Babies

“Have you seen the film Babies?”, my friends asked one evening over dinner? Of course I had not. I have just never been one of those people who likes babies. You know the kind that plays peak-a-boo with stranger’s babies on the buses or exclaims, “that is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen”, to every baby. I was apprehensive of my friend’s judgment when they enthusiastically recommended Babies, a feature length film following four babies in different countries, from their birth to their first birthday, with no dialogue. NO dialogue!

But, I watched the film. I sat in front of the TV transfixed by the four pudgy babies as they go about the first year of their lives. How did this happen? Did the chemical balance in my brain change? Have I reached some kind of fertile peak? Then in Tuesdays class the answer came to me. Babies is about what Lacan called the real. I was transfixed because I was watching natural human experiences – the wide eyed curiosity that only babies have, learning to walk, not having the use of language – yet, it was something I cannot remember or even image. The real is not only a source of fright; it is the object of our desires. As the babies explore their world, the movie exemplifies the early childhood realization that we are separate from the objects around us. Language slices up our experience; it convinces us that the world can be separated into different units. Without language, the babies are all equal. Their sense of self is not developed, yet cinematography and the human nature to make connections imposes on each baby personality. Despite the lack of dialogue and their different environments, the cinematography creates a plot as the babies almost simultaneously goes through the stages of life - being fed, taking a bath, learning to crawl, having a fit. Watching Babies, we are faced with the loss of the real. The real is impossible, and though it is lost, it still as an incredible power over our emotions. The transfixing power of Babies demonstrates how much power the real has over my emotions. I highly recommend watching Babies.