The representation of childbirth in serial fiction: absence and mediation

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives. This paper analyses how television series from the so-called third golden age have represented childbirth, identifying their main features. It also specifically examines the contemporary series Dead Ringers (Amazon Prime, 2023) as a case study. Methodology. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis was employed to describe, in an objective and systematic manner, the representational discourse in the series studied. Aspects such as the depiction of childbirth and caesarean section, the associated discourse, and the preceding processes were coded. The corpus covers US and Anglo-Saxon television fiction from 2001 to 2023, with over two hundred series analysed. Qualitative coding enabled the identification of representational patterns with high inter-coder reliability. Results. Series rarely show childbirth in its entirety. The image of the mother as a passive subject predominates, birth is mostly presented as medicalised, and caesarean sections almost never appear on screen. These features are foregrounded and made explicit in Dead Ringers, which addresses them through its narrative and offers a graphic and realistic vision of childbirth, focusing on female autonomy and ethical dilemmas. Conclusions and Discussion.  This research is necessary because childbirth has been underrepresented in audiovisual fiction, and there are few academic studies on this subject. Dead Ringers, as a case study, confirms the identified representational tropes and provides a critical perspective on medicalisation, female bodily autonomy, obstetric violence, and the commodification of the body, challenging stereotypes and highlighting new ways of portraying motherhood on screen.