the future mother must protect her pregnancy from bad and envious looks, she must not even talk about it” (Mara Mabilia 103). In ironic contrast, the success of the McDonald’s chain of restaurants in India is due, in part, to the belief that food which “is both expensive and American … is perceived as healthy and good for children” (Devi Sridhar 184).While fascinating discussions, these essays do not explicitly address women’s fatness and women’s maternal bodies. Rather, they discretely address women’s fatness or maternal bodies or potential obesity in women and children.Bound by Love: Familial Bonding in Film and Television Since 1950Laura Mattoon D’Amore, ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011.reviewed by christine m. rohdeIn Bound by Love: Familial Bonding in Film and Television Since 1950, edi-tor Laura Mattoon D’Amore playfully dissects the representation of famil-book reviews journal of the motherhood initiative             187 ial bonds and gender roles in film and television. The book comprises three sections. The first section, “Learning Bonds of Love and Nature,” examines domestic representations of love and marriage in Cold War educational films; the influence of the superhuman Wonder Woman on motherhood; the ma-ternal characterization of flight attendants in films; and the portrayal of teen motherhood in popular culture.The second section, “Troublesome Bonds between Mothers and Children,” focuses on challenging relationships between mothers and children. Here, film and television reflect cultural anxiety about women’s changing roles in society and the work place. A destructive parent-child relationship is reflected in the media, as if to warn mothers against securing work outside the home. In one chapter, Sarah Arnold examines the differences between the original Japanese horror film, Ringu, and its American remake, The Ring. Although both films use a similar narrative structure, Arnold probes the differing cul-tural representations and expectations of motherhood. Another chapter offers a historical overview of the representation of Walter and Lena, the “dueling protagonists” of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun.The final section of the book, “Deconstructing Family Bonds for the Twenty-First Century,” explores the friction that develops when families face conflict. Mattoon D’Amore herself, for example, studies the depiction of multi-tasking mothers as superwomen in Heroes, The Incredibles, More of Me, and Nurse Jackie. Later chapters examine the traditional definition of the fam-ily. The television show Supernatural, for example, redefines the traditional nuclear family as a relationship between two brothers. The role of fatherhood is looked at in the absence of a mother in the television show Everwood. In both instances, the loss of the mother figure forces changes in traditional masculine attributes. Lastly, Parenthood represents the “new normal family” on television. The series demonstrates a shift in contemporary family dynam-ics, focusing on support and adaptation over tradition.The Mother of All Pregnancy BooksAnn Douglas. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2012.reviewed by brittany irvineAnn Douglas’s second edition of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books provides a thorough and comprehensive overview of preconception care, pregnancy, 

Bound by Love: Familial Bonding in Film and Television Since 1950

https://jarm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jarm/article/download/37853/34317

Bound by Love: Familial Bonding in Film and Television Since 1950

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)