There is a show on ABC called "Boston Legal" which is a spin off of "The Practice". It's in its final season. We don't normally watch the show because a.) it's on at 10pm Monday nights and b.) the morality of the characters is usually horrendous. Not to mention that legal shows in general take on "tough" subjects, and usually the "answers" to those subjects are from a liberal point of view, not taking into account other than casually the conservative point. I like my TV, and I don't want to break it by throwing something at it:)
But last night, after watching a show we enjoy, the first few minutes of Boston Legal grabbed us both, and we watched the whole episode.
I should mention, the show has a great style, and one element of the style is that the actors sometimes address the fourth wall (the audience) in suble ways, like they know they are being watched on TV.
The major issue facing one team of lawyers was... abortion.
In this episode, as soon as the client asked for representation (a 15 year old asian girl who wants a "judicial bypass" around the parental consent law), two lawyers began discussing what impact this would have if "life were a TV show and everything I say was being watched". They discussed how to make it funny (the show is very cheeky and sarcastic) and William Shatner's character ended by saying how he could just hear people flipping the channel because of this issue. I figured I should stay and watch!
The show began with discussions among the characters about abortion, and facinatingly and encouragingly, they really discussed it! One character (played by James Spader) is a lawyer who believes in the "right to choose", another (Shatner) is conservative, and brings up the very compelling argument "what about the baby, does it get to choose?" and how they call it "the right to choose" and "a procedure instead of an abortion". Another (played by Candace Bergen), brought in to have the "female perspective" is pro-choice, but really struggles with her own past of having had an abortion, and basically says the girl shouldn't have the procedure because it will scar her emotionally. In fact at one point she is looking at sonograms of a baby at 16 weeks, and it is clear that it is a baby, and the implication in her face is that she is sorry and sad over her decision many years before.
I felt as the plot moved along that the writers were firmly pro-choice, but in creating compelling characters and a realistic look at the issues, they found it hard to argue against a true pro-life position, and really tried to make that point of view strong. At one point William Shatner's character is talking with the James Spader's character about Roe vs. Wade. Spader says that he can feel Roe being chipped away. Shatner responds by stating that he thinks Spader is having trouble with that idea because he is not comfortable with his position morally, and Roe supports what he wants to believe, not the other way around. A very good point.
I then felt the writers saw what was happening, and being liberal, decided to take it in a slightly different direction to bypass having to deal with the issue further. They introduce the idea of the baby being female, the girl being Chinese, and that the girl was having the abortion because it was female and that many Chinese want males, not females.
And then the judge gave some pat "the law can't get involved in telling a girl why she can or can't abort" and took the easy, and liberal, way out.
But the last scene was Shatner and Spader talking about the case. Shatner asks if Spader was part of any "procedures", and Spader says yes. They talk a bit about how they weigh on Spader. Spader then brings up that abortion may have reduced crime by a big percentage (because the aborted babies were the ones more likely to have committed crimes, being from single parent inner city households etc.).
Shatner ends the episode asking "does that help you to justify being part of those procedures?" Spader says... no.
The sense I got from the show was that the Spader character is indicative, deep down, of most pro-choice people. He believes it. He wants it. But he has a lot of trouble justifying it morally, and deep down knows that abortion is wrong. The Candace Bergen character is also indicative of many women who have had abortions. Still pro-choice because they have to justify the procedure they had, but if they had to choose again, they wouldn't choose abortion. And I think the Shatner character was what many pro-life people should be like. Firm in their belief, but willing to dialog, to question, to be delicate with the issue, instead of overbearing or inflammatory, the way many on both sides behave.
I go through this because, though I found that it didn't argue entirely fair (adoption was mentioned in passing among other things) it was an attempt to give fair weight to both sides, and I felt that pro-life came off very well. It was amazing to see, in prime time, a show with major liberal stars with very definite liberal attitudes, dealing with abortion. And really trying to deal with it and justify the pro-choice position, and having trouble doing so. It was encouraging.
If we can have more dialog like this, in shows, movies, whatever, I think that eventually abortion will be frowned on more and more, and that the legal status will be "chipped away" once and for all.
6 comments:
Interesting how the truth found a way to come out despite the characters and the writers. I find it frustrating that it's taboo to talk about abortion. We're just supposed to acknowledge that it's between a woman and a doctor. End of conversation.
check out at least the early seasons of law and order. They do a good job of tackling, at least for the time, very controversial issues and presenting both sides.
YOU STATE in your commentary..."If we can have more dialog like this, in shows, movies, whatever, I think that eventually abortion will be frowned on more and more, and that the legal status will be "chipped away" once and for all."
Aside from the show 'leaning' libral...it always talks both sides...You Should Have Been Watching...it is exactly what you were asking for above! It is going off the air after 5 1/2yrs and there is very little else that even comes close to it's quality. Shame!
Obviously I was watching this time.
I don't normally watch because the show is NOT that good usually. It has an interesting style, but it also gets annoying. It is cynical and very liberal (it only pays lip service to the more conservative side of an issue) and it is very hard to watch because the director has the annoying habit of zooming in and out during a single shot because it is "artsy". I also have major problems with the lack of morality on the show, or more specifically with the warped morality of the show. And... it's on at 10pm, and I usually go to bed around that time.
I have more problems with the show than reasons to like or watch it.
This one show was interesting to me because it was a-typical of the way the show deals with issues.
I know all this because I usually watch the first few minutes (it comes on after a show I do like) to see if it is interesting or because I have settled in and don't want to get up just yet.
It's had 51/2 seasons. Time for something new.
I watched another ABC show tonight (12-3-08): "Private Practice". It also showed both views on abortion even though it is a pretty liberal show on a very liberal network (Disney's ABC).
On medical shows (including "House, M.D.") it is harder to justify abortion since they (the doctors) know it is a baby they're killing. The liberal ones justify the medical procedure as a "the most difficult decision(s) of a woman's life".
Actually, on this show, the "conservative" doctor (who, by the way, performs/carries out IVF's) said, to paraphrase, "A baby died today."
(On the same episode, euthanasia was also tackled.)
I'll be writing a post on my blog about this episode very soon (hopefully this week).
God bless.
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