Movie Review - Juno

Juno is the story of a pregnant teen girl, Juno McGruff, who decides she is going to have her baby and give him/her up for adoption. A local couple, Mark and Vanessa are her choice for adoptive parents. The movie follows her throughout the pregnancy until after birth.

A lot of people consider Juno a comedy, and there are parts that are funny. Juno’s character is witty and solicits a few laughs, but to me, the movie isn’t one I would consider a comedy. For me, the movie acted as a commentary on the weight that pregnancy places on women. As much as your significant other can try to be there for you, or as much as your parents and friends support you, Juno’s situation shows that some parts of pregnancy you do experience alone. And Juno is one of the lucky ones. Her parents are (eventually) extremely supportive of her, she has a supportive best friend, and Mark and Vanessa are there for her to help her and pay all of her medical expenses. Lots of pregnant teenage girls don’t have the support that Juno has. In a sense, Juno is lucky.

“Juno” definitely helps develop representations of girls in regards to Girls Studies. One issue the movie brings up is the idea of being “sexually active.” Juno struggles with the label, and asks if it means she might one day “deactivate”, or if it’s some sort of “state of permanent being”. As we read in “The Purity Myth,” there is a huge emphasis on girls’ sexuality that makes them feel awkward and unnatural. Juno is uncomfortable with the way her intimate life is labeled, it seems like it’s less hers, and less special. By labeling girls’ sexuality like this it emphasizes the initial decision to have sex too much. Now that Juno has had sex she is soiled and will forever belong in the “sexually active category,” even though during her appointment at the doctors office she says that she is “off sex.” In “Juno” we also see the way women judge other women. The ultrasound technician calls raising a baby as a teenager a “poisonous environment.” As we read in some texts this semester, sometimes women are the ones pushing each other down, instead of being their shoulder to lean on. “Juno” allows us to see into the difficult world of being a teenager, and then delves deeper by showing us the life of a pregnant teenager. Throughout the movie Juno is just trying to find answers. We see how she is just like every other young girl despite her circumstances, she just wants to love and be loved.

Oftentimes in society we see pregnancy as sometime between a husband and a wife, people always say “we” are pregnant, but “Juno” shows the situations in which pregnancy can be just a woman’s struggle. Between Juno and Vanessa, it is obvious the bond that women share a bond through the common thread of childbirth. Overall, “Juno” shows a side of pregnancy that is often hidden, the unwanted pregnancy. The movie shows that Juno is more than a pregnant teenager, she is a girl: a sweet, funny, witty, smart, loving, charming girl. We can learn from “Juno” that it’s time to stop judging the decisions of young girls, and start embracing their struggles.