Juno Is Not Pro-Life.

[Apotheoun]

I have to admit that I had never heard of this actress before reading this thread.

[tinytherese]

Here's a review from a Catholic film critic. http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/juno.html
Personally, I prefer Bella.

[Semper Catholic]

You should avoid Juno because of the rage inducing performance by Michael "I play George Michael from AD in everything" Cera. As well as hipster doofusy writing of Cody. She writes as if a kitten has become self aware of its own cuteness and proceeds to force everyone to take notice.

[ThePenciledOne]

Personally I think the movie perpetuates a promiscuity sort of message rather than Pro-Life. Sure, it can be seen that way, but I find the teen pregnancy more blatant.

[goldenchild17]

I don't really have anything insightful to say except that I disagree with most here. I thought it was a good movie and a realistic (regarding the situation) take on it. It wasn't overly artistic or beautifully made or anything like that (especially in comparison to something like Bella). But it seems more relevant to real life situations that I myself have encountered.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='ThePenciledOne' date='07 April 2010 - 06:30 PM' timestamp='1270679400' post='2088728']
Personally I think the movie perpetuates a promiscuity sort of message rather than Pro-Life. Sure, it can be seen that way, but I find the teen pregnancy more blatant.
[/quote]
Don't read if you liked Juno and might be offended by my meanie stuff.

[spoiler]Apparently some FUS students recommended it to one of my neighbors as this "awesome, pro-life movie!" that she and her daughters would love. She was watching it with her young teenage daughters and got about as far as the part about "pork swords" when she turned it off in disgust, or maybe just as far as the sex in the chair -- I forget. The movie does have some positive aspects and entertainment value I guess, but ultimately it is just more lowbrow secular entertainment as far as I'm concerned.[/spoiler]

[ThePenciledOne]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='07 April 2010 - 07:40 PM' timestamp='1270680039' post='2088737']
Don't read if you liked Juno and might be offended by my meanie stuff.

[spoiler]Apparently some FUS students recommended it to one of my neighbors as this "awesome, pro-life movie!" that she and her daughters would love. She was watching it with her young teenage daughters and got about as far as the part about "pork swords" when she turned it off in disgust, or maybe just as far as the sex in the chair -- I forget. The movie does have some positive aspects and entertainment value I guess, but ultimately it is just more lowbrow secular entertainment as far as I'm concerned.[/spoiler]
[/quote]

Laud, that's fine. I have had numerous arguments with friends here at FUS over it. But, I find the overt teenager promiscuity more prominent then the Pro-Life message. Though, its really an opinion matter.


I would never 'recommend' such a movie to anyone though, no matter how realistic it was. It was as you said here Laud, lowbrow secular entertainment.

[jiyoung]

I liked the movie, personally, but I went to public school--I'm used to teen pregnancy, low-brow humor, the works. My school had the highest rate of teen pregnancies in my district, and quite a few people I know had children either during or right after graduation.

It's kind of a unique movie. I don't think it's necessarily "awesome and pro-life," but it's pretty realistic, especially for that genre of humor. People are still people, and they still make mistakes, and things happen. Not every woman who chooses not to have an abortion has a dramatic conversion experience and becomes some sort of pro-life crusader. Sometimes a woman who chose not to have an abortion the first time around might do it the second time, etc. But someone who's saturated in that culture (where teens having sex is nothing new, and the first thought when you get pregnant is where the nearest abortion clinic may be) can still have a change of heart and decide to go through with a pregnancy, and I'm glad it showed that. I also liked the point it made about the infertile woman. I thought the story between the two of them was really sad, but that was actually a part of the movie I really liked--two people who got married for the wrong reasons and around this big event, their marriage implodes. In an ideal world, they would've tried to compromise and work it out, but in an ideal world they might not have even gotten married. So the Jennifer Garner character goes on to be a single mother, but she's just so happy to have a child in the first place. A lot of women with that kind of money and everything might go for IVF/surrogacy/etc, but she chose to adopt. Perhaps that'll remind our generation that even if you don't want your child, someone else out there is desperate for a child to love.

Anyway...I think it's real people in real situations, not something unrealistic and based completely in ideals. Ideally, there would be no children born out of wedlock in the first place. Flawed as the character may be, Juno actually does something selfless by choosing not to abort and to give the child up for adoption, whereas most children her age are completely self-centered and unwilling to do something they don't want to do. It shows how dirty those abortion clinics really are; it shows how dysfunctional the "nice, normal couple" might actually be; it shows what that situation might actually be like.

I really liked the movie, but I wouldn't recommend it as a "pro-life" movie, per se--it's pro-life in that she didn't abort, but it's not an extended pro-life PSA or something. Still, it's not as bad as the rest of the manure that's out there now. At least this one shows that our actions have consequences.

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='jiyoung' date='07 April 2010 - 06:38 PM' timestamp='1270687087' post='2088826']
I liked the movie, personally, but I went to public school--I'm used to teen pregnancy, low-brow humor, the works. My school had the highest rate of teen pregnancies in my district, and quite a few people I know had children either during or right after graduation.

It's kind of a unique movie. I don't think it's necessarily "awesome and pro-life," but it's pretty realistic, especially for that genre of humor. People are still people, and they still make mistakes, and things happen. Not every woman who chooses not to have an abortion has a dramatic conversion experience and becomes some sort of pro-life crusader. Sometimes a woman who chose not to have an abortion the first time around might do it the second time, etc. But someone who's saturated in that culture (where teens having sex is nothing new, and the first thought when you get pregnant is where the nearest abortion clinic may be) can still have a change of heart and decide to go through with a pregnancy, and I'm glad it showed that. I also liked the point it made about the infertile woman. I thought the story between the two of them was really sad, but that was actually a part of the movie I really liked--two people who got married for the wrong reasons and around this big event, their marriage implodes. In an ideal world, they would've tried to compromise and work it out, but in an ideal world they might not have even gotten married. So the Jennifer Garner character goes on to be a single mother, but she's just so happy to have a child in the first place. A lot of women with that kind of money and everything might go for IVF/surrogacy/etc, but she chose to adopt. Perhaps that'll remind our generation that even if you don't want your child, someone else out there is desperate for a child to love.

Anyway...I think it's real people in real situations, not something unrealistic and based completely in ideals. Ideally, there would be no children born out of wedlock in the first place. Flawed as the character may be, Juno actually does something selfless by choosing not to abort and to give the child up for adoption, whereas most children her age are completely self-centered and unwilling to do something they don't want to do. It shows how dirty those abortion clinics really are; it shows how dysfunctional the "nice, normal couple" might actually be; it shows what that situation might actually be like.

I really liked the movie, but I wouldn't recommend it as a "pro-life" movie, per se--it's pro-life in that she didn't abort, but it's not an extended pro-life PSA or something. Still, it's not as bad as the rest of the manure that's out there now. At least this one shows that our actions have consequences.
[/quote]

+1 exactly what I wanted to say

[JustJump]

I have no idea why Ellen Page's opinion affects whether Juno is prolife or prochoice.

Personally I think in order for people to make an opinion on the movie they should go watch it for themselves.

One scene in the movie that caught my attention was when Juno goes to get an abortion. A girl from her school is outside protesting and tells Juno that her baby has fingernails. When Juno gets into the waiting room the camera and sounds take notice of everyone's fingernails in the room. Juno can't take it and runs out of the clinic. To me this scene shows something. Other aspects of the movie take away from any "pure" message that could have been, but the fact of the matter is that she carries the child, gives it to a deserving mother, and deals with the consquences of her actions. It's not pristine, nor was it meant to be.

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='JustJump' date='07 April 2010 - 07:25 PM' timestamp='1270689908' post='2088853']
I have no idea why Ellen Page's opinion affects whether Juno is prolife or prochoice.

Personally I think in order for people to make an opinion on the movie they should go watch it for themselves.

One scene in the movie that caught my attention was when Juno goes to get an abortion. A girl from her school is outside protesting and tells Juno that her baby has fingernails. When Juno gets into the waiting room the camera and sounds take notice of everyone's fingernails in the room. Juno can't take it and runs out of the clinic. To me this scene shows something. Other aspects of the movie take away from any "pure" message that could have been, but the fact of the matter is that she carries the child, gives it to a deserving mother, and deals with the consquences of her actions. It's not pristine, nor was it meant to be.
[/quote]

another +1 if I had any left. That's the scene that sticks out when I think of the movie, above any of the less than stellar humor.

[jiyoung]

[quote name='JustJump' date='07 April 2010 - 10:25 PM' timestamp='1270689908' post='2088853']
I have no idea why Ellen Page's opinion affects whether Juno is prolife or prochoice.

Personally I think in order for people to make an opinion on the movie they should go watch it for themselves.

One scene in the movie that caught my attention was when Juno goes to get an abortion. A girl from her school is outside protesting and tells Juno that her baby has fingernails. When Juno gets into the waiting room the camera and sounds take notice of everyone's fingernails in the room. Juno can't take it and runs out of the clinic. To me this scene shows something. Other aspects of the movie take away from any "pure" message that could have been, but the fact of the matter is that she carries the child, gives it to a deserving mother, and deals with the consquences of her actions. It's not pristine, nor was it meant to be.
[/quote]

Yeah...it's the little things that can make you realize something is true, because they're like a shock to your system. You might be able to desensitize yourself to the big stuff, but something as simple as knowing that the child growing inside you is developed to the point of having little tiny fingernails is something you don't expect. I think during pregnancy, your senses tend to be heightened, so you'll notice that during that scene, what she primarily focuses on are the sounds that fingernails are making: tapping a table, scratching, things like that. I thought that was a really cool scene, too

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='jiyoung' date='07 April 2010 - 08:38 PM' timestamp='1270687087' post='2088826']
I liked the movie, personally, but I went to public school--I'm used to teen pregnancy, low-brow humor, the works. My school had the highest rate of teen pregnancies in my district, and quite a few people I know had children either during or right after graduation.

It's kind of a unique movie. I don't think it's necessarily "awesome and pro-life," but it's pretty realistic, especially for that genre of humor. People are still people, and they still make mistakes, and things happen. Not every woman who chooses not to have an abortion has a dramatic conversion experience and becomes some sort of pro-life crusader. Sometimes a woman who chose not to have an abortion the first time around might do it the second time, etc. But someone who's saturated in that culture (where teens having sex is nothing new, and the first thought when you get pregnant is where the nearest abortion clinic may be) can still have a change of heart and decide to go through with a pregnancy, and I'm glad it showed that. I also liked the point it made about the infertile woman. I thought the story between the two of them was really sad, but that was actually a part of the movie I really liked--two people who got married for the wrong reasons and around this big event, their marriage implodes. In an ideal world, they would've tried to compromise and work it out, but in an ideal world they might not have even gotten married. So the Jennifer Garner character goes on to be a single mother, but she's just so happy to have a child in the first place. A lot of women with that kind of money and everything might go for IVF/surrogacy/etc, but she chose to adopt. Perhaps that'll remind our generation that even if you don't want your child, someone else out there is desperate for a child to love.

Anyway...I think it's real people in real situations, not something unrealistic and based completely in ideals. Ideally, there would be no children born out of wedlock in the first place. Flawed as the character may be, Juno actually does something selfless by choosing not to abort and to give the child up for adoption, whereas most children her age are completely self-centered and unwilling to do something they don't want to do. It shows how dirty those abortion clinics really are; it shows how dysfunctional the "nice, normal couple" might actually be; it shows what that situation might actually be like.

I really liked the movie, but I wouldn't recommend it as a "pro-life" movie, per se--it's pro-life in that she didn't abort, but it's not an extended pro-life PSA or something. Still, it's not as bad as the rest of the manure that's out there now. At least this one shows that our actions have consequences.
[/quote]
how-dare-you-one-up-me-so

Always good to read your posts!

[jiyoung]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='08 April 2010 - 02:11 AM' timestamp='1270703490' post='2089064']
how-dare-you-one-up-me-so

Always good to read your posts!
[/quote]


hehehehe

I do remember the thing you were talking about in your earlier post, and I think she was absolutely right to not let her daughters watch the movie. Like I said, I went to public school, and that kind of language isn't new to me. But I envy their innocence, and I'm glad she screens the things her kids watch/read/etc before they get to see them.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I rented this movie not long ago because I still hadn't seen it. I found it not only to be very bad cinematograpy, but morally empty as well. The sex scene at the beginning was only falsely modest. There are ways of portraying such things modestly and while no body parts were shown and you could only really see faces, they managed to communicate what was going on in a very immoral way.

Moving on, it disturbs me that they gave only a rather silly reason for choosing life. I'm happy if that works to save a real life, but it was clear to me that they weren't interested in giving real reasons to choose life.

The parental response to the pregnancy was based on false charity, "oh, let's be kind and understanding and not chastise her, because she's going through enough as it is." The parents were enablers.

Aside from all this, many parts of the language were vulgar and immature. The movie's overall message wasn't pro-life, but rather, that life is depressing, love unreliable, people selfish, parents irresponsible, sex made for curios fun, and babies inconsequential.