Movie: Juno (2007)
Watched together and crafted by Martha Hopler & Hillary Augustine Vandenbos
Hillary’s words and reflections…
Hillary’s words and reflections…
Juno is a movie about what? I struggle to know where to begin.
It’s about a chair. It’s about two teenagers having sex in a chair. Juno is about a teenage girl, named Juno (played by Ellen Page) and a teenage boy named Paulie Bleeker (played by Michael Cera) who are trying to figure out connection, life, and love. The movie starts with a lazy boy chair and ends with a rocking chair. The changing imagery from the beginning to the end of the movie is profound and can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
It is difficult to describe the movie from one vantage point. There are many scenes packed with meaning and feeling. This movie is brilliant because it sprinkles the complexities of life with humor and wit. For example, the heaviness of a teenage girl observing and shaking the pink, plus sign on a pregnancy test while standing in the check-out area of a neighborhood, convenient store is juxtaposed with the cashier’s comment, “That ain’t no etch-a-sketch. That’s one doodle that can’t be undid.” A hilarious, quick-witted comment that acknowledges Juno’s desperation to “erase” the positive, pink sign while inviting me, the audience, into the hard reality of teenage pregnancy.
Maybe I have difficulty describing the movie because it’s hard to enter into a teenage girl’s life. To attach to the story of Juno, means that I have to live into the reality that life is complex, ever changing, and packed with conflicting feelings. Life includes teenage girls making decisions about abortion, wondering about adoption, seeking adoptive parents in a local newspaper called the Penny Saver, being sexually active, dealing with teenage pregnancy, and growing up faster than expected.
But wait, if I enter from a different perspective, the movie is also about an affluent couple who longs for a baby. It is about a couple who has suffered because an adoption “didn’t work out” echoing the words of the adoptive mom, Vanessa (played by Jennifer Garner). It is about a man, Mark (played by Jason Bateman) who is confused about life and marriage. So, maybe I have difficulty describing the movie because it’s hard to enter into the reality that life includes lonely marriages, husband’s who want “out,” and women who long to have children, but can’t for whatever reason. So, Juno is also about the reality that troubled marriages reside in immaculate houses with well-landscaped yards. The outward appearance looks good, but the inward reality is extremely difficult. Yes, life is complex, ever changing, and packed with conflicted feelings.
It’s about a chair. It’s about two teenagers having sex in a chair. Juno is about a teenage girl, named Juno (played by Ellen Page) and a teenage boy named Paulie Bleeker (played by Michael Cera) who are trying to figure out connection, life, and love. The movie starts with a lazy boy chair and ends with a rocking chair. The changing imagery from the beginning to the end of the movie is profound and can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
It is difficult to describe the movie from one vantage point. There are many scenes packed with meaning and feeling. This movie is brilliant because it sprinkles the complexities of life with humor and wit. For example, the heaviness of a teenage girl observing and shaking the pink, plus sign on a pregnancy test while standing in the check-out area of a neighborhood, convenient store is juxtaposed with the cashier’s comment, “That ain’t no etch-a-sketch. That’s one doodle that can’t be undid.” A hilarious, quick-witted comment that acknowledges Juno’s desperation to “erase” the positive, pink sign while inviting me, the audience, into the hard reality of teenage pregnancy.
Maybe I have difficulty describing the movie because it’s hard to enter into a teenage girl’s life. To attach to the story of Juno, means that I have to live into the reality that life is complex, ever changing, and packed with conflicting feelings. Life includes teenage girls making decisions about abortion, wondering about adoption, seeking adoptive parents in a local newspaper called the Penny Saver, being sexually active, dealing with teenage pregnancy, and growing up faster than expected.
But wait, if I enter from a different perspective, the movie is also about an affluent couple who longs for a baby. It is about a couple who has suffered because an adoption “didn’t work out” echoing the words of the adoptive mom, Vanessa (played by Jennifer Garner). It is about a man, Mark (played by Jason Bateman) who is confused about life and marriage. So, maybe I have difficulty describing the movie because it’s hard to enter into the reality that life includes lonely marriages, husband’s who want “out,” and women who long to have children, but can’t for whatever reason. So, Juno is also about the reality that troubled marriages reside in immaculate houses with well-landscaped yards. The outward appearance looks good, but the inward reality is extremely difficult. Yes, life is complex, ever changing, and packed with conflicted feelings.
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Martha’s words, reflections, questions, and wonderings…
- Too soon or just not planned?
- Or is the movie about a young girl and her boyfriend doing something that seems fun because they had nothing else to do that day?
- Then, there is the question of whether the movie is about adoption or a desire to have a child. Is the desire to have a child a good thing for the affluent couple, Vanessa and Mark, because they are married and have “fine home furnishings?”
- Is it the right timing for Vanessa and Mark to have a child? However, the right timing is called into question when one realizes that the husband, Mark, really wants to stay a teenager. So, growing up becomes a theme; growing up too soon or too late.
As one watches this movie, one realizes that it has multiple themes. The movie leads to many questions about motherhood and what it means to be a woman. It also highlights the reality of parents who are realizing just how little control they have over the growing up process of their daughter.
The questions you find yourself asking may be connected to where you find yourself in your own story. The parts of the movie where you see yourself crying could be where you are grieving things you’ve lost or maybe where you experience angry pain that has not made you sad yet. If you want to leave the room or turn the movie off, this could reveal shameful places in your life you would rather not talk about?
I enjoy movies when they speak to me in a way that allows me to listen and feel. If you have watched Juno, I encourage you to watch it again and listen to your body, heart, and mind. Wonder how you are connecting to yourself which will then provide the opportunity for you to connect to those you love.
- Or is the movie about a young girl and her boyfriend doing something that seems fun because they had nothing else to do that day?
- Then, there is the question of whether the movie is about adoption or a desire to have a child. Is the desire to have a child a good thing for the affluent couple, Vanessa and Mark, because they are married and have “fine home furnishings?”
- Is it the right timing for Vanessa and Mark to have a child? However, the right timing is called into question when one realizes that the husband, Mark, really wants to stay a teenager. So, growing up becomes a theme; growing up too soon or too late.
As one watches this movie, one realizes that it has multiple themes. The movie leads to many questions about motherhood and what it means to be a woman. It also highlights the reality of parents who are realizing just how little control they have over the growing up process of their daughter.
The questions you find yourself asking may be connected to where you find yourself in your own story. The parts of the movie where you see yourself crying could be where you are grieving things you’ve lost or maybe where you experience angry pain that has not made you sad yet. If you want to leave the room or turn the movie off, this could reveal shameful places in your life you would rather not talk about?
I enjoy movies when they speak to me in a way that allows me to listen and feel. If you have watched Juno, I encourage you to watch it again and listen to your body, heart, and mind. Wonder how you are connecting to yourself which will then provide the opportunity for you to connect to those you love.
