The Daily News

LFCA Latest Issue: Friday, September 25, 2009.

Latest Post on BlogHer: Parenting after Infertility.

My Status: Fed Josh's almonds to the squirrels. They needed them very badly.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Offensive Remark of the Day

Quote from Variety from the director of the film version of Children of Men (thank goodness we're reading the book...)

What could have been a mere sci-fi thriller turned into a subversive bit of
agitprop in the hands of director-screenwriter Alfonso Cuaron.

"I couldn't care less about infertility, because that goes into the
realm of science fiction," he says of his film "Children of Men," in which only
one woman on earth is pregnant. "But I saw that infertility could be a point of
departure to explore the themes that I cared about" -- themes such as
immigration, terrorism and paranoia.


Um...remind me not to give you my $8 to see the film version. Since...you know...you couldn't care less (really? You're at the very bottom of care? There's no way to care about it less?) about infertility and it's just science fiction... I understand how quotes can be twisted when they are taken out of context, but I can't imagine where this quote would fit where it wouldn't be dismissive and glib.

Read the post below to see how to participate in the book tour. Screw Cuaron--read the book instead of seeing the movie.

18 comments:

Tina / Anxious Changer said...

What a mother-fW%E&W&W^'ing A*@#^%&!!!

Oops! Did I say that?

Hey, I wasn't planning on seeing the movie anyway - from what I have read, it varies from the book a lot, and I hate movies based on novels anyway. Rarely do they capture the true essence of the book.

Emmie said...

Wow. I did see the movie--but for free-- so I'm very glad he didn't get any of my money.

I felt that the way the film handled infertility still resonated with me, but it could just be from the fact that I am caught up in dealing with it myself.

I thought Cuaron's themes of paranoia, immigration and terrorism were way overdone, on the otherhand, (to the point of sci-fi, in fact) so maybe we should all be grateful that the infertility theme wasn't a priority for him in making this movie.

I'm going to read the book!

Anonymous said...

What an ass!

It's so nice to be reassured once again that infertily is fiction...I forgot...it's all in my head.

Excuse me while I take a minute to "Just Relax."

AARGH!!!

DD said...

Wow! That means my life is in the realm of sci-fi.

Where's my motherfucking rocket-jet pack, asshole? Or gosh, maybe I should have "beamed up" my babies instead of trying to actually give birth.

Anonymous said...

I second what Tina said. Is bad language allowed? Because I have more than a few choice words for this guy. Most of which start with the letters F-U. (pun intended)

Anonymous said...

Yet in another interview he speaks more sympathetically of infertility and how it brought him to work on this film:

"What I was attracted to was the concept of infertility as a premise. I was not really interested in doing a science fiction film, so I had completely disregarded it. But the premise kept haunting me. It was not until I realized that the premise of the film could serve as a metaphor for the fading sense of hope, that it could be a point of departure for an exploration of the state of things that we're living in now, the things that are shaping this very first part of the 21st century, that I wanted to do it."

http://www.cinematical.com/2006/12/25/interview-children-ofmen-director-alfonso-cuaron/

Susan said...

I'm not so sure that quote is all that much more sympathetic. He still seems to say that infertility is not worth considering or discussing in and of itself, but is simply a POINT OF DEPARTURE to think about things that really matter. Infertility is a premise, not an issue worth exploring.
At least that is how I am taking it. But I have a tendency to be a bit uncharitable in my interpretations when it comes to IF stuff, so don't listen to me!

beagle said...

I guess he's never had infertility impact HIS life! (Too bad, infertility only affects good people I guess.)

Grrr!

~r said...

Well, we all know that IF doesn't exist in Hollywood. It's not that famous people aren't admitting IF, it's that it's science fiction in that part of the country.

Too freaking bad it's real everywhere else.

C said...

Wow. I really wish I'd read that before DH and I shelled out $16 to see the movie. I actually didn't mind how he (didn't) handle it mostly because I wasn't in the right frame of mind to see the worst part of my life on screen that day, but to know that he considers IF "science fiction" is just...unbelievable. Fiction? This is fiction??? Tell that to my RE.

Johanna said...

a darling friend of mine, and fellow victim of infertility, directed me here. She said you were the starter of the pomegranate thing. Well, she is a part of my group of wimins who have been through it and are at varying places in infertility. We recently did a gift exchange and my gifts were 6 different paintings of pomegranates. When I posted pictures of all them together she encouraged me to post a link....
http://elan.livejournal.com/410891.html

And this is her bloggy type thing....
http://light-of-unity.livejournal.com/

So, thank you for starting this. May it go on until infertility is gone.

-=Johanna=-

Kris said...

Ok, just playing the devil's advocate here... is it possible that he meant that the aspect of the book where infertility infects the whole world is science fiction? Obviously, in reality IF doesn't affect everybody or we wouldn't have to worry about plastering on a fake smile at ANOTHER pregnancy announcement.

Just a thought, though if that is his thinking, he certainly could have expressed it more clearly.

Tigger said...

It's taken completely out of context and twisted around. I decided to search out the actual interview, and it isn't quite how it sounds. Here:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/cuaron.php

and here:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1159246/reviews.php?rid=1563932

Still an ass, but it explains a little more why he chose IF.

Bea said...

(Bea chants between gritted teeth.)

"It's not what he meant. He meant he wasn't trying to make a film about infertility, but about other subject areas. In fact, he does care about infertility, perhaps not as much as me, but as much as the next person, at least."

Repeat until calm.

Bea

Unknown said...

I used to be an entertainment lawyer, and virtually everyone in Hollywood is an ass. (Did I just say that out loud? Oops, I thought it stayed in my thought bubble...)

Mr. Cuaron should contemplate this: Karma is a Bitch.

TeamWinks said...

What an ass. I'm speachless. That takes quite a bit.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm...at least I got my helping of Jackass for today! I really did want to see the movie, but I think I'm just as happy with the book. I hope Cuaron never makes another sci-fi.

Stacie said...

So, those needles I shoved into my gluteal region...were those science fiction? Because they felt damned real.