By: Cedric Wu

In the past, a pregnant man was a punchline in many tv shows, but recent movies have turned this punchline into fear.. For some peculiar reason, pregnant have been represented as terrifying in multiple recent movies.

Alex Garland’s “Men” has pregnant men as one of its horrifying driving points. The film follows Harper, who sets out on a countryside getaway only to get tormented by a group of pathetic male archetypes like the passive-aggressive nice guy and the perverted vicar. At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), one of the men gives birth to another which gives birth to another and so on until all of the archetypes are born.

Andrew Semans’s “Resurrection” uses a similar plot twist. The film follows Maggie who unravels after spotting David, a man from her past. It is revealed (spoiler alert) that David had forced Maggie into an abusive relationship in the past, impregnating her and eating the baby. Now David believes that the baby is still living, acting like he is pregnant.

Though pop culture has been attracted to pregnant men for quite a long time, it treated the subject as something humorous. For example, the trope garnered laughs in the 1978 joke film “The Rabbit Test” and the heartwarming rom-com “Junior”. “The Rabbit Test” only uses the concept of pregnant men as comedy. It isn’t driving a point, and it does not portray a woman’s actual distress while in pregnancy.

“Junior” on the other hand implements the idea to its fullest. It was made at a time when there was still considerable division between genders. The film follows a scientist, played by Arnold Schwarzeneggar, who gets an embryo implanted inside him. “Junior” is also a comedy film like “The Rabbit Test ” but it plays into pregnancy much more. Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s maternal and heartfelt performance makes the film much more than a gag.

It is somewhat strange that pregnant men are now a horror component. It is most likely the fact that it can be viewed as psychotic-like in the case of David in “Resurrection”. It is indeed an unsettling concept, something that is seen as impossible and ridiculous. David’s claims of him being pregnant are undoubtedly ridiculous but so is regular pregnancy. Though it may be a popular topic, many never considered the reality of such an idea. Many transgender men can become pregnant. Films rarely consider this and instead use it as an element of fantasy or a simple gimmick.

“If pregnancy represents horror in a man, it is meant to signal the opposite in a woman — she must be nurturing, preternaturally understanding, good.” Says internet columnist Amanda Hess. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to think about that, but I know how I felt: like a punchline to an old joke.”

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/movies/pregnant-men-resurrection.html