Portrayal of “Choice”

Latimer notes that one of the main reasons that Juno decides not to go through with her planned abortion is that the clinic smelled like a dental office. Latimer also points out that pro-life language affects Juno’s decision – after being met by a single pro-life advocate at the clinic who tells her that her baby has a heart and fingernails, while sitting in the clinic, Juno observes other patients and employees and notices them “scratching, typing, and tapping their fingernails” – these combine into a “deafening roar” that comes to sound like a heartbeat.  I think this scene highlights the fact that abortion is not as easy of a decision as Juno makes it out to be with her bluntness and humor.  The fact that Juno is influenced by pro life language is worrying in that this has been understood as a pro life win, making Juno “the movie pro-aborts will hate”, as Latimer quotes Jill Stanek. However, the fact that Juno first considers abortion as the best option to “nip it in the bud” and that her stepmom asks her when she tells them that she’ll give up the baby for adoption if she’s “considered the alternative” is important in that abortion is part of the conversation and it is an option for her. Juno’s stepmom also makes the very important point of how difficult giving up a child for adoption can be, and that it’s “unimaginable” how difficult this could be.

Reproductive Health Care

Reproductive health care is represented in a really interesting way in the movie. It appears that access to an abortion is quite easy to obtain, as Juno decides to go to Women Now because she doesn’t need parental consent and calls to “procure a hasty abortion”. Latimer notes that this ignores the fact that in Minnesota, minors in fact do need parental consent. Latimer also notes that the fact that the receptionist who greets Juno at the clinic is a “glib teenager who tell(s) patients about [her] own sexual exploits” undermines the fact that abortion clinics are staffed with trained personnel who often risk their own safety in their jobs.  This could be seen as another deterrent for Juno getting an abortion. Another interesting point in regard to Juno’s dealings with reproductive health care is that the only person in the film who is unsupportive of Juno’s decision to have the baby is the ultrasound technician.

Representations of Teenage Pregnancy

Juno calls herself a “cautionary whale”, however she is treated with much respect throughout the movie, with the exception of the ultrasound technician. When Juno tells her parents, her dad says that he thought she was the “kind of girl who knew when to say when”, her response that she doesn’t know what kind of girl she is challenges the assumptions about what pregnant teens are like.  This reminds us of Ann Fessler’s work “A Girl Like Her” and the New York Times Magazine article that highlights the diverse range of experiences that women have with pregnancy and abortion, as well as how much their backgrounds can differ.  Juno does not represent that the reality of teen pregnancy (discussed in the lecture slides) is that “many unwanted pregnancies ending in abortion in both the US and Canada, and those that do go forward happening to most often to poor women, and young women of colour.” Her experience is not by any means typical (she is caucasian, middle class, well supported emotionally and financially) and it challenges assumptions about teen pregnancy, and interestingly portrays only one instance of negative judgment.

The Maternal “Ideal”

It’s interesting to note than in “Juno”, the heroine goes from a position of wanting to just “get the thing out” and hand it over to Mark and Vanessa, to understanding Vanessa’s excitement about having a baby. This is portrayed as Juno becoming more mature in her relationships with Mark, Vanessa, and Bleeker, as well as in her becoming more of a maternal figure – coming closer to the “ideal” which Vanessa represents. Initially in the film, Vanessa’s character is incredibly intense and is almost an exaggerated representation of the maternal ideal. She says that she was born to be a mother, Juno (like I felt watching the film) doesn’t seem to understand what Vanessa is talking about and seems to be much more attracted to Mark who is less excited about the baby and ends up backing out of the adoption. Over the course of the film, Vanessa and Juno’s relationship evolves and Juno appears to come to understand and even be committed to Vanessa through her decision to go through with the adoption after Mark backs out. This in a sense brings Juno closer to the “ideal mother” which Vanessa portrays.