Pregnancy Film: The Body, Visual Culture, and Reproductive Rights

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23720078
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Study of the arts/History of the arts/Arts in general
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University (2013-2014); Shizuoka University of Art and Culture (2011-2012)
• Principal Investigator: KINOSHITA Chika 首都大学東京, 人文科学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (60589612)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 映画学 / ジェンダー / セクシュアリティ / 表象文化論 / 身体 / リプロダクティヴ・ライツ / 人工妊娠中絶 / 出産

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I examined representations of pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth in Japanese cinema. My archival research brought them into conversation with legal, political, social, and medical discourses on reproductive rights and womanhood at historically specific moments. Specifically, I gave presentations at international conferences and published essays on the following two topics: an actress' abortion scandal and the emergence of what I call a "new seduction cycle" characterized by positive approaches to single-motherhood in the late 1930s; and the relationship between the de-facto legalization of abortion through the Eugenic Protection Law and and cinematic representations of marriage, pregnancy, and women's choice in the context of postwar democracy. I also published an essay on the visuality and visibility of the fetus in the 1970s North American modern horror and organized screenings of a documentary on contemporary natural birth. These areas will be further developed in my book.

Free Research Field

人文学