Juno Makes Me Wish I Had a Boy

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Juno Makes Me Wish I Had a Boy

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

filed under: family

A Momologue by Andrea: As the mother of a 22-month-old daughter, watching Juno was like a terrifying look into the future. Warning!! CONTAINS SPOILERS!

I'm thinking of locking my daughter in her room until she's sixteen, maybe eighteen.
I just saw Juno and between that, the Jamie Lynn Spears fiasco and the episode I caught of MTV's A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, I might have no choice. How else can I make sure she's not going get knocked up or even worse, host a trashy reality show?

Especially since Juno, one of this year's most popular indie flicks, makes unplanned pregnancy seem "LIKE TOTALLY AWESOME, DUDE!" Sure the lead character has a lot going for her: she's intelligent, plucky and extremely resourceful. But she's also an immature idiot. When she decides on a whim to have (unprotected) sex with her friend Bleecker and gets knocked up, she shrugs it off as a minor inconvenience. In fact, no one in the movie seems to think it's a big deal, not her parents, not the unborn baby's daddy and certainly not Juno's best friend, Leah, who's only interested in the locker room details of Juno's exploits:

LEAH: What was it like humping Bleeker's bony bod?
JUNO: It was magnificent, man.

Oh God, please say this isn't how teens really talk.

Okay, here's my synopsis of the remainder of the plot:

Juno, handling her predicament with detached snark, manages to find an adoptive parent for her nine month "science project" and graduates from High School with nary an emotional scar. The End.

Wait one minute; a movie where the lead character makes a life-altering mistake with absolutely zero consequences is a hit with teens? Go figure. I can't wait until Hollywood gets it right and depicts the real repercussions of a teen pregnancy. Until then does any one know of a good chastity-belt manufacturer?

filed under: family

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FYI but boys get pregnant too.

- Naisha

Posted 01/08/08 04:46 PM

Not sure what that last comment meant. I just have to add that I thought the movie was a great launching pad for discussion among parents and teens. Although it may have appeared everyone was unscathed… I think there was a lot of underlying pain that couldn’t go unnoticed.

- Anonymous

Posted 01/08/08 05:29 PM

The adoption community is not really pleased with the movie either. (Though, it shouldn’t need to be stated but I will all the same: everyone has their own point of view and that’s a-okay.) A birth mother who relinquished during the closed era said it was basically traumatizing to watch. Myself, as a mother who placed her daughter into a fully open adoption, well, I can’t bring myself to watch it. I don’t want to sit in a theater and hear people laugh at what was the most awful experience of my life. And while I recognize that comedy is comedy, the overly flippant attitude that relinquishment is a piece of cake is not something that I can or want to resonate with nor do I wish to support it financially. All that said, it doesn’t get a thumbs up from the birth/first parent blog. Obviously!

- Jenna

Posted 01/08/08 10:37 PM

I think it’s a mischaracterization to say that Juno makes teenage pregnancy appear “totally awesome.” Among other scenes, the movie depicted Juno facing a high school friend in the abortion clinic parking lot, being uncomfortable in the clinic waiting room and running out, having to tell her parents (even though it is true they didn’t get as upset as some parents likely would) and discussing the bodily and emotional changes and challenges of pregnancy in general and teenage pregnancy in particular. It also showed the disparaging looks she received from peers at school and the reaction of the ultrasound tech was symbolic of community response to teenage mothers. These are just some of the ways the movie shows the challenges of teenage pregnancies.

- Jeanette

Posted 01/08/08 11:01 PM

Yah jamie lynn shackes her pregnancy off and doesnt mop around and be ashamed it. It is already there she may as well make the best of situation…would you rather her have an abortion? And who are you to say shes an inmature idiot?…You dont even know the girl! DONT BELIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN MAGIZINES OR WATCH ON TV… I had an unplaned pregnancy myself as a teen..and i finished school and im no less than a good mom as a 35 year old married woman…You really need to grow up yourself and quit hating on Jamie Lynn she is trying! And im sure she will be a wonderful teen mom..Thank you very much.

- Brittany

Posted 01/13/08 01:20 PM

Brittany, I’m glad you are a great mom. It is unfortunate, however, that you had to miss so many English classes. It is never too late to go back to school.

- James

Posted 01/21/08 05:56 PM

the movie was good, but here is the truth I am a seventeen year old who is pregnant and believe me the movie has life all wrong. People when you get pregnant then have a comment for this. life is hard it’s not like ok im giving my baby for adoption, IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!! its hard every body stares at you and not in a good way. to tell you the truth adoption is for people who can’t give their child a life, if this is not the case then take reponsibility for it. PEOPLE GROW UP!!

- Anonymous

Posted 06/01/08 07:32 PM

i THINK THAT ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT THE TEENS HOW GOT PERGO BY PLANING IS DO TO THE MOVE JUNO, AND JAMIE LYNN IS VERY DUMB.THERE HAVE BEAN AND ALWAYS WILL BE GIRLS GETTING PREGO IN HIGH SCHOOL. ALTHOUGH NOT BERODCASSED ON TV LIKE THE “PLANED GIRLS” THERE WAS A LOT OF GIRLS PERGO IN MY GRADUATING CLASS OF 06 15 SHOWING AND THREE THAT WERNT AND THAT WAS BEFOR THE MOVIE JUNO AND JAMIE LYNN.I THINK THAT THE MOVIE VERY MUCH TELL OF HOW HARD IT WAS TO BE PERGO AND HOW HARD IT WAS TO GIVE THE BABY UP AND YES PEOPLE STAIR AND MAKE VERY MEAN COMMENT.TOO THE MOM WHO THERE KIDS JUST GOT PERGO DONT BLAME THE MOVIE OR JAMIE LYNN . JUST BE THERE FOR THEM.AND THIS FOM A MOM HOW GOT PERGO AT 15 HAD AT 16 THEN A GEAN AT 16 HAD HER AT 17

- britneyzencka

Posted 06/20/08 08:44 PM

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