Another rant, and not a funny one Good afternoon, class! I said, GOOD AFTERNOON, CLASS!! Ahem. I got the house to myself all day Saturday as Hubster went on one of his orienteering trips, stomping around the woods off trail with only a topography map and a compass to steer by. When he got home that night, he was so tired and his ankles were swollen . . . he finally agreed that he was out of shape. And that he needed to get off my back because even though I am out of shape, I am actively doing something about it. So there. Anyway, a good portion of the day was spent with movies . . . The first in a teenage-angst-double-feature was The Shame of Patty Smith, which was made in 1962 and was a social commentary about the need to legalize abortion in America. I�m too young to ever really remember when abortion wasn�t legal, as Roe v Wade was, 1973? Yes? I was two, then. Anyway, having no true understanding of what it must have been like back then, to be �in trouble� and having to put your life in the hands of who-knows. Patty is out with her loser boyfriend, Alan, and they have a fender-bender with 3 punks. Alan proves himself to be a total jerkface because these punks keep coming on to Patty and getting fresh with her, and Alan does nothing, not even a �Hey, hands off, creep!� Actually, Patty doesn�t do anything either. �Milksop� comes to mind when I think of Patty. So Patty and Alan continue on to Makeout Point, Ltd, when they are beset upon by the same three punks, who punch Alan a couple of good ones and then hold him down while they rape Patty, offscreen with only screams and Alan�s grimacing mug to suggest what�s happening, thank goodness. Now if you know me, then you know that I think rape crimes should be punishable by drawing, quartering, lemon juice in the wounds, and death by jam and fire ants. So the apathy of Patty and Alan on the way home drives me nuts. She keeps apologizing to him! And Patty refuses medical treatment and police, opting to go home because, �What would they be able to do? It�s already happened.� And of course, for the purpose of our happy film, she does catch pregnant. Patty and her friend and roommate, Mary, manage to get a doctor who will help her. Remember, abortions done at this time in America were illegal, and doctors caught doing so were subject to incarceration and revocation of their licenses. The good doc will take care of this for Patty if she can come up with $600. $600! In 1962! Damn, that could buy you a new car back then. So Alan, the good (right) boyfriend finds her someone who knows someone who knows someone who will do it for less, to the tune of $200. Patty hocks her treasured gold cross for a measly $30 to help pay for this. It turns out that her abortionist (who has set up shop in a Turkish bath/steam room/massage parlor, which were still legit businesses in 1962) is an unemployed pharamacist, with his wife as the nurse. Of course, we don�t find this out until later, after we watch the nurse smoke her way around the procedure, taking instruments out of an autoclave, which I actually thought �well, that�s something at least� until she dropped one in the sink and didn�t clean it again. Patty, naturally, develops peritonitis or other terrible infection from the procedure, and lands in the hospital, where all they can do, more than likely, is offer IV penicillin. 1962, remember? One of the doctors talks to a homicide detective (abortion crimes were under the jurisdiction of homicide cops) about how in Sweden, and other countries, women can simply take their overnight bags to the hospital and arrange for her pregnancy to be terminated under proper medical treatment. What an idea! Mary visits Patty, bringing with her the cross that Patty hocked. Patty requests that Mary hang it from her IV stand, so she can see it, and then promptly dies. The last shot is that of Patty covered with her blanket, a shadow cast from her cross over her still body. If certain members of Congress including our unPresident are successful in repealing Roe v Wade, we get to look forward to 1962 again. This is progress?
|