Very interesting discussion of Juno over at Ross Douthat’s place:
Douthat likes the complications suggested by the movie:
I would say that Juno goes further than Knocked Up in presenting abortion as a plausible choice for a girl in the heroine’s position, and doesn’t go nearly so far as Apatow’s movie in making the advocates of abortion look like heartless creeps. And Hulburt’s right that Juno McGuff’s decision to bear her child to term is an act of personal autonomy that’s of a piece with her broader nonconformity, and that deliberately sets her apart from the conformist (and judgmental) world of parents and teachers and too-chatty ultrasound technicians.
He also hopes that other filmmakers take note of this film’s nuanced m.o.:
The only thing that’s remarkable about this cinematic approach to controversy is how rare it is in Hollywood: Juno’s shades-of-gray approach the culture wars ought to be required viewing for Brian De Palma, Paul Haggis, Robert Redford, and just about every other Hollywood filmmaker who’s turned out a lousy movie about the Iraq War in the last year or so.
Douthat’s commenters reflect that various reactions to the movie:
Perhaps it’s our different politics, but I didn’t perceive an anti-abortion message in Knocked Up. My sense is that because it’s not even ever a serious option for the parents, you don’t get a chance to really have a message one way or another. There’s never any sense that Ben and Allison keep the baby because they’re bothered by abortion.
In one of the two scenes where abortion is discussed, whatshisname looks like a heartless creep, but the other whatshisname looks like a ninny–he can’t bear to hear the word ‘abortion’ and ends the scene with him loudly calling himself a patriot as he pounds his maple-leaf tattoo. Meanwhile, Ben (the one who is actually making the decisions) is not even a part of that discussion.
An anti-abortion message would be one where someone who doesn’t really want the child keeps it because the alternative is so terrible. That’s not the dynamic in Knocked Up.
“An anti-abortion message would be one where someone who doesn’t really want the child keeps it because the alternative is so terrible. That’s not the dynamic in Knocked Up.”
I’d argue that that is precisely the case in Knocked Up. In the movie, abortion is so terrible, so unspeakable, that neither of the two unplanned parents can bring themselves to discuss it as an option.
The nice thing about both movies is that the pregnant women were able to make a … yes, that’s right … wait for it … CHOICE about their lives, their futures and their families.
No one was forced to have an abortion.
No one was forbidden from having an abortion.
For his part, Douthat hopes that other filmmakers take note:
The only thing that’s remarkable about this cinematic approach to controversy is how rare it is in Hollywood: Juno’s shades-of-gray approach the culture wars ought to be required viewing for Brian De Palma, Paul Haggis, Robert Redford, and just about every other Hollywood filmmaker who’s turned out a lousy movie about the Iraq War in the last year or so.
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