STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Mitz · BCBG

Juno

squishy · Coach

i loved juno too! i didn't read as much into it, since i'm as active as a sponge when i watch movies :)

to me, it wasn't so much 'yay teen pregnancy!' as it was 'there are loving parents who, after much frustration and exasperation, support their kids no matter what kind of stupid shit they pull.'

jamie lynn spears' pregnancy just seems to be very unfortunate (timing).

Miss Mabel · Kenneth Cole

I loved it! Great acting and great script, IMO.

Re: the teen pregnancy, I don't know that it sent a lenient message. I don't think it was trying to send a message about the actual getting pregnant, as much as about the "aftermath" - deciding what to do about being pregnant. I thought it was really refreshing to see a film about a teen mom who gave her child up for adoption. We see lots about abortion and lots about teens keeping their babies, but very little about adoption. I thought it was a realistic portrayal of both the adoptive family/mom and the birth mom.

cc · Marc Jacobs

I really liked it as well. I thought the nonstop cutesy, pop-referencing dialog was a bit much at first but either it got toned down as the movie went on or I got used to it. I can see what you are saying about possible messages but I'm not sure that I would consider it lenient. It was so funny and Juno seemed so laid-back about her pregnancy that I could see girls thinking being pregnant could be a barrel of laughs, but they did include references to people being mean to her and then showed her crying after giving the baby away.

The one thing that did really bug me was that they never seemed to address whether she and Paulie used any sort of protection when they had sex. I just thought it didn't fit to have a girl who seems so smart and mature and obviously liberal not use any birth control. Unless I missed it? I kept waiting for her to make some wisecrack about the condom breaking.

Bastet · Kate Spade

I haven't seen the movie, but I wanted to comment on the teen pregnancy thing anyway. I feel like our society sends really mixed messages to teen girls about sex and pregnancy. Aside from pro-abstinence folk, people (especially their peers) don't seem to judge teen girls when they are sexually active, and not pregnant.

But, if there is an accident (condom breaking, forgetting to take Pill on time, etc.) and a pregnancy happens, society becomes very judgmental. I don't know if it's because seeing the pregnancy is visible proof that the girl was having sex, and that makes us as a society uncomfortable, or because people see her as irresponsible. I think it's wrong to send the message that it's basically okay to have sex unless you get pregnant, and then you're a slut.

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

Bastet wrote:
I haven't seen the movie, but I wanted to comment on the teen pregnancy thing anyway. I feel like our society sends really mixed messages to teen girls about sex and pregnancy. Aside from pro-abstinence folk, people (especially their peers) don't seem to judge teen girls when they are sexually active, and not pregnant. But, if there is an accident (condom breaking, forgetting to take Pill on time, etc.) and a pregnancy happens, society becomes very judgmental. I don't know if it's because seeing the pregnancy is visible proof that the girl was having sex, and that makes us as a society uncomfortable, or because people see her as irresponsible. I think it's wrong to send the message that it's basically okay to have sex unless you get pregnant, and then you're a slut.

I think our society in general gives women mixed messages. I feel as though we are supposed to look sexy, be open-minded (as in girl kisses and such), talk freely, act freely, but as soon as you do, you are labeled a slut, etc etc. It doesn't even have to get to the pregnancy part.

It is more so problematic for young women bc as I recall, when I was in my teens all I wanted was to be noticed, to feel special, for someone to pay attention to me. Its easy to get this attention by engaging in such activities, but as we've seen the outcome isn't always favorable. It seems to be happening at younger and younger ages too - a friend of mine is a teacher in JUNIOR HIGH school and she said the kids have "lap dance" parties where they strattle the boys laps do do god knows what.

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

Just saw it this afternoon. It was a heartwarming film, but I agree with CC about the nonstop cutesy, pop-referencing dialogue. It was really annoying.

I loved the interaction between Juno and Mark before it got creepy and carried away.

As for the pregnancy thing, they talked about it on NPR. I think the writer just wanted to show the everyday bummer aspects of teen pregnancy- -not a wide-reaching sermon about whether it is good or bad. That is my own terminology, by the way. It's the best way I can describe what I am trying to convey at this late hour. I can see how some viewers might think that the writer took the subject matter a little too lightly though.

blink · Coach

Bastet wrote:

I haven't seen the movie, but I wanted to comment on the teen pregnancy thing anyway. I feel like our society sends really mixed messages to teen girls about sex and pregnancy. Aside from pro-abstinence folk, people (especially their peers) don't seem to judge teen girls when they are sexually active, and not pregnant.

But, if there is an accident (condom breaking, forgetting to take Pill on time, etc.) and a pregnancy happens, society becomes very judgmental. I don't know if it's because seeing the pregnancy is visible proof that the girl was having sex, and that makes us as a society uncomfortable, or because people see her as irresponsible. I think it's wrong to send the message that it's basically okay to have sex unless you get pregnant, and then you're a slut.

This is what I think. Also, has anyone noticed that it's almost more socially acceptable to have a child out of wedlock than it is to smoke cigarettes? For the record, I judge neither of these things, just find it interesting that due to media, attitues have flip-flopped over a decade.

I was supposed to see a pre-screening of Juno with a friend who had free passes and it was to be her second showing, but we arrived too late and the theater filled up. The manager did give me a free promotional Juno t-shirt that was actually cool. I won't have time to catch a movie in theater for some time, but I hope this is still playing when I do. My friend loved it, I knew it was a matter of time before it was discussed here.

sephorablue · Marc Jacobs

cc wrote:

The one thing that did really bug me was that they never seemed to address whether she and Paulie used any sort of protection when they had sex. I just thought it didn't fit to have a girl who seems so smart and mature and obviously liberal not use any birth control. Unless I missed it? I kept waiting for her to make some wisecrack about the condom breaking.

This was EXACTLY my thought too, cc. It bothered me! Just a single line of dialogue about it would have clarified the point for me, but without any explanation, we're left to assume that they just didn't bother... which really seems out of character for her.