Sammy GutierrezJune 7, 2009English 414Anne Cassia

Conventionally Unconventional

The critically acclaimed, film, Juno, written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason

Reitman presents an entertaining coming of age film about a young girl struggling with what to

do in the face of an unplanned pregnancy. The film in many ways challenges and diverges off the

beaten path of mainstream Hollywood, from portrayals of alternative characters, soundtrack,

dialogue sprinkled with pop culture references and teenage slang, story, and at times criticizing

aspects of GenMe and mainstream media. Despite the films “indie” sensibilities, the Juno

ultimately maintains the overarching themes of modern film: (1) Be yourself, “(2) We are all the

same, (3) Love conquers all, (4) Believe in yourself and you can do anything, (5) Good guys

win” (Twenge 72), while concurrently showing GenMe as three dimensional characters rather

than clichés or pastiches of GenMe.

The titled character, Juno whom the film is named after, is the epitome and positive

portrayal of a GenMe female protagonist who also embodies the idea of being true to oneself.

Juno is characterized as a unique, confident, witty, smart and independent young woman. One

scene in particular stands out as a perfect example of Juno’s personality and wit, upon meeting

the Lorings, Mark and Vanessa, the would-be adoptive parents of her unborn child, and their

lawyer Juno appears to be blunt, very open and at times slightly antagonistic mocking both

Vanessa Loring and the lawyer in their introductions, referring to adults as “Dude”, responding

to questions with “Shit! Yes!”, and mentioning that due to pregnancy she has to “Pee like

Seabiscut. These demonstrate GenMe’s ease and openness to speak about private matters and the

perceived lack of respect for adults mentioned by Twenge (Twenge, 36-41).

Her personality is also apparent in her style of dress consisting of sneakers, t shirts and

both sweaters and sweater vests; reminiscent of a 90s indie rock look mixed with a dash of

tomboy. Her taste in music and film also is slightly out of the ordinary and to the left of

mainstream consisting of classic and proto punk like The Stooges and The Runways, antifolk

like The Moldy Peaches, and exploitation/horror films. Despite at times gaining the ire of peers,

parents, and adults for her alternative taste, she none the less sees no reason to change and is

completely content with herself. This teaches GenMe that “it’s ok to be yourself” even if it may

not be the status quo or the norm. This also agrees with Twenge’s claim for a lack of social

conformity and approval among the youth of GenMe (Twenge 41-43).

Similarly representing this portrayal of a strong, smart, and independent young woman is

the general absence of Paulie Bleeker, Juno’s friend and the father of her baby. Through much of

the film and Juno’s troubles Bleeker is not present and holds little significance concerning Juno’s

pregnancy and their child. For instance the scene at school before Juno leaves for an ultrasound

in which she and Bleeker talk and when Bleeker asked if he should come with Juno; Juno tells

him it’s ok and to go to the movies with his friend. Later on in the film during another hallway

confrontation between the two Juno argues with Bleeker and says “Are you ashamed that we did

it…Because at least you don’t have to the have the evidence under your sweater” then when he

offers to carry her bag she refuses his help. These scenes show the independence of Juno and

show her to be a strong young woman who does not need a knight in shining armor nor a man to

get her through rough times. This tells young women that they need not depend on men for

strength and that they have the inner strength and ability to support themselves.

Also in line with the inferences of Twenge (Twenge 75) is the constant presence of

choice in Juno’s ordeal. Everything from abortion, adoption, who the parent(s) will be, and her

love life Juno is in total control and makes her own decisions. This also brings us to another and

important characterization of Juno, maturation. Through much the film we watch Juno transform

and mature going from someone more self centered to becoming someone who accepts

responsibilities and thinks of others. From the beginning of the film Juno refers to the unborn

baby as an “it” or “thing” and than by the end of the film during the birth scene she says “And

then out of no where there it was, there he was.” Also important to note is that at the start of the

film Juno makes jokes about the child and pregnancy while later on contrasting this image is

Juno arguing with Mark Loring when she finds out he is leaving Vanessa, she responds by

saying “You guys are supposed to take care of this…I want things to be perfect. I don’t want

them to be shitty and broken like everyone else’s family.” This obviously reveals that she wants

what is best for the child and taking into consideration how her actions and those of others will

affect him. Juno in many ways symbolizes the GenMe presented by Twenge but also challenges

it by presenting those very ideas in a positive light. She is shown to make a variety of major

choices at a young age but does so by weighing everything and thinking through the situation, as

well as taking on the consequences of her actions. GenMe and especially the young women of

GenMe are shown a heroine and model that is smart, independent, strong, and honest to herself

and her character.

Juno also shows alternatives to the idealized nuclear family of America, alternative

families that are not only positive, but in many ways better than these “traditional” families and

in doing so reveal that we are all alike. For example Juno’s family represents a positive image of

blended/mixed families through Juno’s stepmother Bren. While Bren and Juno may not always

agree nor have the perfect relationship; Bren is loving and supportive of Juno through out the

whole ordeal. This is shown when she accompanies Juno to her ultrasound, makes sure Juno gets

prenatal care and eats right, and in altering her clothes. In the first example Bren defends Juno

and goes as far as to verbally harass and abuse the ultrasound technician who snidely attacks

Juno for being a pregnant teenager and insinuates she would be a horrid mother. Bren, when

compared to Juno’s biological mother who is essentially absent from Juno’s life, fulfills the

duties we associate with a mom, love, understanding and support, duties that Juno’s “real” mom

has failed at. Additionally, single parent and adoptive families are also shown to be functional

families’ as well. Vanessa, who eventually divorces Mark and becomes the lone parent and

mother of Juno’s baby, is shown as the better choice among the three families; the biological

parents (Juno and Bleeker) and a married couple (Vanessa and Mark). Juno and Bleeker are as

Juno states “In high school” and “ill equipped”, where as Vanessa is loving, caring, and prepared

for parenthood and would serve as a better parent. The portrayal of Vanessa even shows that a

single parent, let alone adoptive mother, can be better than the married couple, in that Mark was

not ready to be a father and if the two would have stayed together the family would have been

dysfunctional. Besides showing that these alternative family models are functional, they also

reveal one of the major movies themes of modern film; we are all alike. It sends this message to

the audience by showing no matter what the family looks like or how they stray form the norm,

they are all essentially the same, a group of people that support and love one another.

The relationships in the film also demonstrate another popular them of modern film; love

conquers all. The two relationships that best convey the message of love’s strength and tenacity

are Vanessa Loring and the baby along with the relationship between Juno and Bleeker.

Although the love between Vanessa and the baby is an unconditional love it still proves the

theme. It was Vanessa’s unconditional love for the baby that lead to them being together, even

though there were doubts after the divorce between Mark and Vanessa, Juno gave the child to

Vanessa because she knew Vanessa truly loved the child and would take care of him. The love

that sprung between Juno and Bleeker also reveals the power in love, as it overcame various

hindrances. The love between Juno and Bleeker first had to overcome Juno rejecting Bleeker

which in turn leads to Bleeker asking another girl to prom and finally Juno questioning the idea

of love after witnessing the collapse of the Loring’s marriage. Despite all these challenges Juno

and Bleeker reconcile and become a couple before the dénouement of the film, reinforcing the

idea that love conquers all, including the doubts and insecurities of the lovers themselves. This

idea is best shown through the conversation between Juno and her father in which he says “The

best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly who you are…The right

person’s still gonna think the sun shines out of your ass. That’s the kind of person worth sticking

with”, which also reinforces the idea of staying true to ones self. Upon realizing that Bleeker is

this person, Juno has an epiphany that reinvigorates her and her belief in love than does a grand

gesture of romance for Bleeker involving tic tacs, and finally confesses her love to Bleeker.

Through this we also see a challenge to traditional love and gender roles in film, wherein

normally love comes before reproduction and it is usually the male who does the grand romantic

gesture to win over the love interest. While the film does show the failures and flaws of love by

the end of the Juno love prevails in spite of internal and external obstacles and conflict. This

teaches’ the viewers that love is not only beneficial to the individual, but that it is beneficial to

all involved; it is the saving grace to what can be otherwise bleak situations.

Similar to Twenge’s research on GenMe’s holding on to impossible dreams or dreams of

grandeur the married couple the Lorings represent this trait and movie theme, albeit in

contrasting ways. Vanessa’s dream is to be a mother even though it appears as though she can

not give birth to a child and has a husband who is neither ready nor desires to be a parent. As she

states to Juno in their first meeting “I was born to be a mother.” This belief drove Vanessa to

learn all she could learn about mothering, by reading parent books and taking parenting classes,

preparing the house for the baby, and contacting surrogate mothers. Juno chooses Vanessa as the

mother of her child because of Vanessa’s conviction and unyielding belief in herself and dream

of motherhood, even with Loring’s impending divorce, as Juno states “He didn’t felt like ours. I

think he was always hers.” Contrasting this positive portrayal of dreams is Mark Loring. Mark,

Vanessa’s (ex)-husband who in his late 30’s still yearns to be a rock star. He is seen playing

guitar and reminiscing with Juno about his past as a traveling musician while they were supposed

to be making arrangements for the adoption. Even though he has a successful white collar job, is

married, and lives in the suburbs, he still wishes to be in a more fulfilling career, someone more

akin to Kurt Cobain or Richard Hell. This theme of holding on to dreams often associated with

GenMe and from them come two portrayals. Mark is seen as a critique of this idea; he is in a

state of arrested development, as Twenge would call it “adultesence” (Twenge 97). Mark had a

distant and dysfunctional marriage that ended in divorce, as well a weird pedo-esque obsession

with living his younger years vicariously though jailbait relationships, because he would not give

up on his dream. Where as Vanessa is shown to be the image of optimism and inspiration as she

attains and lives her dream of motherhood and is happy at the end of the film. What GenMe take

away from contrasting the two is that dreams are good, healthy, and fulfilling if they are not self-

centered or self-indulgent like Mark’s rock star aspirations. That dreams that serve a greater

good, that can affect others, that may even be a little self sacrificial are dreams worth having and

that belief in ones self and persistence of such dreams are not only possible but also meaningful.

Juno is a film that instills into GenMe the modern clichés of film while simultaneously

confronting Hollywood representations and stereotypes of teenagers, gender, love, and life in

general. Moreover, the film also agrees with and refutes claims made by Twenge in Generation

Me. The film offers to this generation an honest, original, and positive representation of GenMe

and their generational characteristics. A portrayal not always present in mainstream film and

rarely seen outside of members of GenMe, one that neither condemns nor places GenMe on a

pedestal for praise, but rather shows the generation as complex individuals and humans with both

flaws and strengths dealing with real situations.

Bibliography

Twenge, Jean M. Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before. New York: Free Pres: 2006