Babies Documentary Analysis

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The documentary, “Babies”, captures the lives of four babies from very different ethnic backgrounds. The four babies featured in the film are, Hattie from San Francisco, California, Mari from Tokyo, Japan, Bayar from Bayanchandmani, Mongolia and Ponijao from Opuwa, Namibia. The film shadows each of the babies throughout their first year of life, focusing mainly on certain aspects of their lives; this allowed the viewers to further understand how each baby was socialized in their particular environment. The agent of socialization, known as culture assistance, in understanding the differences in the way they are socialized. They all have one thing in common though; they are all babies whom have encompassed many similarities as well. Three…show more content…
Each baby in the documentary were raised alongside their families who taught them what they needed to know. While loving them unconditionally, they all expressed it in such a unique way. Hattie lived with her mother and father, whom both spent an equal amount of time taking care of her. With Hattie being their only child, all their time was spent with her, which included feeding her to reading her books before bed. Even when they were occupied with other tasks, Hattie was always nearby. For example, while the mother was cooking, Hattie played in a bouncer that hung from the kitchen’s ceiling. In addition, while the father was working, Hattie searched through his pile of papers on the floor. They made sure to split the responsibilities of taking care of Hattie, which is also similar to Mari’s parents. Mari, just like Hattie, is the only daughter to a couple who put all of their time into caring for her, playing with her and raising her with the values of their culture. When Mari was born, her mother wrote something on the bottom of her feet in their language. Mari is not only surrounded by the love of her parents, but she has lots of extended family also; which was shown at her first birthday celebration. The next two babies lived a dissimilar lifestyle than that of Hattie and Mari. Nonetheless, baby Ponijao, was surrounded by extended family members, similar to Mari. Ponijao was one of many children to her parents. Her siblings and her lived in the presence of their mother and other female family members/female members of the village, and their children. Since there was no father figure around, the older siblings took partial responsibility for the care of the younger ones; the mothers also never left the kids side. Bayar, on the contrary, was not around his parents as much. His father never seemed to be around, while the mother was always working

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