Window Water Baby Moving

Window Water Baby Moving by Stan Brakhage, 13 min, 16mm, 1959.

 

I hesitate to talk about this one, because it gets pretty graphic.

But I feel like it’s neccecary, so here we go . . .

Window Water Baby Moving is a silent, short film by Stan Brakhage depicting the birth of his first child, his daughter Myrrena.  If you don’t know who Brakhage is, you should, and you will by the time I’m done with you.  Brakhage is an important avant-garde filmmaker; he’s kinda the granddaddy of the whole thing.

                

Window Water Baby Moving was Brakhage’s masculine approach to childbirth, an event from which men are – and more-so were – often excluded.  It’s a fairly straightforward presentation of the entire birthing process.  Nothing is hidden, nothing is sugarcoated, everything is recorde
Window Water Baby Moving by Stan Brakhage, 13 min, 16mm, 1959.

I hesitate to talk about this one, because it gets pretty graphic.

But I feel like it's neccecary, so here we go . . .

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Window Water Baby Moving is a silent, short film by Stan Brakhage depicting the birth of his first child, his daughter Myrrena.  If you don't know who Brakhage is, you should, and you will by the time I'm done with you.  Brakhage is an important avant-garde filmmaker; he's kinda the granddaddy of the whole thing.

Window Water Baby Moving was Brakhage's masculine approach to childbirth, an event from which men are – and more-so were – often excluded.  It's a fairly straightforward presentation of the entire birthing process.  Nothing is hidden, nothing is sugarcoated, everything is recorded with merciless honesty.  (Which is why I had to warn you.)

Depending on how you read this film, your reaction to it could be radically different from others'.  The film exists in its entirety on YouTube, though in two parts:

(This is entirely NSFW, since it contains nudity and, well, grossness.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-drSrvTtZ1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxE3rI-LWm4

It's kind of a shame it's broken up like that, but at least it's better than nothing.  Anyway, Window Water Baby Moving is a sweet and sentimental (albeit gross) look at the beginning of a life, right?  Not so fast.

Some of the critical response to Window Water Baby Moving was that it was producing a narrative of masculine possession, according to film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum,

"[WWBM is] personifying [the] metaphysical conceit underlying the whole American avant-garde Romantic tradition … which reduces the universe to a list of male possessions: This is my wife, my child, my gun, my dog, my camera, my house, my car, my summer vacation, my life."

Whether you agree with that idea or not, it's hard to deny the fundamental beauty that Window Water Baby Moving portrays.  It's intimate, soft, and, while possibly a little fetishist, there's certainly an aspect of reverence to it. 

There have been several works that were created in response to Brakhage's Window Water Baby Moving, at least one of which I'm planning on highlighting either tonight or tomorrow, which is why I felt I had to introduce this one first. (Plus, it's Brakhage!)  So please, consider what you think this film conveys, and let me know what you think.  Another interesting thing to think about is sound.  The film is originally silent, but what, if any, soundtrack would you put to it?  I myself might be partial to Brian Eno's Music for Airports.  Seems to fit.

More on Wiki and IMDB.