April 17, 2008
Okay, so, yeah, Juno is a movie, not a book. But it’s a fantastic movie, and, well, a fantastic movie and a fantastic book have a lot in common. Great stories can be found on both screens and pages! This is my justification for talking about a movie on a book blog, but, in all honesty, I think it’s a movie that a lot of fans of YA books will love. As you probably know unless you live under a rock, Juno is a pregnant sixteen-year-old. She’s funny and smart and, like any sixteen-year-old, just working on figuring out the world and her place in it. I love the whole cast of characters here. The script is amazing, and the awesome actors really bring it to life. I love Ellen Page as Juno. And another YA connection: Michael Cera is Nick in the movie of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, a wonderful book written by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. Anyway, the next paragraph contains spoilers. Just a warning, although most of you have probably already seen it. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? It’s out on DVD now!
The issue I wanted to bring up, though, is the fact that Juno is sixteen years old and pregnant, but this is not a “lesson” movie. To me, this was a positive. To a friend of mine (who is very religious, Southern, and socially conservative), this was a negative. He said it didn’t teach the horror of an unwanted pregnancy as a teenager. And, yes, Juno didn’t die or anything. She turned out okay, her life turned out okay, and her relationship turned out okay. She gave the baby to a woman who really wanted a baby. Not that being a pregnant sixteen-year-old was a picnic for her; far from it. But she got through it okay, and, to me, that is the best kind of lesson.
The message I got out of Juno, if I were to search for one? That everything will be okay, no matter how much your life may suck, you can get through it and be stronger for it. I don’t think that’s a message anyone would disagree with, and my friend conceded my point there. My question for you all: in a book or movie for teens, what does having a good “message” mean to you? What importance do you place on it, positive or negative? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts, because I, personally, am not a big fan of message-heavy stories, but apparently some people (like my friend) are, and in fact put the whole value of a story on whether or not it teaches the right message (he hadn’t even seen the movie).
April 17, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I can actually see why someone might not see Juno just because of the whole thing about it portraying a teen pregnancy. Personally, though I consider myself to be very religious and have strong ethics, I don’t really look at the “moral” of books or movies too much. Mostly what I care about are the characters and story. There are some books or movies I won’t read/see because of them portraying things I really don’t agree with (having too much cussing/sexual content, etc) but I don’t consider it because of the MESSAGE, it’s because of the CONTENT. If that makes any sense. I’ve read books (Someone Like You) and seen movies (Juno) that don’t portray teen pregnancies with such dire consequences like the girl’s entire life being a shambles. It doesn’t mean I agree with it, but reading or seeing things where everyone is JUST LIKE ME would be deadly boring.
April 29, 2008 at 3:09 pm
i assumed Juno was directed by the same guy that directed Knocked Up, because it’s about unexpected pregnancy and Michael Cera stars as Juno’s boyfriend (he was in Superbad, a close relative of Knocked Up).