Juno the movie - Was I the only one who wondered about the pro-life message of the film?

Juno the movie - Was I the only one who wondered about the pro-life message of the film? April 7, 2008

Filed under: Queer Films you gotta see. — admin @ 6:23 pm

I’m flying back from New York on an airline that offers me movies right in front of my face for five dollars. I’m so excited to see Juno and see what this Ellen Page fiasco is all about, never mind to help me endure an 8 hour plane sit. I’m immediately charmed and in love with Juno; I’m sure if I saw this when I was 16 I would have a new star crush even though she’s pregnant half the film. Not that being pregnant isn’t beautiful and all that jazz, but I could imagine it might be hard to hold onto a 16 year old lesbo crush when the crush is pregnant. Although, maybe a 16 year old lesbo and a 16 year old pregnant girl have a lot in common; I might have identified with how she is othered, feels different, and is isolated. A reviewer at www.slashfilm.com describes Juno as “more about the girl’s journey to find herself,”and I can agree with that. He feels women might relate to it better than other films tackling similar themes. And Micheal Cera’s legs are really cute in the short yellow shorts. He is playing the same character as in the TV series Arrested Development. I don’t mind though, it works for both.

Even though I’m charmed, I still feel like some pro-life messages are being thrown our way. It is almost the most comedic part of the film when her classmate just happens to be demonstrating in front of the clinic all by herself, “Your baby has fingernails already.” Then she’s in the clinic with people that ‘are not of her usual surroundings’ making it look like abortions are for freaks, poor people, scum of the earth types, and maybe I saw some people of color? Am I painting the right picture here? Help me out. Are there people with an agenda that funded this film? Hmmm.

BTW Diablo Cody is an amazing writer. Pant pant pant. Read about her rise to success from office job, to stripper, to writing a blog, to writing a book, to writing her first screen play in this NY Times article.

3 Comments for this post

Samantha Says: April 8th, 2008 at 7:18 pm

When I left the movie, I didn’t feel like it had a pro-life message really. Even when I thought back to it and thought about if it did have that kind of message, because I was unsure after thinking about it. A lot of the pro-life people kind of saw it that way, but I think with the abortion clinic scene, it wasn’t meant to be something to scare women or be disturbing in anyway…other than the weird girl at the counter, but I don’t think it was suppose to add to any kind of idea of pro-life, just comedy.
And the people in there didn’t seem like they were “poor people or scum of the earth” types. Though, I will have to agree with you on the racial minority thing. There weren’t too many others in the rest of the film.
I think that she decided to keep the baby at that instant she ran out not because she wanted to bring life necessarily, but because she was about to get an abortion, which is really frightening especially for a teenage girl going to the clinic by herself.

admin Says: April 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

The film did do a good job of sharing both sides of the decision making coin. It was both provocative and satirical - so I do agree with you Samantha that it was funny. Plus it is one girl’s life in one moment of time. I wish Diablo Cody would share her views on this.

Martha Says: April 13th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Being pro-choice myself, I think the pro-choice position is often misunderstood. It’s not, by definition, an anti-life position. The beauty of having a choice is that women can choose to give birth or not. In the movie, a young teenager struggles with the decision of whether or not to go through with her pregnancy. Initially, she chooses not to, but then changes her mind. That’s pro-choice in a nutshell. She had the choice/right to terminate her pregnancy (though that would have shortened the movie considerably), but ultimately chose to have the baby. Either choice would have been valid, but more importantly, each is her choice to make.
My biggest problem with the pro-life camp is the characterization of pro-choicers as anti-lifers or baby killers. Choice implies freedom. No one can force you to have a child; no one can force you not to.