Katha Pollitt knocks it out of the park with her critique of the movie "Juno"

[smokey nj]

Maternity Fashions, Junior Size

Teens getting pregnant: bad. Teens having babies: good. If this makes no sense to you, wake up and smell the Enfamil. It's 2008! The hot movie is Juno, a funnyquirkybittersweet indie about a pregnant high school hipster who gives her baby up for adoption. The hot celebrity is Jamie Lynn Spears, 16-year-old sister of Britney and star of Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, who's pregnant and having the baby because she wants to "do what's right." The teen birthrate, after falling for fourteen years, is up 3 percent, a phenomenon perhaps not unrelated to the fact that abstinence-only sex ed, although demonstrably ineffective at preventing sexual activity and linked to higher rates of unprotected sex, is the only sex ed taught in 35 percent of our schools. (Although maybe teens are having babies for the same reasons grown women are--the birthrate for adults is up, too.)

Written by a woman, Diablo Cody, Juno has been called the woman's answer to Knocked Up, Judd Apatow's hugely successful tribute to accidental fatherhood. Apatow's men are sweet, wisecracking slackers, boys who just want to have fun--porn, pot, fantasy baseball; the women are tightly wound taskmistresses, life's wet blankets. (I thought this dynamic was pretty obvious, but when Knocked Up star Katherine Heigl observed in Vanity Fair that the movie was "a little sexist," all hell broke loose. How ungrateful! Didn't she know actresses are supposed to be seen and not heard?) In Juno, the pregnant girl is the central figure, a witty oddball who drives all the action, beginning with the sex; neither the boy nor her father and stepmother, a well-meaning but rather oblivious pair, much affect her decisions. Thus, Juno goes for an abortion alone, without even telling her parents she's pregnant. In real life, this would most likely have been impossible, because nearly all states in the Midwest (where the movie is set) have parental notification or consent laws. But it's a big advance in realism over Knocked Up or Waitress, last year's other celebration of unplanned pregnancy as the key to getting your life together, neither of which so much as mentioned the A-word. Juno flees the clinic waiting room, grossed out by a punk receptionist who offers her some boysenberry-flavored condoms ("they make junk smell like pie") and given pause by a pro-life protester classmate who tells her her fetus already has fingernails. She decides to give the baby to a deserving couple, and remarkably her parents go along with this.

Juno is a witty, moving but not sentimental film that made both women I saw it with cry. Juno herself is a prickly, winsome, complex and original person: she wears work shirts, plays the guitar and has a luminous intelligence and a pixielike nonsexy beauty, and that is a way young girls are almost never portrayed in films. Still, and maybe this is why I remained dry-eyed, I couldn't get over my sense that, hard as the movie worked to be a story about particular individuals, not a sermon, it was basically saying that for a high school junior to go through pregnancy and childbirth to give a baby to an infertile couple is both noble and cool, of a piece with loving indie rock and scorning cheerleaders; it's fetal fingernails versus boysenberry condoms. To its credit, the film doesn't demonize teen sex; still, a teen who saw this movie would definitely feel like a moral failure for choosing abortion. Do we really want young girls to feel like they have to play babysanta? The mother in me winced at Juno, that wisp of a child-woman, going through the ordeal of pregnancy and childbirth. <snip>

[Samurai_Writer]

1. The adoption slant on this movie sickens me

As a birthmother, I was told all too often "Think of the wonderful infertile couple who is just longing to have a baby," and "You're being so selfless to give your child to such a DESERVING couple."

I pretty much avoid any movie with an adoption/birthmother theme, for this reason.

[smokey nj]

2. As if you weren't deserving of your own child.

:hug:

[bliss_eternal]

5. I also avoid movies with adoption/birthmother themes...

...but for different reasons. Though, whenever I've read of your history with this RadFemFl, my heart goes out to you and I'm that much more enraged by the way women in your situation are treated, even to this day. :hug:

My reasons? First of all, there are still too many children (primarily children of color) in orphanages, foster homes, and within the foster system for years in spite of the many "infertile couples."

Let's not get into all the "poor infertile couples" now opting for expensive "fertility treatments" instead of seeking adoptive children.

No one seems willing to tell the truth which is little beige, brown and black babies just aren't as desirable as little blond haired, blue eyed babies--and frankly, that pisses me off.

[Samurai_Writer]

7. I completely agree with you, Bliss

The one thing I really admire my sister and her husband for, are adopting two Chinese girls. They were both about a year old when adopted. And, my boyfriend adopted a hispanic girl, although locally and a newborn at the time. However, he has a completely open adoption with her birth family, and is a great adoptive dad (or I wouldn't be dating him!). But still, I agree, with all the children languishing in foster care, it sickens me that these couples are so intent on having HWIs (healthy white infants), that they either go to 'white' countries to adopt, pay up to $100,000 for a domestic HWI adoption, or do the fertility treatment/surrogate mother route.

Edit to add a picture of all three adorable girls:

[bliss_eternal]

8. Thank you for the picture...!

They are all so adorable...!

The more you say about your bf, the more he sounds like a keeper. ;) So glad to hear you two are still together and all is well! :hug::hi:

[Ayesha]

13. As someone who wants to adopt eventually

It isn't as simple as that.

The kids in foster care don't get adopted for reasons that go beyond race or ethnicity, although they certainly play a role. But, infertile couples DO adopt non-white children - they just do so internationally. Guatemala, China, Vietnam are all popular countries to adopt from. Those kids aren't white, so what's the difference? First of all, it's difficult and complex to adopt through the foster system. In many cases it involves risking bonding with a child and then losing them because the state would rather return them to their piece of shit drug addict, abusive, biological parents rather than place them in a loving home. Second, a lot of the older kids have serious behavioral issues. I'm willing to consider adopting a child with certain special needs. I am NOT willing to adopt a child that has attachment disorder, is violent, that abuses our pets or tries to burn the house down. Such kids are far too common in the system. Failure to report and/or investigate abuse, and the aforementioned bias towards biological parents, no matter how horrible, means that children stay in abusive homes during the crucial early years of development. The resulting damage is often irreparable.

I truly hope this movie encourages more women to choose adoption. Clearly we have too many people having children that they are unable and/or unwilling to raise with love. If those people were encouraged to choose adoption and/or abortion, we'd have fewer older, abused, damaged children in the foster care system.

[bliss_eternal]

18. I don't think I implied. this issue was simple...

...or that it primarily boils down to race. If that was what you took from my post, I'd like to be clear that wasn't my intent.

I chose to focus on the racial aspect of this issue. Based on my prior experiences and what I've seen of the system, that is my opinion. Are there other issues involved? Yes. Of course. Could your experiences be completely different from mine, as far as who get's adopted and why? Yes, absolutely.

[ismnotwasm]

3. I WAS a teen mother

A crappy one too. No, I'm not just saying that, I've met teen mothers who had what it takes to be wonderful mothers. I was selfish, liked to party, and was always attracted to the "dark side". My kids were in danger more than once and I never saw a CPS worker. Ever. The emotional maturity that it would have taken shown in this movie would have been way beyond me.

My kids loved me in that unconditional way kids have, the resentments didn't come out 'til later. My oldest daughter can tell stories that make me cringe to this day, and she's 29. We've worked things out over the years and are great friends. My son remains a little lost, a little distant, but he loves me, and I have hope.

Would adopting out have been a better choice? Dunno. I'll never know, just as I'll never know if abortion would have been a better choice. I can hear people say, "how can you say that, don't you love your children?" Of course I do. That has nothing to do with it.

I have a grandson. My daughter made her choice. I have a daughter who choose abortion, which to my mind in the circumstances was the best choice.

A couple of things I do know. All my daughters (I have 2 step-daughters, and one birth daughter) all know that they DO have choices, and I support choice.

The other thing I know, partly from being a step mother (my husband had custody and raised the girls when they were small, their mother was very troubled, and passed away some years ago. She committed suicide. And that, is a long, long story in itself) is blood calls to blood. There are very few adoptee's I know who are NOT interested in their roots. There was even a show on 60 minutes about a sperm donor data base for kids trying to find their donor and potential siblings. So matter what is shown about the process, there is always the rest of the story.

Life itself isn't always a happy ending, is it?

[bliss_eternal]

6. Interesting...

...in my opinion (for what that's worth :P) it's amazing that you can be so forthright about your past. It's really refreshing to see someone able to share such memories so honestly, even capable of owning the ways your kids were affected. :hug:

I have a relative that was a teen mom. I vividly recall the abuse this relative raised their child with. Without going into details, it was as bad as it gets. To this day, this person lives in a sort of denial, unable to acknowledge they were abusive on any level. They take responsibility for how great their kid turned out, (in spite of everything)as some sort of evidence that they couldn't have been such a "bad parent".

They choose to see the kid as evidence of adequate or even great parenting, instead of a testament to the resilence of children and of human beings in general. :(

[ismnotwasm]

9. Part of healing

For all of us, was to acknowledge the truth. For a while I was in a bit of "denial" I thought some of the stories were exaggerated-- for effect, maybe. But even then, I let my kids tell their truth. As time went on, and I realized that the stories were NOT exaggerated, and how hard it really was on them. I had no other moral choice as a parent and human being to accept my responsibility for my actions and do my best to atone. My daughter joined the army at 17 was in at 18 and I've always said the military provided her with everything she didn't get as a child. (Thank all the Gods she's out now though)

I tell my grandson the truth as well, as much as he needs to hear at 8. He knows Nana wasn't the best behaved teenager or young adult and had to take algebra when she was old--in her 30's!!

[bliss_eternal]

10. Healing...

...I appreciate that you realize how much growth is involved in your realizations, and that you point this out. It's work, and I know it didn't come overnight.

I hope it's not weird that I'm saying this, (and I don't mean to put you on the spot) but I really admire you. The way you share so candidly, and how far it seems you've come in life. :hug:

I grew up with (and around) people that refused to acknowledge that they were inappropriate at all. They blamed children for their abuse, as opposed to acknowledging that children are entitled to better. It's really cool to read what you share.

I wish things could be different for the relative I mentioned for all involved. The individual seems to live with so much resentment (regarding how they were raised) and denial of how they passed on what they lived with growing up. As well as just acknowledging they were ill-equipped to parent someone when they were still a child, no fault in that at all.

[smokey nj]

4. I just realized that I neglected to include the link to the full article. Here it is. Sorry!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080121/pollitt

[ThomCat]

11. I read that article yesterday, after seeing the movie last weekend.

I really liked the character of Juno. That actor (I don't know her name) totally rocked.

I disliked the way they glossed over and whitewashed adoption. I disliked the way they faked consideration of abortion and then dised it as an option.

I disliked the way nobody seemed to interact with her as a pregnant teen. Other than the crowd parting for her in the hall at school, it was as if nobody at school really knew or cared that she was pregnant. I can't imagine it being no big deal.

I disliked the way the father was a tangential character. He had no involvement, no responsibility, no thoughts about having sex and getting someone pregnant. It just seemed to reinforce the idea that it's all her responsibility. It's all her fault.

The couple who wanted to adopt were portrayed in a fairly shallow way. She was compulsive and desperate for a baby. He was immature and just wanted to be cool and maybe score with the young girl.

It was a very good movie in a lot of ways. I liked the movie as entertainment, but I don't like the assumptions that went into it. A lot more thought went into this movie than into most. But it clearly wasn't a feminist doing the thinking. And this movie definitely won't challenge sexist thinking at all.

[bliss_eternal]

12. Just wanted to comment on the actress...

...she does indeed, "rock." LOL! I took note of her while watching her performance in the film Hard Candy, which also rocked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Page

[Ilsa]

14. So the "deserving couple" was like anyone else except they

had signed a marriage license, and that somehow makes them deserving. Sounds like the baby would have been much better off with Juno.

[Ayesha]

15. Actually

The movie did a pretty good job of questioning whether the adoptive parents were deserving, and what makes a happy and "good" family. I don't want to give away a major plot point, so let's just say it doesn't turn out exactly as you expect.

I saw the movie tonight, and overall, it was amazing. I did feel that it came across as unnecessarily anti-abortion - Juno could have made the same decision without the whole protester/your baby has fingernails scene. On the other hand, Juno was portrayed as a strong young woman making a choice. She was very firm in her decision, and reached it on her own, with no coercion from her parents or the adoptive parents. I didn't see her choice as being selfless - yes, she wanted to do what was best for the baby, but she also wanted to do what was best for her. She wanted to be a teenager, to be free to grow, fall in love, further her education without the struggle of being a 16-year-old mom. And ultimately, she was able to do just that.

[ThomCat]

16. I got that impression too.

[bliss_eternal]

17. Update--Juno is now Oscar nominated...

:(
I'm not at all happy to see "anti-abortion" on the "best picture" nominee list.
I AM happy for Ellen Page, actress in the lead. I liked her work in Hard Candy, and am pleased to see her talent recognized. I just wish it wasn't for this.

[smokey nj]

19. Thanks for the update, bliss

Let's hear it for that librul Hollywood agenda. :sarcasm:

[bliss_eternal]

20. LOL!

People that think that, should acquaint themselves with the true power of Hollywood--the MPAA. They are VERY conservative and I think they are part of the push for this film.

[MountainLaurel]

21. Very well could be

*sigh*

[bliss_eternal]

22. I saw a great piece on the indie film channel about the MPAA...

...kind of a documentary/expose thing. Really interesting.

The MPAA is made up of ordinairy citizens, most are republican, christian, etc. They have NO problem with films featuring violence against women, but have major issues with films featuring women receiving pleasure through sex. Case in point, directors with film segments featuring a woman engaged in sexual pleasure (receiving oral or through masturbation) were told they had to cut the scene or change it somehow. :eyes:

Yet, they routinely leave in segments where women are slashed, beaten, brutalized, etc. Oh and they also have issues with male nudity, but women--hey, no problem. Women were designed to be visually exploited, right? :grr::mad:

This movie reeks of the kind of right wing "family values" crap that the MPAA thinks its about.

[MountainLaurel]

23. I'm not surprised

I remember reading something about how originally Fatal Attraction was written as more of a social piece about a case where a man had an affair and didn't get away with it. But pressure from the studio and test screenings made them change the ending.

[bliss_eternal]

24. That's a good example...

...(Fatal Attraction) of a film that is changed to appease "the powers that be" after test screenings. Originally it had more of an "artistic" ending tying in the Madame Butterfly theme that is presented in the film. (I'm purposely not stating it for those that don't want it spoiled, even though it's an older film).

The ending we now see, was much more of a "woman protecting her territory" kind of thing. :eyes: I can't find any proof of it, but there was a rumour floating about at one time that Glenn Close was not at all happy to re-shoot that ending. She felt the character she helped bring to life NEVER would have gone after his family, the way they wanted her to. Close felt it was wrong from a psychological standpoint.

[bliss_eternal]

25. Another perspective re: the adoption view in the movie

...from a blog:

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/01/07/suburban-legend-juno-teen-pregnancy

[smokey nj]

26. Thanks for this, bliss!!

[ThomCat]

28. That racial angle is really important

but I dare anyone to discuss it in GD. :scared:

[bliss_eternal]

29. LOL! I hear you...

...I caught a bit of flack for bringing up in the context of this thread--though as far as teen pregnancies and adoptions are concerned, it is a valid point and issue.

[bliss_eternal]

27. I'm just so sick of this movie...

it's everywhere. :( I'll be SO happy when awards season is over, and it goes away. (sigh)