Baby God: I did a review back on May 30th, that spoke about a fertility doctor in Indianapolis who had knowingly inseminated many women with his own sperm as opposed to their husbands or other random donors. I had heard news items, vaguely, about this story. It was noted that this doctor was not disciplined. One wondered how many others might be out there. Turns out Crave answers the question quickly with Baby God. This is yet another doctor, this time from Las Vegas who has done exactly the same thing. Dr Quincy Fortier was a well known and lauded doctor in his smaller town and in the greater Las Vegas area. He died in 2006 at the age of 94, and never was charged criminally, never had his license suspended and basically seemed to have paid off in secret settlements those who have accused him. So those who are his accusers have strict confidentiality clauses against them. It is a different approach then that taken from Dr. Cline who pleaded for the offspring and news people to just leave him alone. An added wrinkle to this story versus Dr Cline is an allegation about abuse.
I struggle with this type of documentary with those who are involved. I beleive that the doctors in both cases have acted unethically, irresponsibily and with a secrecy that would seem to suggest assault. If they were providing a service that they are proud to provide, then why all the secrecy? Why not just offer it up to yuor clientele who so desperately want to have a child. The child would certainly have the DNA for intelligence. It wouldn’t be a random stranger, and you would know the medical history for this offspring. Most importantly, you would get the child! Part of my struggle is that nature vs nurture balance. The doctor may have supplied the sperm, and a genetic code, but they are raised by the mother and her spouse. Their values are instilled into this child. It is very interesting to see the physical appearances of the male offsrping especially. There is little doubt in many cases that the doctor was the donor. Glasses, receding hair, many had beards etc. But for the now adult child to talk about violence or improper assault, the possible consequence and high probability is that they don’t exist! Is that better or worse? So in both the stories some of the offspring can seem to be creating quite a buzz over whether they should even be on Earth!
A notable exception in the Baby God scenario was a women who was not sexually active, and yet wound up pregnant. This is offside on so many levels. When the parents of the women find out, they send her off to an Unmarried Women’s Shelter in another State to deliver the child and put it up for adoption. Her life is changed forever, without any input whatsoever.
But for those who desired children, it seems less aggregious. The end result was still the same. One could take the position that these doctors were not physically what these women were seeking. Fair enough. But then again, were their husband’s Mr Universe already? Do you have a right to improve upon the physical appearance of your spouse? Does the spouse think that this is a good idea? And what of the doctor’s themselves? What are their motivations? Dr Cline seems to have had a sexual need to masturbate in a room next to the patients and then deliver his “load” so to speak. But is there a Boys From Brazil type scenario where they believe that the world is a better place with more of them in it? Do they think this is some form of extending their life and passing on “good genes”? We’ll never know from Dr Fortier. There are statements from family exploring the situation about giving blood and assisting his patients in “any way that he could”. But this really is more sinister than that. No one would deny or hide giving blood to save a life. Impregnating random women is quite different. At the end of this documentary it is noted that there are at the time of film release in 2020, twelve doctors being investigated for this activity. As an aside, there was also a question posed to another doctor where routinely at medical schools way back in the day they obtained semen samples. This particular doctor gets notices from time to time about new offspring for him through DNA services. Makes one wonder what exactly these medical schools were doing.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: I liked the first installment of this franchise, the spin off from Happy Potter, back in 2016 (my post Nov 21, 2016). It focused on the creatures and Eddie Redmayne who was their awkward, quirky handler. He meets up with Katherine Waterston at the Ministry of Magic and her sister, Queenie who befriends an amusing muggle baker. Episode two introduced the Johnny Depp character named Grindelwald and his crimes. Think of him as the precursor to Voldemort, and the desire to purify the magician’s state. It was alright, but I certainly didn’t run out to seek it. Rather I waited for TV when I wouldn’t have to spend real money on it. I actually saw episode one in the theatre. But I digress. This latest installment has Mads Mikkelsen admirably replacing Johnny Depp, who was busy dealing with his soon to be Ex-wife in Court, and Jude Law coming in as a younger Dumbledore. Katherine Waterston plays a much lesser role, virtually nothing. So the characters have moved on but the story struggles for me. In short, the crimes of Grindlewald are being ignored with little to no punishment, all the while he is lurking behind the scenes to rig an election for himself to put him in a position of power. I think that this series has lost some of the momentum. There is a ridiculous scene with Redmayne looking to keep some scorpion-like creatures at bay, and his solution just seems laughable. The box office would suggest the audience needs more, and while I still like the Queenie story, she isn’t in this enough. There is one secret of Dumbledore that I had to admit raised my eyebrow. If you choose to see this you can decide which one you think it is for me. If you are a Harry Potter super-fan, you may feel compelled to see this. Otherwise it could wait.
Mondays With Robbie 