Juno shows teenage pregnancy as being pretty easy with minimal impact on a young girl’s life and her family. Juno can be admired for being brave and her parents for handling their daughter’s pregnancy calmly, supporting her rather than condemning her.
However, the movie could easily send a message to young girls that pregnancy is no big deal; that nothing much changes except the protruding belly. Towards the end of the movie we do see the character dealing with difficult issues and needing to take more responsibility for her actions, but this accounts for a small part of the movie.
In the end life goes on as though nothing ever happened, the two youngsters fall in love, kiss and sing into the sunset. Again, this sends a message to youngsters that pregnancy and its consequences are simpler than they really are. – Nosimilo Ndlovu
If I had to fall pregnant at the age of 16 I would have found Juno inspirational. The movie is simple and real – it neither sugar coats nor negatively distorts teenage pregnancy. It portrays the concept of choice and how, once you made the decision to go through with a pregnancy, you might as well make the best of it. I think the movie might take a bit of the load off a teenage mother – allowing her to breathe, laugh with and reconsider the possibilities of her pregnancies.
But I can imagine that the shock of becoming pregnant may overcrowd a mother-to-be’s senses, which makes it difficult to immediately decide what would be best in the long run. What makes the movie successful is that it will, if nothing else, create a space for teenagers to think of the consequences of teenage pregnancies. – Surika van Schalkwyk
Juno tells a story unusual for it’s genre. It received praise from conservative America because the main character decides not to have an abortion. One wonders just how happy those same viewers would be to note that, on close inspection, Juno trivialises a woman’s attachment to her spawn. The film really does tell the story of a girl whose experience of having a baby begins with the sex and ends with the birth. For most of the film she is flippant about the process and eager to close this chapter of her life.
Speaking from the male point of view, Juno doesn’t exactly make heroes of budding fathers. The father of the baby keeps himself out of the picture for most of the film. He lets Juno decide what to do with the baby, didn’t attend ultrasounds (to be fair he did meekly offer to) and generally isn’t around until the baby is about due – when Juno’s generally blase attitude toward the pregnancy starts to wane and she needs emotional support.
The film was brilliant, it doesn’t try to idealise anything (except perhaps Juno’s exceptionally supportive parents). Budding first-time parents are bound to be awkward, scared and flawed, in sometimes critical ways. But there is no technical advice on dealing with pregnancy. The film pretty much ignores education and the impact pregnancy really has on people’s lives. Since Juno does not keep the baby there are virtually no consequences. – Warren Foster