The movie "Juno" - a bad example for teens?

[Yaara Shalom]

I was talking to one of my university friends about the movie "Juno" the other day, she expressed her love for the movie and I expressed my sheer dislike to it.

 

If "Juno" had any redeeming qualities, I can't think of them because I was so appalled with what a movie that was so popular with teenagers was conveying. "Juno" is a story of a young girl that gets pregnant. This pregnancy appears in the movie to be a not so big of a deal. The movie basically says "if you're a teenager having unprotected sex and get prengnat - no worries. Worst case we'll give the kid up for adoption".

 

Not only this, there is a complete disregard to the responsibility of the boy who got Juno pregnant to the whole thing. Throughout the entire movie he is in the background, living his life as if nothing had happened, and shows zero to no interest in the pregnancy, in his son.

 

And when the baby is born and given up for adoption, Juno and the boy who got her prengnat (whose name I can't remember) continue living their lives as if NOTHING had happened.

 

My biggest worry is that the movie was very popular with teenagers and that Juno was presented as a "cool" girl. 

 

Will this make teenagers think that unprotected sex and unplanned, teenage pregnancies (don't get me wrong, I don't believe in teenage pregnancies, period. Planned or otherwise. Kids shouldn't have kids. I just want to put an emphasis on the fact this WAS unplanned as teenage pregnancies usually are) is okay? That it's not a big deal if it happens? That this is somewhat even cool?

 

What do you think? Would love to get a little debate about this going on. Maybe I'm the only one who is crazy enough to view this movie in this manner, maybe it's not as bad as I made it out in my head. Let me know what you think.   

[Kohl Hoagland]

I wanted to watch the movie Juno, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. An ex girlfriend and I went through a teen pregnancy four years ago. She ended up getting an abortion after we had already agreed on adoption.
Now, seeing anything relevant to teen pregnancy just hurts to watch. I still lose sleep over what happened.

[Lulu Sinner]

hey i have nothing against him i love him and i think he is like the best character in the movie but the is a dork there is no dening it he just happens to be an awesome dork. but she was a cool out cast and he was just a table d guy

[Jennifer Somers Walker]

I liked this movie when watching it. One of the things that people are saying is that it "glorifies pregnancy." When you watch the movie, and look at the choices she made and the heartbreakingness of it all, i would call it glorified. Real life pregnancy is probably much harder than what is show in the movie, but the movie doesn't "glorify" pregnancy. When I watched it, I got caught up in the story line (as i usually do) and the choices Juno made were...hard. She couldn't have an abortion because in her head one she learned a simple fact about her baby, it was too hard. When she cried, it felt it...emotional kid i am. :p

The other thing was Micheal Cera not really being a "dad." Juno wanted to do this by herself. She didn't want this and she didnt want to blame Bleaker and really (i think), she didn't want more people knowing and getting involved then was required. She wanted to not have this kid be hers, and by saying Bleaker was the dad would get him involved. She wanted independance...and to not have to drag it out and have other people controlling her life (as im sure she veiwed it).

Just my thoughts...any other bigger discussions i missed?

[Waterbender 2010]

hmm well yes and no

[Lulu Sinner]

everyone is talking about juno being a bad influnence but what about the tooth fairy she teaches children from a young age it's ok to sell their bodys

[Lori S.]

I actually just assigned my students a paper sort of about this; for their analysis paper they read a chapter from our textbook about teen pregnancy, then watched Juno, and need to analyze the film in light of the readings. So I'll see what they say (I'm getting drafts tomorrow), and report back.

Personally, I think the movie makes pregnancy and adoption look easier than they actually are. I have two friends who gave up children for adoption as teenagers, and it was painful and traumatic and gut-wrenching--and continues to be so--in a way that the movie just didn't get at. I wouldn't say it really glorifies teen pregnancy, but I do think it kind of glosses over how difficult, in real life, these choices are. But, it's a movie, and I don't think it glosses over the difficulties of real life in a more substantial way than most other movies.

But, I also don't think many teens are going to go, "Wow, it would be super fun to get pregnant and then give the baby up," either. So I doubt it would actually encourage anybody to get pregnant.

The movie basically says "if you're a teenager having unprotected sex and get prengnat - no worries. Worst case we'll give the kid up for adoption".

To play devil's advocate, what would be a better message? "If you're a teenager having unprotected sex and get pregnant, it is the end of the world, your life will be over, and everybody will hate you"? We've pretty much been sending teens that message for decades, if not longer, and teens are still getting pregnant. I think that reducing the stigma around teen pregnancy is a positive thing, because no matter how much we vilify teen pregnancy, some teens will still become pregnant, and they deserve compassion and support.

The result of stigmatizing teen pregnancy very heavily isn't no teen pregnancy: it's pregnant teens being taken out of school and never seen again, after they are sent off to an aunt's house to have their baby in secret. Or, teens hiding their pregnancy and then giving birth to babies in bathrooms and throwing them away. Or, pregnant teens having their boyfriend beat them in the stomach with a baseball bat so their parents won't find out. Those are bad, terrible things, and if erring on the side of being too accepting of teen pregnancy is the alternative, then it's still a much better alternative.

[Lori S.]

Consensus during class discussion seemed to be that Juno did make teen pregnancy seem easier than it was. However, my students seemed to think that the area where it really made it seem easier was around her parents, who they thought responded much more calmly than real-life parents would.

Best comment: The pregnancy wasn't the point; the movie is a coming-of-age story and she just happens to be pregnant in the midst of it. I like that. This was from my student who also knew what an unreliable narrator was, and I'm pretty sure she'd get a really good grade if she'd actually hand in a paper.

[Emily Notmylastname]

In a lot of ways I feel like Juno is kind of a good example for teens. Certainly better than most of the teenagers in movies and on television. I have to admit, its been a long time since I last saw Juno, but the way it seemed to me was Juno made a bad choice and then dealt with the consequences in the best way she could. I don't mean that teen girls should get pregnant like Juno, but I think that if they do, handling it like Juno would certainly not be they worst they could do.

[Espen Oset]

I think it's subjective if you think the film is setting a bad example or not, but I don't think all films neseceraly should teach some universal ethics. I't great to have diversety in all media and art, to show things from several different sides.

[Carly]

You are missing the theme of the film. Juno makes a bad decision and it really hurts her. She feels less connected to her best friend who got her pregnant. She even yells at him about it because she hates that he is off with his friends while she feels alone. She gives up the baby because she knows that she shouldn't have gotten pregnant but because she is pregnant, it is wrong to kill the baby. In the end Juno just wants to know that love is real and that someone can love the same person throughout a lifetime. The baby from the beginning was going to be put up for adoption so Juno and Bleaker did not bond with the child. A lot of lessons were learned by the kids. It is very emotionally straining to get pregnant while being that young and without actually being with the father. Juno did love Bleaker and they wanted to try again at their friendship. Why dwell on the past? Juno did give birth to a child, but it wasn't hers. At the end of the film Juno asks that one question that sums it all up that went something like, I just want to know that two people can love each other.

I hope some of that made sense.

[Tova C.E]

I like the fact that Juno doesn't freak out over the pregnancy. She takes her responsibility, makes a choice, and sticks to it. I think there's too much (conservative) moral in a lot of American films. Too much of "oh my God, you're eighteen and having sex. You're gonna end up a junkie in jail". I prefer the attitude in Juno.

And why should it be the end of the world to her? She managed to give the baby a decent home and got to move on with her life. She got to be a kid a little while longer. I think that's great. I don't think the fact that she got pregnant is supposed to seem cool in the film, but her and the person she is. How she deals with it.

[Abreo]

Michael Cera's character did seem interested in the unborn baby but he was forced into the backround by Juno, and are you seriously taking this movie that seriously? Not only are you taking it way too seriously and overestimating it's effect on kids but you're assuming all teenagers are absolutely retarded and will base everything they know off of this one film. Teenagers fuck because they're horny. Some decide it's not a big deal because they don't think they'll get pregnant and others go in the opposite direction. Not one person who wasn't planning on having sex before changed their mind because of how cool Juno seemed. If anything, I think this movie did some good. It did present a third option for a pregnant teenager who doesn't want to raise a kid and who wouldn't want to abort it. Of course there are plenty of kids up for adoption but still, I may be pro choice but I don't like abortions.