Stuck in Juno Limbo

The story of Juno is relatively simple. Our rebellious socially awkward Juno has sex with Bleeker and winds up pregnant. She chooses not to have an abortion but to give the baby up for adoption, and tells her father and stepmother her situation and plans. She finds a yuppie couple for a family for the unborn baby, gets hit on by the yuppie dad, breaks up the yuppie couple, gives the yuppie mom the baby, and things go back to normal with Bleeker. The movie ends with Juno and Bleeker singing a cute little duet outside of Bleeker’s house. And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

If we’re taking our cues from this, then Christensen would probably say we’re teaching teenagers that it’s okay to get pregnant. We’re teaching them that all they have to do is give the baby up, that there are no real feelings involved, and that things will just go back to normal. I’d like to hear how easy that all is from an actual teenage mother, because I’m pretty sure you won’t find many with stories like that.

When it came to seeing Juno, I wasn’t really sure what to think. It was okay. I left thinking “I’m glad I didn’t see this at home because tickets are totally $10” I think the fact that the ticket was only $5 was what allowed me to not totally hate the film. I’m pretty sure I laughed when I was supposed to, got angry when I was supposed to, and felt bed when I was supposed to. Although the movie did have some funny little moments, overall it didn’t leave me feeling wowed.

I found the dialogue obnoxious and it left me feeling like the writers tried way too hard to be cool. I found the movie itself pretty irritating. I can’t imagine myself getting pregnant and not freaking out about it. In fact, Juno didn’t really seem to show any strong emotion either way about this little surprise. I also can’t imagine telling my family that I was pregnant and having them be okay with it right away. I just found myself unable to relate to the movie. It wasn’t like I couldn’t relate to the situation, one of my best friends in high school got pregnant at 16.

Another thing I found to be off was the fact that Juno wasn’t ridiculed the way I had imagined. She was a social outcast to begin with, so to me, it seemed like she wasn’t really looked at or treated much differently than she had all along. My friend from high school was also a social outcast, however, she was absolutely tortured when she got pregnant. She would walk down the hallway and people would call her a slut and a whore, even though they knew full well she had only ever been with one guy. I imagined a stronger response from Juno’s peers just because that’s what I had seen with my friend.

It was cool to see a strong female character that didn’t need a man to get through her pregnancy and marry her and take care of her (because we all know women can’t care for themselves) I didn’t like the fact that there weren’t any real consequences for Bleeker’s actions. What was the worst that happened? He and Juno weren’t together for a few months! She has his baby, gives it up, and everything goes back to normal!

I’m not saying the movie wasn’t enjoyable. If it hadn’t at least kept my attention, I would have left the theater. I wasn’t offended, and I wasn’t impressed. Like I said, thankfully it was only $5. Juno was obnoxious, but it wasn’t the worst movie I’ve seen. I didn’t really like it and I didn’t really hate it. I guess I’m just stuck in Juno limbo!