The main issue with the Children of Men was the fact that almost all of the women were infertile. My issue with this is that there are other ways of having children, like a test tube baby. If this film follows real life events until 2006 then test tube babies would exist. The first test tube baby was born in 1978 so why couldn’t the world look to this as a solution? It does not require women to carry the baby, all it requires is egg and sperm. So if test tube babies existed during and before the movie takes place then why is there so much widespread disaster? Yes, there would still be struggles but the entire world would still be able to function with a smaller population, like it did in the past. If anything this would allow for population control, which may be a good thing depending upon your belief of the human race. Either way the main plot of the movie can be completely negated by the existence of test tube babies. Plus there are egg and sperm banks so the population could still continue for the 18 years of infertility.
Continuing on the topic of infertility, I also found it interesting in the film that the problem of infertility only affected humans and not animals, because animals were still able to procreate. There was a kitten trying to crawl up Theo’s leg in the scene where Kee asks his opinion on where she should have the baby. So far, it was impossible for doctors to find the cause of infertility so reasoning for this plague had to be based off of something other than biology. The believe that humans were being punished by God became the only explanation they could form. It seems that the innocence of the animals is what saves them from the plague of infertility that is bringing the human race to an end.
I agree. As we discussed in class, there was a plethora of animals in the film. We connected this to the Biblical story of Noah’s ark. Although there were many animals, it seemed as dogs were really part of families more than other animals. Most groups such as the Fishes and Police had dogs that were always by the side of their owner. Theo also attended the Greyhound race which seemed like was a very popular event where the citizens could bet and enjoy sport. It was almost like the humans treated the dogs as children to stay sane. Instead of caring for a child, it seemed they resorted to dogs to nurture, care, and love just as they would a child of their own. I also feel that this provided a small distraction from the plague of infertility and allowed the humans to feel like they had a more “normal” life.
One observation that I found very interesting about infertility is that it doesn’t simply apply to the inability to give birth, which I agree can be gotten around fairly easily especially considering that the movie was set in the year 2021. Infertility i.e. a loss of humanity is a very bleak scenario, which I think the movie does a pretty good job portraying by evoking images of the Abu Ghraib Prison, Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. In the film, refugees are encaged, put in camps and brutally shot, reminding one of the Holocaust. Infertility could also be interpreted as a metaphor for the lack of hope which is depicted throughout the movie. The movie, despite being filled with hopelessness, sends out a powerful message that we are not yet doomed with the glimmer of hope that it ends with.
Having no prior knowledge of “test tube babies” I believe Cuaron was trying to make a futuristic society where there was no possible medical solution.
Post having this knowledge of “test tube babies” and understanding that there are alternate ways to conceive a child, I think Cuaron didn’t want there to be a simple medical/ research breakthrough to solve the problem of infertility.
I don’t think the real problem in this film is literal infertility. Perhaps Cuaron wanted the viewers to understand inferility in a more metaphorical sense. He focusses the movie on the wide spread loss of humanity amongst the human race. He wants to show the repercussions of a society with no respect, understanding or acceptance for one another and the effect of wide spread fear.