In the Blog
Some thoughts from the web on “Smushmortion”
Wesley just eloquently posted on Juno and it’s relationship with “The Medical Procedure That Shall Remain Nameless.” Here are some more thoughts on teen pregnancy, film and choice:
Sex and the Teenage Girl from The New York Times: “…there is a moment when Juno tells her father about her condition, and he shakes his head in disappointment and says, ‘I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when.’ Female viewers flinch when he says it, because his words lay bare the bitterly unfair truth of sexuality: female desire can bring with it a form of punishment no man can begin to imagine, and so it is one appetite women and girls must always regard with caution. Because Juno let her guard down and had a single sexual experience with a sweet, well-intentioned boy, she alone is left with this ordeal of sorrow and public shame.”
Anatomy of a Smushmortion from Susie Bright’s Journal: “I’m perplexed by the newest baby-happy trend in movies with female leads. A woman becomes unexpectedly, unhappily pregnant. It’s under ‘the worst possible circumstances.’ The beautiful woman… and I mean, she’s STUNNING… makes the decision to keep her baby and have the perkiest, most upbeat pregnancy I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t recall a single friend who PLANNED to have a baby, who ever had as great a gestation period as these heroines.” Juno, Scolded from Slate.com: “Sometimes, teenage sex is caring and loving and, well, great. And sometimes an abortion is a few not ideal hours that give you the rest of your life back–nothing more.”
Juno, Praised: “Juno tried, instead, to tell the story of a young girl who goes through a complicated, painful experience and finds it to be–upsetting, absolutely, but not life-ending or even life-defining. I don’t think that’s a fairy tale at all. Juno makes a point that so often gets lost when we in the media put on our gender lens: Women, young women, react to similar experiences in a plurality of ways.”
