A 54-minute mini-feature documentary by Julia Ivanova, “Fatherhood
Dreams”, traces the development of three families in Canada where gay men
become fathers.
The film starts out by saying that Canada is one of the few
countries to recognize gay marriage, but it dates back to 2007. It then presents us with a middle-aged couple
Randy and Drew, who have adopted a little boy Jack, and are raising him in the
mountains near Vancouver but are looking for a house in the city. They traveled
to Edmonton to meet the boy’s grandmother (rather youthful), who demonstrates that she really does make
all her grandkids understand the family.
Steve, a patent lawyer in Vancouver, co-parents his
daughters with a lesbian couple living on Protection Island off the British
Columbia coast.
Scott, from Montreal, has fraternal twins by a surrogate
mother, who by Canadian law cannot provide surrogacy for money, just expenses.
The film shows all the men in family intimacies with their
kids, an earthiness with which I personally would not be comfortable.
The film does start from the presumption that gay parenting
is novel, as many people, even in liberal Canada, say that children need “a mom
and a dad”. However, in a broader scheme
of things (“generativity” and sustainability), having everyone able to pitch in
and take up the duties of parenthood may some day come to be seen as a
necessity.
The website for the film (from Seventh Art and Interfilm) is
here.
For today’s short film, take a look at the 14-minute video
by AmanJohnX, “ Society Breeds Gay Men?”
What’s interesting here is Aman John’s
filmmaking style. He is good looking, so, yes, his presence on the screen
confers pleasure (even his legs). Yes, he looks like be burns 4000 calories a day. When
he shows illustrations, quite creatively drawn (sort of in Khan Academy style),
he partitions the screen and shows the image on the lower fight. And he uses color filters as a metaphor. He sits on a sofa in front of a door with a
knob, and odd effect. He talks about
critical thinking – which I like – but sometimes he gets into author intrusion
with phrases like “what I’m trying to say” – like a chemistry professor that I
remember from undergrad days. At the
end, he says or implies that the third son may well have congenital influences
that influence a sense of sexual identity, but society’s notion of “what it
means to be a man” (i.e., be the Sea n Connery implementation of James Bond)
may well encourage the upward affiliation that we often see in gay men. I am an only child, though (but with an older
than normal father). His link is here.
Wikipedia attribution link for Edmonton picture. I visited the city in September 1983.
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