Abortion, a classic plot in Gongdou dramas that never gets tired of use. But in real life, it is a serious issue that has been debated for decades. We always hear too much and know too little about abortion. Recently, a new film with 99% favorable reviews revealed the cruel truth of teenage abortion for us——
never, rarely, sometimes, always
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Director: Eliza Hitman Screenwriter: Eliza Hitman Starring: Sidney Flanigan/ Talia Ryder/ Theodore Perlan Release date: 2020-03- 13 (Mainland China)
This is a new film that was released in the US last month. Affected by the epidemic, it was tragically withdrawn after only 3 days of release. Even so, it has not changed its explosive reputation - as early as February, the film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize of the Silver Bear Award . On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an amazing 99% freshness. Even the strict MTC rated it with a high score of 92, and showed the "must-see" logo of the official certification.
This critically acclaimed film tells an uncomplicated story: the heroine , Autumn , lives in rural Pennsylvania, USA. At the age of 17, she, like every adolescent boy and girl, has her own rebelliousness and hobbies.
She would apply eyeshadow in the brightest silver. She played guitar on stage and sang songs she composed. When she met a boy who was looking for trouble, she would throw a glass of water on the other person's face without saying a word.
When alone in the room, she also does what every girl does: look at her body in the mirror. Until one day, she discovered an amazing fact - she was pregnant.
This is news like a bolt from the blue. Autumn did not dare to tell anyone, so he could only secretly try various "methods" on the Internet to try to prevent this accident. For example, guzzling mouthwash, binge eating vitamin C tablets, and even beating the stomach hard.
Clearly, Autumn's plan failed. She turned to local medical facilities for a private abortion. It's a pity that the other party insisted on persuading Autumn to give birth to the child, and reminded her that abortion was an "act of violence".
What's more, in Pennsylvania, where Autumn is located, abortions under the age of 18 require parental consent. In order to completely end this sudden accident without anyone knowing. Together with his cousin who accompanied him, Autumn embarked on an "abortion trip" to New York.
Seeing this, I believe that many viewers will think of the movie "Three Weeks and Two Days in April". Even director Eliza Hitman mentioned in an interview that "Three Weeks in April" was one of the inspirations for his creation. It is also a youth film with a cruel background, and it also focuses on the theme of teenage abortion. The overall tone and narrative style of "Never" are not as sharp and depressing as the former. It does not focus on portraying or rendering Autumn's misfortune and pain, but in a calm and restrained lens, it slowly narrates a delicate girl's mind to the audience.
Unlike most previous "abortion" films, "Never" has no emotional expressions of crying or bloody close-ups. The most powerful scenes in the film come from two places - the first is when Autumn makes a small change for himself after confirming his pregnancy. Using a red-hot paper clip as a tool, she put a nose stud on the wing of her nose. It's the only bloody scene in the film, and it's a symbol of Autumn's desire to take control of his own body.
The second time was before the abortion procedure in New York, where she had to answer the medical staff's survey questions as usual. "Has your partner threatened you?" "Has your partner physically harmed you?" "Has your partner forced you to have sex against your will?"
To answer these questions, choose from four frequencies - never (Never), rarely (Rarely), sometimes (Sometimes), always (Always). This is also the origin of the title of the film.
At first, although Autumn was a little embarrassed, he could barely answer the question. Until the appearance of the last question, Autumn was stuck in his throat.
The medical staff changed the way of asking: "Has anyone forced you to have sex with you since you were born?" Autumn couldn't hold back his emotions any longer, and answered "yes" tearfully. . Through this frivolous word, her real experience, which she kept secret from the beginning to the end, has been made clear to the audience.
It is worth mentioning that the movie never informs and investigates who is the "murderer" who caused this accident. But because of this, it makes the audience realize that everyone can be a murderer -- he could be the male classmate at Autumn School who is publicly slut-shaming.
He may be the stepfather of the Autumn family, who is used to foul language and takes pleasure in it.
He may also be the male supervisor who recklessly molested the female clerk in the supermarket where Autumn worked.
Except for these biggest "suspects", all the male characters in the film have varying degrees of contempt and offense towards women. A nasty pervert on the subway, a man trying to flirt in a car. Even a simple greeting at work was interpreted as a hint by the male customer.
In order to highlight the offense to women, a special set of contrasts is set up in the film: hand-to-hand contact. When the men in the film touch the hands of the two heroines, all they reveal is the desire to conquer each other.
When Autumn came into contact with the hands of his cousin and medical staff, he conveyed the strength to support each other.
This particular contrast, to a certain extent, can be said to be a perfect satire of reality— since the serious issue of abortion was born, the people who have been striving for women’s body power have always been women themselves. Back in the 1970s, abortion was illegal in the vast majority of U.S. states. In 1970, a Texas woman conceived out of wedlock and wanted an abortion. In Texas at the time, abortions were not allowed without life-threatening conditions. So, she filed a complaint against the local county attorney, which is known as "Roe VS Wade" in history.
The emergence of "Roe v. Wade" made everyone face up to the appeal of women's abortion for the first time. In 1973, the United States established that women have the right to freely terminate their pregnancy during the first trimester of pregnancy. But unfortunately, shortly after this, the Supreme Court, which was under pressure from all parties, allowed states to introduce provisions restricting women's abortion. In other words, abortion freedom has become an empty talk in the United States since then.
The issue of abortion has been debated in the West for a long time. And the word abortion has always been associated with stereotypes such as moral infidelity and bad behavior. But many people ignore that unintended pregnancy is also divided into different situations. Unintended, unintended pregnancy that is unprepared for motherhood is inherently a disaster for women. If you don't stop your losses in time, it can only bring disaster on top of disaster.
Speaking of this, we have to mention the "Savita Incident" that happened in 2012. At the time, a 28-year-old woman in Ireland, Savita Harapanawal, had begun showing signs of miscarriage when she was admitted to a local hospital. She made a request for an emergency abortion, but due to local laws, the hospital has consistently refused. It was not until the stillbirth three days later that the hospital performed a drainage operation. Sadly, Savita eventually died of infection and sepsis from a miscarriage.
When Savita died, it had been a full week since she first requested an abortion. In other words, a week of treatment was missed because of prejudice against abortion. The occurrence of the "Savita Incident" promoted the movement of women for the freedom of abortion at the cost of blood. In May 2018, the legalization of abortion in Ireland was finally passed.
Prejudice against abortion remains common to this day. Last year, the US state of Alabama passed one of the most stringent anti-abortion laws in the United States. The bill stipulates that abortion is prohibited for pregnant women at any stage. Even pregnancy due to sexual assault and incest is no exception. Why do women have to vote for the right to dispose of their own bodies? Do those who fight against abortion really understand the physical and psychological trauma women suffer? Don't let the tragedy of Savita happen again in this world.
*The author of this article: Zhang Bucai
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