Stating the Obvious

categories, My Life

“You know what I haven’t seen in awhile?” I say to Bryan. “Fight Club. I love that movie. Let’s rent it.” Bryan heads to the video store and returns with the movie. As we’re watching, I realize that momhood has ushered in a new era of overreaction to bloody images.

Me: Whoa! Oooooo.
Bryan: …
Me: Jeez! JEEZ!
Bryan: …
Me: This is violent.
Bryan: It’s not called Cuddle Club.

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1,364 thoughts on “Stating the Obvious”

  2. I can relate. When my daughter was a few weeks old, I tried to watch “Kill Bill” and was only 10 minutes in before we had to switch it off. Luckily, the extreme sensitivity waned, but many of the chiches about motherhood changing you seem to be true.

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  4. There was a movie called The Sweet Hereafter that came out when my son Ben was just an infant. It was about the crash of a school bus. It was a beautiful film, but I had nightmares for weeks afterward. It was just too personal already, even though Ben was still a baby and nowhere near ready for school buses.

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  7. Unfortunately, Monster (Charlize Theron) was the movie that helped me see how motherhood had changed me… Somehow, I didn’t think it would be a bad idea for my husband and me to watch this movie with our 3-week-old son — reasoning that he was too young to understand or be scared by anything in the movie… I was actually breastfeeding my son right at the point in the movie where she was brutally raped, and I just kept looking down at him to escape the horror of the movie… I don’t think any other movie has given me nearly as many nightmares as this one… I would wake up crying and freaking out like I had PTSD, but I think it was just an extension of Post-Pardum… ::shudder:: I will never watch that movie again, that’s for sure…

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  8. I’ve never been able to watch a lot of graphic violence in films or on TV, but motherhood has definitely increased my sensitivity.

    But the main thing I can’t take in the least is storylines involving children being abducted or assulted in any way; the images stay with me forever, and films I would have at least appreciated for their power or technical merit just seem…well…kind of depraved.

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  11. This is something that never would have occurred to me in a million years (not having kids and all). I think I could suffer through Fight Club for BP, though.

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  17. It completely changed my sensitivity (and hasn’t receded yet – girls are 9 and 7 – yikes!) I can’t watch torture or “child/mom in peril” movies or shows – you’d be surprised how much that encompassess.

    The other end of the spectrum – I’m now the one who tears up at sweet songs, hallmark commercials and Little House on the Prarie.

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  18. You know what else happens? Well, it happened to me…I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket since I was pregnant with my first baby. Not one! I also ALWAYS where a seat belt and lost all desire to learn how to parachute out of a plane. Must be a universal mom thing….
    Terri

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  20. I remember when my oldest was a few months old I heard a commercial on the radio in which a man who had a back injury was describing how he couldn’t even pick up his daughter, and I started bawling. I also once flipped on HBO and watched “A Cry in the Dark” in the middle of the night when I was up nursing a 1 month old – I don’t recommend it.

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  21. Welcome to the club! I never thought I would have such an aversion to THE NEWS, but now it is never on when the kids are awake. It’s just too violent. Isn’t that sad?

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  22. Next you’ll be renting all kinds of movies with little Junior in mind and totally forgetting that the movie you think is soooooo appropriate for kids actually contains ass shots.

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  23. We rented “Trainspotting” after having a baby… if you’ve seen it, you know the scene that caused us to turn off the movie. We had seen this movie prior to being parents and we just saw the “baby scene” as another scene. After being parents, we couldn’t even watch it.

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  25. So I’ve emailed both your contact email and Bryan’s through PayPal regarding my order of your book, and I still haven’t heard back from you guys…

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  27. seriously, don’t watch American History X because I forgot about the curb scene and it completely made me vomit. Momhood is a serious sensitizer. Weirdly, I can handle midnight projectile vomit and strange diaper outputs, but not yucky, scary, violence.

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  28. Ooh, here’s another thing to look forward to: spontaneous let down, not emotional, milk. Pure, blessed mama milk. You’ll be standing somewhere, maybe you didn’t remember breast shields, or you hate the scratchy things and never used ’em to begin with. You’ll be talking to someone, perhaps an acquaintance, perhaps the checker at your grocery store, and you’ll hear a baby cry, or smell something that take you back. Before you know it you’ll be clutching a Star magazine to your breast and nodding as if the checker’s words are the most riveting thing you’ve ever heard. You” dash on your way, all the while marvelling at just how much sweet mama nectar can pour from your body at the most inopportune, I suppose this’ll make a great story someday times.
    I hope you are loving every moment of getting to know the little creature you’ve made. Pleae try to disregard our constant clamouring for more words and photos.

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  29. By the way, the photo of the day…it reminds me of the early days with our second daughter. One afternoon, cradling her in my arms, I realized that the sweet expanse between the tip of her nose and her forehead, perfectly fit my lips and cheeks for a cuddly face kiss. The better to breathe in her intoxicating scent.

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  30. Reminds me of what a woman I used to work with would tell our volunteers. “That’s why it’s called volunteer work, not volunteer play”. They were young and tended towards goofing off.

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  32. I feel bad about posting this, I have contacted you previously, but you have ignored my emails, but still took my money for a t-shirt I have never recieved. I hope this gets your attention.

    I place an order for a “I fuck like a girl” t-shirt on Jan 20, order reference 3532-1085-5143-9757

    and I have not received it yet. I did receive a confirmation email when I placed the order and also on February

    6th with an invalid USPS tracking number.

    It is now March 3rd. I just received my bank statement and it verifies that I had made the purchase.

    I would like my shirt or a refund immediately. This is the third time I have contacted you in this matter.

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  33. I don’t think I’ve seen Fight Club since having my son.
    But what you need to see is Finding Neverland. I used to never, ever, cry at movies. We went and saw Finding Neverland after my son was born and I couldn’t stop crying! Plus – it’s just a great movie overall.

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  34. Katrina, I hope you don’t mind me butting in a bit but I am surprised because I ordered Maggie’s book the week before she had Henry and my book arrived the week after she gave birth. I’m sure your t-shirt will be along soon. 🙂

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  36. Pingback: Space Ninja » Blog Archive » links for 2007-03-05

  37. Amy,

    I understand where you are coming from, and I due respect the fact that she did give birth and the time that consumes, but I ordered my t-shirt and payed Mighty Media on January 20th, nearly four weeks before she gave birth. And I have never recieved any replies to my two previous emails sent to them.

    There is no excuse for that.

    And if you want to cancel my order and refund my money great. I can just get that t-shirt made myself.

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  38. YEAR 2020
    Hank: Mom, please take us to see Freddy #27.
    You: It’s so bloody and gross.
    Hank: Yeah! It’s so COOL.

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  39. Thank Gawd you watch tv and admit it on this popular website. The Pacific Northwest, or maybe just the “wonderful” city I live in out here is filled with parents who look down upon it. Unfortunately this view somehow made me feel guilty every time I turned on the tv during my son’s first three months. Thus I missed my opportunity to really truly enjoy primetime America, and all those movies I wanted to catch up on, while my sole purpose in life was to breastfeed.

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  42. Katrina, I’m so sorry. This happens every so often because emails randomly end up in our (Bryan’s and my) junk mail folders. Both of us get a few hundred emails a day, so it can be tough to keep on top of scanning through the thousands that end up in the junk mail. Of course, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating for you.

    Bryan looked at our Paypal records, and it looks like there was a batch of shirts that Bryan shipped the last week of January, and three of them mysteriously haven’t arrived. I’m actually glad you posted this, because we had no idea. We’ll ship a new shirt out to you (and the two others) tomorrow. USPS permitting, you (and Tina, and Kelly) should have a shirt within the week.

    Again, I’m terribly sorry for the mixup, and especially for the silence.

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  44. I had a baby 13 months ago, and my husband talked me into seeing “Pan’s Labyrinth”… let’s just say, I BARELY made it ot the end of the movie, and when we left I was shaking, and crying. Before Natalie? Wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. Now… well… it was DEEPLY disturbing. A beautiful movie, but…wow.

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  45. I really hate to do this, but seeing the posts above, combined with your failure to respond to five of my own emails, leads me to believe that I have no other choice.

    I paid for your book on December 29 and I have still not received it, and I have emailed you repeatedly from February onwards inquiring as to its whereabouts. I have emailed you at more than one of your email accounts, so I don’t know why I am not receiving a response to any of my inquiries.

    I would like to have this resolved ASAP.

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