{"product_id":"its-all-in-the-delivery-pregnancy-in-american-film-and-television-comedy-9781477330449","title":"It's All in the Delivery: Pregnancy in American Film and Television Comedy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow changing depictions of pregnancy in comedy from the start of the twentieth century to the present show an evolution in attitudes toward women's reproductive roles and rights.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Some of the most groundbreaking moments in American film and TV comedy have centered on pregnancy, from Lucille Ball's real-life pregnancy on \u003ci\u003eI Love Lucy\u003c\/i\u003e, to the abortion plot on \u003ci\u003eMaude\u003c\/i\u003e; Murphy Brown's controversial single motherhood; Arnold Schwarzenegger's pregnancy in \u003ci\u003eJunior\u003c\/i\u003e; or the third-trimester stand-up special \u003ci\u003eAli Wong: Baby Cobra\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In the first book-length study of pregnancy in popular comedy, Victoria Sturtevant examines the slow evolution of pregnancy tropes during the years of the Production Code; the sexual revolution and changing norms around nonmarital pregnancy in the 1960s and '70s; and the emphasis on biological clocks, infertility, adoption, and abortion from the 1980s to now. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Across this history, popular media have offered polite evasions and sentimentality instead of real candor about the physical and social complexities of pregnancy. But comedy has often led the way in puncturing these clich?s, pointing an irreverent and satiric lens at the messy and sometimes absurd work of gestation. Ultimately, Sturtevant argues that comedy can reveal the distortions and lies that treat pregnancy as simple and natural \"women's work,\" misrepresentations that rest at the heart of contemporary attacks on reproductive rights in the US. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e Victoria Sturtevant is an associate professor of film and media studies at the University of Oklahoma. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Great Big Girl Like Me: The Films of Marie Dressler\u003c\/i\u003e and co-editor of \u003ci\u003eHysterical! Women in American Comedy\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50892661063954,"sku":"9781477330449","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2d2ffb41-2162-4cc5-9fbd-65d17a165c86.jpg?v=1747214583","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/its-all-in-the-delivery-pregnancy-in-american-film-and-television-comedy-9781477330449","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}