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
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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
Infant mortality is a major issue the world struggles with. Today, with advances in medicine and technology, the infant mortality rate decreases every year. However, in the past and in other developing countries, access to resources necessary to having and raising a healthy child are not available. In the article “Death Without Weeping”, the author, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, discusses about her time spent at Alto do Cruzeiro, Brazil. Hughes goes on to explain why the infant mortality rate was high in Alto do Cruzeiro. She also discusses how the women and children are treated in the community.
The movie Parenthood (1989) revolves around the psychological stresses that are faced by families. From the name of the movie, the main theme is coined, involving the issues that are faced by parents while raising up their children. The movie is centered in the family of Gil and Karen, and their extended family. Set in a middle-class white society, the anxieties and pains of raising children are presented in the movie. Gil Buckman is a parent and businessman. His wife, Karen, comes out as a nearly perfect parent, and always stays at home. Gil and Karen have three children. The oldest child is Kevin, a nine-year old boy with emotional problems. The emotional problems that are experienced by Kevin form a very significant aspect of the movie,
The movie “Babies” was a beautiful film I loved it I actually watched it three times and could not look away it was a very eye opening documentary for me. It is about cultures and differences within them it was truly amazing seeing the different cultures and there parenting methods. I was truly shocked that these four babies are in four very different cultures but all of them were reaching their milestones and developing all around the same time. I would have never thought that the parenting styles would be so similar to each other. In the documentary each child was loved from their parents and family. Each family was very different but all still spent time with there baby and loved them. The film starts from them being born till they are one-year old it shows you how they develop from culture to culture. It shows attachment styles in all four cultures and the results were surprising.
The movie Parenthood cover’s many of the topics we have discussed this semester in class. But it obviously focused very strongly on parenting and marriage. During the course of the movie we see the four Buckman children’s very different style of parenting. Although all four were raised by the same parents the culture of their individual families are all look very different. Gil Buckman felt abandoned and ignored by his father and therefore responded, with his wife Karen, by being a very active and attentive parent. Gil and Karen are on the authoritative end of the parenting spectrum, and their families’ culture revolves around activities such as baseball games, Kevin’s baseball game, Birthday parties, school plays and basically having fun together (Lecture, 4/22). On the opposite end of the parenting spectrum are Nathan and Susan. They are very authoritarian and reminded me of the “tiger Mom’s” of China. The culture of their family means that they don’t have their daughter in preschool, they are waiting a prescribed amount of time to have a second child and Nathan is continuously drilling facts into their daughter. Susan feels like she should be playing with children her own age but Nathan’s feelings have taken over their family’s culture.
‘Babies’ is a documentary film which chronicles the first year of life of four babies spanning the globe. Documentarian Thomas Balmès fans out to the grasslands of Namibia, the plains of Mongolia, the high rises of Tokyo and the busy streets of San Francisco in a study of culture, societal structure, geography and tradition, along with parental love and the impact all these elements have on child rearing. In the hunting and gathering society of Namibia and pastoral Mongolia, Balmès follows Ponijao and Bayar and in postindustrial Tokyo and San Francisco we are introduced to Mari and Hattie. While the 1:18 film has no real dialogue, viewers are able to get a distinct feel for each baby’s personality, the role they play within the family
In the film Babies Thomas Balmès elegantly and wordlessly captures the first year of life through the eyes of four unique cultures. This film follows four babies Panijao from Namibia, Mari from Japan, Hattie from the United States, and Bayarjargal from Mongolia. The main purpose of the film is to show how the four cultures differ in their behaviors with infants. One of the striking differences is the role the parents play in the documentary and how they interact with their newborn infants. In contrast, the film also shows the similarities in infancy even in vastly different environments and cultures.
The film Babies takes a look at the development of four babies from four different cultures as they progress through their first year. The film does not try to answer if nature or nurture is more important to the development of these children. However, it does allow observers to explore the interaction between these two complex factors.
The Parenthood film depicts average family that are changing life course which is the building block of many families. We have the father and mother with marital disfigurations of attachments, and lack of attachment between themselves and the relationships involving their four adult children and grandchildren. Furthermore, in this paper a description of accepting the shift generational roles and Structural Theory is analyzed and discussed in an article moreover, the Buckman’s family members accept financial responsibility for self and their families. Lastly, the subsystem chosen for the analysis, speculation is Larry.
The documentary Babies by Thomas Balmès is a film that takes place in four very different locations around the world. The documentary follows four babies and their families from when they are first born as they grow up and are able to walk. We watch Ponijao grow up in Namibia, Bayar grow up in Mongolia, Hattie grow up in San Francisco, and Mari grow up in Tokyo. Because the babies are from such different places, the documentary allows us to see what it is like growing up in cultures that we are currently unfamiliar with. The film opens up your eyes to the various forms of living in other areas around the world. In this paper, I will discuss the universal themes I noticed, my personal reflection of the film, the various
In the movie, Wo Ai Ni Mommy demonstrated that Sadowsky used several ways to help her adopted daughters to appreciate the Chinese heritage. For example, Sadowsky brought Faith to a Chinese school and ask her to continue her Chinese class to keep learning the Chinese language. Also, she was able to meet some other children were Chinese and have adopted by American parents that also provided her a chance to expose other Chinese. In addition, the whole adopt family celebrated the Chinese festival such as Chinese New Year which helps her appreciated the Chinese tradition. Furthermore, Sadowsky let faith talked to her foster parents and foster sister once in a while, which gave her a better motivation to catch up her Chinese identity. In my point of view, Sadowsky let Faith talked to her foster family and greeted them during the Chinese New Year is the most helpful in maintaining Faith’s Chinese identity because it is a unique and meaningful event for Chinese culture. It is a time that all the family members went home for the celebration. It does not only carry the Chinese tradition but also represent Chinese cultural filial spirit. In my own family, we will kneel down and greet the elder people in my family and appreciate how much they did for the family to show our respect. We will practice this custom on the first day of the new year to show our highest esteem for our grandparent
Among the four families in the documentary, “Babies”, there were only some similarities but many differences. There were only a few similarities that I could recognize. One of them was between the Japanese baby, Mari, and the American baby, Hattie. They both participated in a mother and baby class, which involved interacting with others. Another similarity between these two babies is that both of their families got together at least once during the documentary to enjoy a home cooked meal and with conversation amongst each other. Surprisingly, those were only the main similarities I noticed throughout the documentary. In contrast, I did notice many differences among these families of different cultures and societies. One difference was that the baby from Africa, Ponijao, never wore a diaper. When she had to go to the bathroom she would freely go and the excess would be rubbed off on her mother’s knee. While on the other hand, the American baby, Hattie,
Ponijao, the baby from Africa, had a lot of freedom and wasn’t supervised as much as the rest of the babies. Since Ponijao had much more freedom than the rest of the babies she learned to do things a lot faster such as crawling and walking. I believe she learned faster because she spent a lot of time with the older children which I believe had a huge influence on her. At the end of the movie it showed that while the other babies were beginning to walk, Panijao already knew how to run. Bayarjargal, the baby from Mongolia, had somewhat as much freedom as Ponijao but not as much at the beginning.
The documentary Babies depicts the first year of four babies coming from different cultures. The similarity and diversity in the developmental traits of these infants prove that culture has a tremendous impact on experience-dependent development, but serves a trivial role in shaping experience-expectant development. This paper will justify this viewpoint using observations in the documentary. These observations will be categorized into three themes: the relationship between caregiver and the baby, the role of cognitive and motor stimulants in the environment, and baby’s social interaction with people around. Firstly, the connection between the infants and custodian in the movie shows that certain abilities in babies emerge at the same
In the film Babies, 4 infants are being observed for the first two years of their lives which is known as the Infancy and toddlerhood period. In this period there is dramatic change in the body brain because it’s still developing. Each baby comes from different culture, which shows how the various customs can impact the child’s development. Four infants who were introduced in the film were Ponijao, Opuwo, Bayar and Mari. Ponijao was the youngest one among his family members and lives in a village in Opuwo Namibia.
Around the world, children are born into families with different cultural beliefs. In the movie Babies, I observed four infants that were separated by miles of land and oceans. It was fascinating to make comparisons but also identify the differences between each culture and the environment the infant resides in. The families that shared beliefs and lived in farming communities were the infants from Namibia and Mongolia. As for the United States and Japan, they were similar because of their views and modern lifestyle the infants were born in.