JUNO

“Your eggo is preggo.”Juno is a film that has me smiling from the start and its one I'll pick up again and again to remind myself of a girl who wears skirts over trousers and yet is mature beyond her years.

Critics such as Jeff Dawson and Hadley Freeman, writing for the The Sunday Times and The Guardian respectively, however have suggested that Juno is a pro-life film. Freeman slammed it for “completing a hat-trick [referring to the 2007 releases of Knocked Up and Waitress] of American comedies in the past twelve months that present abortion as unreasonable or even unthinkable – a telling social sign.” Although Juno decides against an abortion after visiting the clinic, I wouldn't have thought it was a 'telling sign of American society.' (The point of the scene when she runs away from the clinic is that she – Juno – is unprepared to take that step for herself and also having been swayed by Su Chin – a protestor.) It also simply enables the story to move forwards. Moreover, I agree with the view of the film's star, Ellen Page, when she says that it had frustrated her when “people call it a pro-life movie, which is just absurd..The most important thing is the choice is there, and the film completely demonstrates that.”

Juno has also been labeled as feminist by other critics by its apparent atypical portrayal of the female lead as confident and smart. According to antifeminist Phyllis Schlafly the theme of Juno "isn't love, romance, or respect for life, but the triumph of feminist ideology, i.e., the irrelevancy of men, especially fathers".Wesley Morris, writing for The Boston Globe concluded "Juno serves cool, intelligent girls something they rarely see in a movie: themselves". Personally, to say the film is about feminism (and to say that it's not about love or respect for life leads me to think Schlafly watched another film entirely), is reading too much into it even though Page is correct in saying that her character is interesting because of her freshness and how she is “completely devoid of stereotype."

The cinematography and mis-en-scene impress me by telling me more about the characters than the dialogue sometimes does. The best example of this is when Juno goes to meet the unborn child's prospective parents. A montage sequence is used to quickly show the audience that the Loring couple are rich and constantly checking their appearance and status in society even before they are in the frame. It is painfully clear that they have everything; the symmetrical outline of the neighbourhood indicates a respectable area; big house after big house shows their obvious wealth (Vanessa and Mark have the largest house on the street); two cars (a possible indicator of both having a job – and successful ones at that); cream and white upholstery neatly presented and clean; professional photographs showing off a perfect couple; everything except a child.

As well as explaining things to the audience the cinematography provides great comedy. When asked whether she put something in the urn by her step-mother, I'm forced to laugh hysterically as she blames her younger half-sister Liberty Bell whilst a flashback shows the truthful version of Juno throwing up a Slush Puppy into the urn. “No, no...I would never do that Bren.” The pace of the film is also set from the cinematography. The quirky yet snappy animation of the opening sequence (900 hand cut images were composited onto a background whilst Page walked on a treadmill to create this moving effect!) confirm the audience's expectation of a light-hearted movie; an indie movie; a movie with comedy and reality in one. Before I had wished that the animation approach had been continued throughout, but now I realise that not one thing is repeated in Juno – which is on purpose and it makes the film more successful in conveying its core message – nothing in life can be planned.

Rather than feminism, pro-life, pro-choice or even growing up – the essence of Juno is about relationships and the oddities of the thing. The film said to me that relationships are great, awkward, difficult, real, fake and altogether confusing and odd – and that is normal. Director Jason Reitman auditioned the initial cast together on a screen test, to then show to Fox Searchlight for funding, rather than auditioning them individually because he believed that Juno is "all about relationships and the idea of auditioning people outside of each other, one-on-one with the casting director, didn’t make sense." The amazing performance of all the cast, Page in particular, mean that as a consumer I was able to appreciate certain situations without feeling led and ask questions that otherwise have been awkward – like should it not be acceptable to hang out with people who make you feel good and accepted, regardless of their age? The characters, through the predicament of a pregnancy, are able to grow individually and review their relationships with others. The Loring couple are able to step back eventually and realise that you shouldn't sacrifice your own goals in order to make another happy or that to be a good parent; a good family, doesn't necessarily mean a 2.4 unit. Juno is able to grow closer to her family and hold onto – not discover – love. Garner's last line in Juno: 'I have a son' demonstrates this as well because the audience can see that a parent is not necessarily blood and family trees but a internal preparation to love a child as your own (shown again when Juno's stepmother defends her, as her own kid, at the ultrasound.) The best example, though, is this:

“Look, in my opinion the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what-have-you. The right person is still going to think the sun shines out of your ass. That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with.”