oh my god

I have an IQ of 142 and I feel compelled to weigh in on this issue. First of all, the intelligence quotient is just a measure of how smart you are in relation to other people. Maybe when you took the IQ test, the rest of the world was entering a phase of stupidity. Was it during the 2004 elections?

Really, if you're going to tout your IQ you should have something that no one else is packing. I don't like bringing up my IQ because there's always someone who'll trump my ace (that's why I learned to do one-handed push ups - a lot less people can do that). Unless you've got a strong flush like Marilyn vos Savant, it's best to just play your cards close to the table and let people decide if you're smarter. This is a surprisingly easy trick to pull off, because you just have to let the other person do most of the talking and then make fun of them.

Roe vs. Wade was decided in 1973, so if there was going to be a horror movie made about the repercussions of the Lady's Choice law, 1974 would have been the year. While "It's Alive" was no blockbuster, there is no denying the fact that it was made in 1974. It also deals with pregnancy, unwanted consequences of (attempted) contraception, and infanticide; so yes, the film does share some strong themes with pro-life sentimentalism.

In fact, a few other movies made in 1974 have motifs that tie them to the anti-abortionist movement. The movie "Earthquake" was a blockbuster hit in 1974 (#4 in the box office for the year). Roe vs. Wade could be called an earth-shaking decision, and "Earthquake" was if nothing else a movie about a mother (Earth) killing her children, the most unnatural act of all. So it seems probable that "Earthquake" was also fuel for the war machine known as the Pro Life movement.

And then there's "The Godfather II": #5 in the box office that year, it was replete with homicidal patriarchal figures, familial murder, and unambiguous moral positions on abortion and its effect on family life. If any movie has swayed the national psyche to follow the fascist dictates of Pro Lifers, it is probably this one.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" also came out in 1974, but that movie was so clearly a protest against the senseless violence of Vietnam and the hopeless terror of a future dominated by the Cold War, that it seems silly to try to analyze it in terms of the anti-abortion movement (despite the obvious symbols, like the chicken skeleton in the bird cage or the fact that Leatherface is wearing a mask made of human skin!) - certainly it was not just a silly horror movie meant to net some filmmakers some money.

After looking at 1/3 of the top 10 movies that year, it's statistically clear that a careful analysis of other movies made in 1974 and succeeding years will reveal a virulent strain of anti-woman propaganda that has poisoned American movies for decades. Insignificant as they may be, "It's Alive" and its progeny are the most blatant and visible pox marks of a very serious disease. If we do not take care to inoculate audiences, hundreds if not thousands of people will be tricked into considering the possibility that abortion may not be good after all.

You were pissed off over literally nothing. Savor the irony.