It's one of those TV and film tropes that once you notice it, it's hard to unsee: the traumatic awakening of a character's superpowers. For female characters, this often comes after sexual violence, like a character developing telekinesis after sexual abuse in "Angel," or Daenerys Targaryen in "Game of Thrones" coming into her own power and confidence following her wedding night assault by Khal Drogo, during which she sobbed.
This is a harmful trope, and in the last few years, screenwriters have finally started to realize women have other traumas. Let's try pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood for a while! Is this less harmful? The recent films "Evil Dead Rise" and "Clock" present impending motherhood as sources of power and fury, but like the sexual violence tropes of yore, they dwell in dangerous and unrealistic absolutes. Embrace motherhood whole-heartedly or reject it, the films say. There is no between. But in the gray area is where most motherhood and pregnancy experiences — and the most interesting stories — actually lie.
