If you haven't heard of or seen "Call the Midwife"
Overall, I have very much enjoyed this peek into the history of pregnant women and their midwives- though a few episodes annoyed me because I could see TODAY's politics working their way into the show in what I believe to be a completely wrong depiction of the times.
[spoilers ahead]
The first such annoyance was when birth control was being pushed and seen as perfectly acceptable among most of the women- including the nuns. Now I know SOME people in the 1950's thought this was a grand idea, but I don't believe how it was depicted in this show was accurate for the time.
That happened again on Sunday night, with the latest episode- only this time it was dealing with homosexuality.
A very pregnant married woman is humiliated when her husband walks passed their home to go to a public bathroom for sex with a strange man. The homosexual husband gets caught in a police sting and is arrested for several indecent and immoral acts.
The pregnant wife is distraught, humiliated, hurt, heartbroken, afraid and worried about her future and the future of her baby and marriage.
But the wife is NOT the victim here... oh no! It's the poor homosexual married man who can't be with another man because society is so mean and heartless.
News of his arrest hits the papers and people are disgusted. Not only was he cheating on his extremely pregnant wife, but he was doing so with a complete stranger - another man in a public bathroom. What's not to be disgusted by?
The community is portrayed as HORRIBLE, NASTY and MEAN because they do not want this man and his wife in their Church festival.
The main characters (midwives, doctor and Church of England priest) are not disgusted by what this man has done at all. They don't feel outrage at what he's done to his wife, their marriage or the future of their child trying to grow up and live with the scandal daddy has brought to his family. Oh no! The victim is the poor homosexual man who just wanted a little sodomy now and again.
So when the Church festival comes and the horrible, nasty mean community says they don't want this family taking part because children will be there and the scandal of the situation should not be displayed at a Church festival what happens?
Oh yes!
The "Jesus taught us to love everyone" line comes out. Funny how that comes out and is backed by the Church of England priest, but the priest NEVER mentions adultery, sodomy or scandal. Not a word of worry for the children at this Church function who are all aware of their parents outrage over the situation.
I believe that such a "scandal" was still a big deal during this time period, so why the BBC decided to alter history can only be trumped up to today's political correctness in my opinion.
I simply can't believe that during those days especially, a married man having sex with another man and getting arrested would have been seen as a "Jesus taught us to love everyone" moment.
This arrest was a huge scandal in this small community and the pregnant wife was nearly destroyed by what her husband had done, yet HE was portrayed as the victim.
The homosexual adulterer is the victim? Not the pregnant wife? Not all the people including the children who were scandalized by this? Would people in those days truly see the man as the victim here and not his wife?
I doubt it.
Even today, I believe, the woman would clearly be seen as the victim to MOST of us- except for the gay crowd who are ALWAYS playing the victim.
When people do a period docudrama they should stick to the facts and what is authentic to the period. Injecting current ideas/trends/beliefs completely ruins the "period" piece.
Does anyone know or understand what sin is? The sin of adultery? Sodomy? Or the sin of scandal? Are we so USED to being scandalized by the sexual immorality of society that we don't even feel scandalized by any sin anymore?
Wickedness should ALWAYS scandalize us. And those of us who call ourselves Christians should always recognize what is sin.
Don't let television shows with an agenda instruct you in what Jesus' love is all about. To love as Jesus did is to save the sinner from his/her sins, not help them to stay in their sins by making the sinner the victim.
An UPDATE:
Apparently the actor, Stephen McGann who plays the doctor on "Call the Midwife" doesn't like what I had to say about the show or his characters support of the adulterous homosexual man:
Mr. McGann seems to believe that Pope Francis has changed Catholic doctrine on homosexuality, adultery and scandal. Here is the link McGann sites in his tweet to me: "Pope signals new era of forgiveness to gay priests".
My response to McGann:
My link goes to the catechism on homosexuality:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, 141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.The back and forth over this topic continues on Twitter between myself and Mr. McGann. For more, check out our Twitter accounts.
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
Source: http://www.pbs.org/call-the-midwife/seasons/season-4/episode-3/
McGann link: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/faith/article3828576.ece
I must "live under a rock" for I haven't watched the Idiot Box for entertainment in decades. What you just wrote details my reasons for my avoidance of the Tube.
ReplyDeleteWell Janet if you don't own a television or watch any television shows then you wouldn't know what I was talking about in this post or the one I did about Bill O'Reilly's "Jesus" movie.
ReplyDeleteI'd make a joke about Patrick (from Sponge Bob) having a TV under the rock he lives under, but I am guessing you probably wouldn't know that tv show either. ;)
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
BBC ruins everything. This incident never even occurred in the book.
ReplyDeleteHello Dymphna! I haven't yet read the book, but it is on my "to be read" list for this summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of the book?
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
I loved the book. It's sweet and funny and incredibly tragic in places. I was fascinated by the slices of life the young naive nurse encountered everyday. The scene where a truly noble husband discovers that his newborn can not possibly be his and decides to forgive his wife and love the child anyway is incredible or the story about the agoraphobic mother who nevertheless raised 25(!) beautiful, lively children and the chapter about the prostitute who came from a decent family who wanted her back but was thwarted by the prostitute's husband who was also her pimp were just amazing.
ReplyDeleteI have loved Call the Midwife until this episode!!!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the BBC peppers many of it's shows with homosexual characters. I am a huge Dr. Who fan, a show which was intended as a children's show and I have watched it since being imported to the US in the early 1970's. Ever since the show was reboot in 2005 there have been homosexual characters either as reoccurring such as Capt. Jack and now presently a female lizard married to a Victorian woman or a one time appearance such a 2 homosexual soldiers on an alien world.
ReplyDelete