Revisiting “Knocked Up” in 2019
I remember exactly where I was when the idea of Knocked Up being even remotely controversial was first presented to me.
I was sitting in the back row of my 8 am Journalistic Writing class, inappropriately shitfaced from the night before, trying desperately to make it through the lecture without drawing any unwanted attention to myself.
This was already a difficult task considering I was wearing a suit and tie at 8 in the morning (I hadn’t changed yet) and absolutely wreaked of cheap beer and cigarettes.
However, I immediately perked up from my half hammered half hungover stupor when I overheard my professor say,
“It’s like the movie Knocked Up, ya know? Because, when you really think about it, the story is just about sexual assault. A guy impregnates a lady by having sex with her when she’s drunk. That’s assault right?”
This statement has haunted me for over a year now, and I’m still not really sure what to make of it…
I don’t disagree, necessarily. It’s obviously wrong to take advantage of drunk people by fucking them. You shouldn’t fuck drunk people. At least that’s what my mom always told me.
But when it comes to TV and movies, I think it’s a bit more complicated.
First of all, this didn’t. actually. fucking. happen. These are not real people. This is not real life. It’s aaallll makebelieve… (says the guy with a movie blog)
And secondly, treating our entertainment like it’s supposed to be some sort of how-to manual, perfectly laying out how to live a moral life, is absolute horseshit.
If I took all of Judd Apatow’s movies seriously… I don’t know. I’d probably be much quirkier. But I wouldn’t go around assaulting folks, that’s for damn sure.
Point being, Knocked Up is supposed to be ridiculous. It’s a comedy. It’s one job is to make us laugh. That’s it. End of story. And in that sense, I think they crushed it.
In the movie’s defense, it serves as a poignant reminder that you should always wear rubbers. Something that I REALLY need to work on.
Let me know what you think.
-M.T. Kegs
