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Film Babies Documentary Analysis

Decent Essays

An Analysis of Film Babies within Different Cultures
Thomas Balmes’s documentary Babies focuses on four babies born within four different countries. The babies are from Japan, United States, Mongolia and Namibia and each of the countries have a different culture. Japan and United States are developed countries; while Mongolia and Namibia are developing countries. Developed countries have advanced economy and the people have access to good education and technology. On the other hand, in developing countries, the economy is based on farming and manufacturing and people lack access to education. Balmes’s documentary focuses on two babies from developing countries and two babies from developed countries in order to show how parents from …show more content…

Ponjao stuffed rocks and old bones in his mouth; however, he appeared to be quite healthy though out the film. This was refreshing because Americans and many people in developed countries coddle their babies and stress the use of hand sanitizer before picking up a baby. Therefore, this drastic difference seems to stand out. Furthermore, BayarJargai, baby from Mongolia, also spend time in close proximity with goats and he appeared quite healthy. BayarJargai was also climbing an empty barrel when a herd of cows came towards him in the film, but the child did not appear to be frightened at all. BayarJargai ignored the animals surrounding him while he sat on the barrel. This appeared significant because many children at his age would scream when they see an herb of farm animals coming his/her way. BayarJargai most likely appeared unaffected because he had previously seen his family members with the farming animals and he was mimicking his parents’ emotions. One unique cultural information about BayarJargai parents was that they tied him to the bed as he played with toilet paper to prevent him from causing trouble. This might be considered okay in Mongolian culture, however if parents in American culture tied their child to the bed, they would get their child taken away. As a result, there is huge cultural variation between the two

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