The Academy Awards were yesterday and admittedly I was cheering for Juno, partly because I love the underdog, especially the arthouse, lower-budget less glitzy films, but also because I really liked Juno. As a side note, it turns out that Diablo Cody, Juno's writer, grew up in Lemont and attended Benet Academy high school. I have lots of friends who went there, and one of them used to carpool to school with Diablo's brother (small world & all the more reson to cheer for Juno). Diablo Cody said in an interview that the movie was really not about teen pregnancy but instead it was about maturity and relationships that Juno experiences while going through pregnancy. But stepping back and examining the movie which seems to be a hit with my classes, I worry that it sends the wrong message about teen pregnancy. Do you think the movie makes it look fun in sort of an unlikely way? Does it seem that pregnancy brings Juno closer to her boyfriend? Is this the message that teens see in the movie? Or do they instead see a cute movie about being pregnant. Karen Steinhemmer writes in her blog that Juno has much factual insight into the difficulties of being pregnant in high school and the stereotypes that go along with it. I like her blog, but I am not sure that this is what teens get out of the movie. What do you think? I think there is very little emphasis on how difficult it is to be pregnant in general not to mention the difficulty of being in high school and being pregnant and the negative stereotypes that go along with it. There is also very little of the emotion from birthing the baby and the feelings of loss and emotional turmoil afterwards.
As a side note Diablo Cody got her start in writing by blogging!
Kind of interesting that Cody was also a stripper before she started writing screenplays. I bet it has a large influence on the material she writes.
ReplyDeleteIt was hard to tell from Juno, right? I thought it was refreshingly down to Earth.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly it, the movie is a refreshing take on the serious issue of teen pregnancy. It's not even necessarily about the pregnancy, as Diablo said, it is about the way the family and friends deal with it. The humor only adds to the realism in my opinion because it is the most basic way to deal with an unfortunate situation.
ReplyDeletei think it makes pregnacy seem a good thing becasue it brings her closer to her boyfriend. It seems like that her parents condone it and think it is ok that she is pregnate. I mean I know things happen, but her parents should be less encouraging about it and i think that she should of had a little more consiquences.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Juno.
ReplyDeleteI thought there was something light about it despite the whole pregnancy issue.
Diablo Cody has a pretty fun blog to read...maybe not sociology appropriate but good all the less.
I don't think Juno sends a positive message about teen pregnancy. In the beginning, Juno considers getting an abortion but can't go thru with it. She ends up failing for man who is suppose to adopt her baby which unintentionally causes him to divorce his wife. I think the movie shows how teenagers are not at the right maturity level to deal with pregnancy. At one point in the movie, Juno comes home and her dad asks her where she was. Juno responses, "just out dealing with stuff way beyond my maturity level". (I've seen the movie several times).
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