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Letter
from the Editor March 21, 2000
Dear Readers, We at the Bastard Quarterly are happy to announce that, as of the new millennium, we will recommence with the quarterly publication of the print version of our newsletter. With this increased ability to reach out to you, we are hoping that you too, will be renewed in your commitment to the cause of adoptee rights and dignity. Please visit the BN website at www.bastards.org for the latest in activist and education opportunities. This issue of the Bastard Quarterly features adoption in film. This past year has been a busy one for Bastards at the movies. For children there has been quite a range of adoption-related offerings: Disney's Tarzan (highly recommended), Toy Story 2 (explores loyalty issues), Pokemon the First Movie (deals sensitively with identity issues in reproductive technology), and Stuart Little (scary birthparent reclamation scene.) My kids have seen all but the last, which is inappropriate in my opinion because of the negative portrayal of adoption and "openness." Then again, I've heard from birthmothers who thought this film was hunky-dory. Just the other night I went to see The Cider House Rules, a film up for 7 Academy Awards this year. It's been a long time since a film has so depressed me. Despite the compelling story, masterful acting and directing, I felt I was being slammed over the head with a polemic frying pan. The pro-abortion and anti-search sound-bytes and scenarios soured the film's pathos. The noble hero Homer as non-searcher is contrasted with the cocky would-be-searcher Buster, who confesses that he would like to meet his birthmother so as to kill her. An orphan forced to perform abortions was a scenario that was just too painful for me. The only uplifting aspect of this film, which repeatedly validated anonymous abandonment and abortion, was the fact that the protagonist did the right thing in the end, serving the community of Bastards from which he came. And it wasn't clear that he had abandoned his original convictions. Regardless of where you stand on such issues as reconnection or abortion it is a fact that mass media portrayals of adoption and adoption issues do affect people's opinions by reinforcing and validating certain stereotypes. If the point of Cider House was to show how abortion is sometimes necessary, this was done at the expense of those of us who were adopted. Damsel Plum Editor, The Bastard Quarterly Your comments and contributions are welcome at bqletters@bastards.org or by mailing The Bastard Quarterly, 454 Las Gallinas PBN 199, San Rafael, CA, USA 94903, Fax: 415-479-3741. * * * Damsel Plum is Publications Chair and Co-founder of Bastard Nation. (This feature appeared in the Spring 2000 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.) Copyright 2000 Bastard Nation |