Unplanned Irony

Irony: noun. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

Irony is very often funny. Most of our favorite jokes depend upon the witty incongruities displayed by this literary device. But sometimes the disparity between what we expect and what actually occurs is just plain sickening. Allow me to illustrate:

On March 29, theaters around the country will begin showing the movie Unplanned. This film is based on the autobiography of pro-life activist Abby Johnson who was once the highly-regarded director of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Bryan, Texas. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) assigned an R rating to the movie because it contains “some disturbing/bloody images.” Evidently (and contrary to what the pro-aborts would have us believe) even a very brief and discreet portrayal of an abortion procedure is “disturbing.” Well, of course. But an R rating? Really?

Now her’s the irony: In most states, a pregnant fifteen-year-old girl does not need her parent’s permission to end the life of the baby she is carrying in her womb. But she does require adult supervision to watch a movie that deals straightforwardly with the grim topic of abortion. As humorist Dave Barry likes to say, “I am not making this up.”

Parody: noun. An imitation of the style of a particular writer with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

As a pastor-friend of mine likes to quip, “These are hard times for satirists.” In other words, we are quickly becoming the parody; our society’s support of abortion is swiftly devolving into a painfully unfunny joke. Here’s a thought experiment: How could the writers of Saturday Night Live, famous for their cultural satire, parody a situation where a girl could get an actual abortion without her parent’s permission, but would not be allowed to see a movie like Unplanned unaccompanied by an adult? Hard times indeed.

But I suppose there is another way to look at the movie ratings. The MPAA gives a PG-13 to scores of movies that graphically depict the brutal demise of countless bad-guys. But it gives an R rating to a movie that tactfully deals with the slaughter of innocent babies in the womb. Given God’s extraordinary concern for the weak and helpless and the inherent violence of abortion, the good folk at the MPAA might be on to something.

Gene Helsel, pastor King’s Cross Church