Social issues - Juno
Kindly contributed by Glen
At a cinema near you. “JUNO”… for anyone over the age of twelve.
What are teens watching? And, more to the point, does what they view affect their lives?
A recent American film of the above title, has become a hit this side of the Atlantic. It is an excellent film. Good acting and scriptwriting. Holds the attention from beginning to end. It is unusual in that it is a film that crosses the divide between teen and adult. A clever film that has a universal appeal.
Yet, the story can be a disturbing one. Its message is that it can be rewarding and fulfilling to have a baby in your teens. That being pregnant need not stop a girl from carrying on with her education. It celebrates the moral stance of a pregnant teen girl who goes ahead and has her baby.
In America, alarmists are concerned that the recent high incidence of teen pregnancies at a High School, Gloucester, Massachusetts, could be connected with this film and to television programmes with a similar underlying inference.
Juno is now out on DVD and will be viewed by a greater number of teens. Another disquieting note is that when I saw the film the cinema audience was made up of all females, ninety percent teenage girls who were in their very early teen years. Where were the boys?
The old thorny question arises. Is art a reflection of society? Or Is society a reflection of art? There is no definitive answer. Juno sends teen girls a message. If it is consciously or unconsciously emulated, many teen girls could become pregnant thinking their life will be as Juno’s.
Not usually so. If your teen sees Juno, discuss the matters of not just sex education but safe sex and contraception. Also the humanist theory of a female’s right to chose whether it’s to say no to sex or no to pregnancy.