BABIES [XC]

1. Did one culture, shown in the film, have a better way of parenting than the others?

Of all the babies, Ponijao (Namibia) seemed to turn out the best. But of course, that is based on a scale that measures how social the baby is, or how interactive he/she is with his/her surroundings. And it seemed that the movie was trying to highlight that particular aspect about the development of a baby. With that being said, and assuming that Ponijao was one of the better-raised children, it seems that the better way of parenting would be to allow the child to explore while providing the guidance and resources that they need. In Ponijao's case, his mother was constantly breast feeding him, and eating while he ate- she was not only providing for him his necessities, but she was also there to experience those necessities alongside with him. Meanwhile, some of the other parents, particularly Hattie (America), gave them what they needed and just left them there. But it wasn't that the other parents left their baby alone at all times, and played no role in their development. It was just that they had bursts of conscious efforts. Hattie's and Mari's (Japan)parents went to those group classes, and imitating whatever the stranger (or as they call her, the instructor) was doing. Whenever the schedule was, or whenever the parents had free time, there were these sudden bursts of efforts from the other parents, while the Ponijao's mother was more passive. But then again, it seemed that the mothers in Namibia only had the responsibility of taking care the child and the nest. So their main focus was on the child, while the other mothers had to worry about their career and making a living as well, which I would assume is the main focus of the males in Namibia, based on their appearance (or rather their lack of appearance) in the movie.

Aside from the consistency of the parental guidance, it also seems that parenting closely with other parents helped the child develop a sense of comfort with people outside their family. Ponijao was surrounded by other babies and other children, and thus he was more sociable and was less shy, compared to Hattie, who would want to leave if she was in a circle filled with other parents and children. Babies with more interaction with other children were also more comfortable with animals as well. Bayar (Mongolia) and Ponijao were constantly interacting with the animals (cats, dogs, goats, cows, other children, etc.). Even Mari had her moments where she was playing with the cat. However, Hattie, an only child who was rarely playing with other children, left the cat alone even when she was within two feet from the cat. Based on all this, it seems that parenting in a close community is also another aspect of "better parenting."

3. What looked universal - common to all humans - from the film - at least as edited? Why is this universality significant?

One of the most important universal thing about developing as child, and even as a human was portrayed in the very first scene. It was the motion of interacting with other people, but more importantly the motion of imitating another person. In the first scene, we see that Ponijao was doing what he saw from the baby, which was hitting a small rock against a bigger one. Throughout our lives, particularly the earlier stages, we learn through imitation. We even see this later on in the movie, when the children begin to speak, and when they begin to imitate the sounds and the music that they hear from their parents and their community. Regardless of where the baby is from, we can see the role of imitation in their behaviors. It's a monkey-see-monkey-do world.

Another universal aspect portrayed in this movie is the rise or the fall of going between an animal and a human. Based on the Thomas Balmès's choice of camera angles and music, he would probably say it's a rise. We all start off as animals (and remain as animals throughout our lives, but with more humanistic behaviors). Similar to most other mammals, we start off moving by crawling, on our four limbs. As we develop more and more, we first learn to stand- getting on our two lower limbs, and eventually moving on those two limbs. And at that point, Balmès would say that we have triumphed as babies, given his choice of what the last scene was- Bayar, alone on a hill rising up on his feet, as the sun begins to set, and as the music shifts from the instrumental percussion portion of the song, to the lyrical portion.