The real “Juno effect”
Access Hollywood reported yesterday:
Jason Bateman has come to the defense of the Oscar-nominated film, Juno, claiming the movie should not bare blame for the flood of teen pregnancies in Gloucester, MA….
As the media quickly honed in on the story, it was branded “the Juno effect” and commentators openly discussed whether the film… along with the teen pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears, who at 17, became a mother last week, affected the Gloucester girls….
“I don’t know the specifics, but I can speak about what sort of responsibility entertainment should hold for social behavior,” Bateman, who starred as one half of adoptive couple the Lorings in Juno, told Access Hollywood. “… Look, if you’re going to blame a movie or song for your actions, whether they be good or bad, I think you’re looking at the wrong things to influence your life.”…
Bateman said the film, which saw [Ellen] Page’s Juno MacGuff carry her unplanned pregnancy to term before allowing her child to be adopted by Jennifer Garner’s Vanessa Loring, should be allowed to remain a work of entertainment.
“What we’re doing is providing entertainment in different flavors for your consumption,” Bateman said. “I think people should look to other areas of their life for lessons and guidance, mainly parents, or teachers, or friends, or whomever….”
Juno was about a teenager who was heroic on 2 counts. She rejected abortion in the wake of a crisis pregnancy and decided the best decision for all was to place her baby for adoption.
A true “Juno effect” would see a lowered rate of abortion alongside a spike in adoption placements.
A partial “Juno effect” would see a lowered rate of abortion among teens in crisis pregnancies.
To say the “Juno effect” is for girls to purposefully get pregnant so as to raise babies together is a wild stretch.
Gloucester High School administrators say they’re seeing 4x the normal number of teen pregnancies. Perhaps that’s exactly right: They’re only now seeing what has always been. Perhaps the number of girls getting pregnant is the same as ever, but these kids are responding noblely – like Juno – instead of slinking off to the abortion mill.
[HT: proofreader Laura Loo; photo courtesy of Us magazine]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I think the people claiming this “effect” failed to actually watch the movie.
Juno portrays the decision to carry her child to term and give it up for adoption as one that was heart wrenching, but ultimately right.
Though she does stay quite positive throughout her ordeal, she is definitely shown to struggle with the issues surrounding the pregnancy and adoption.
I think it was wonderful to see them portray the entire situation in such an honest way, but I hardly think it would make any teenager want to rush out and get pregnant!
Perhaps though, it has lowered the rate of abortion by showing birthing the child as an option. If this is the case, we should be thrilled as *everyone* claims to want to reduce the number of abortions.
Before the conversation starts, remember that Juno found herself pregnant as the result of onetime sex with a good friend. Pregnancy was not the goal.
If the “pact story” is true for these girls the pregnancy subsequent baby was the goal.
So perhaps one should look to the recent spate of attention on celeb kids like Suri/Maddox/Apple/Dannielynn and indeed Jamie Lynn’s kid.
I’m assuming, though of course I could be wrong, that Jamie Lynn was probably not trying to get pregnant either.
I imagine the “Juno Effect” has some limited validity, but it’d be combined with the fairly-frequent desire of girls to have babies without realizing what it really entails.
Phylosopher, 9:07a: Hope you’re sitting down. For once, we agree… :)
I think it’s also important to note that not all teen parents are created equally. There are some who are totally unequipped to care for even themselves, but others who are completely capable of being a good parent.
It’s easy to make snap judgements about someone, but we honestly know nothing of these young women other than from second or third hand sources.
I guess I’m a bit sensitive about the subject because I got married and had children at a young age, and I feel like many untrue things are assumed about me. I’ve become very aware about how I phrase certain things in order to try to paint a more accurate picture of my life than my age necessarally presents.
Whumpf! Am now.
I think what’s interesting is that my teen daughter cited the number of conversations her classmates (she’s now a senior) had about Juno.
I’ve also heard a report re: a local school which also has a larger than normal number of pregnancies.
I’ve been reading a book by the Harris brothers – Alex and Brett called Do Hard Things which basically takes the position that we as a society have coddled teens when historically there was an expectation that teens were adults.
With the delay of marriage, the desire for children, the promotion of “consequence-free” sex and the like with Sex & the City, I believe they may have a valid point.
BTW – I’m working on the preview page – let me know how it works!
Yay, Chris…looks like you fixed it!
I love how you have put the rules in the sidebar on the preview page. Very, very cool!
From the article:
Bull – he may be making that statement, but experience has shown that the public overwhelmingly looks to Hollywood for influences.
That we had a raft of anti-war movies, that Al Gore produced “Incontinent Truth”, that Brokeback Mountain was produced all hint at objectives other that entertainment. Anyone who’s in the game and unaware of that is full of it.
Yay, Chris…looks like you fixed it! I love how you have put the rules in the sidebar on the preview page. Very, very cool!
Yeah – I was getting tired of my own spelling errors, and various grammatical errors – I’m still making them, but at least I get a chance to see them in their final state! :-)
Many of the comments above are dead-on. In “Juno,” Juno does not set out to become pregnant, is unhappy to discover she is, makes the right decision about adoption, and lives with the uncomfortable consequences and judgments of her parents, fellow students, and school officials. To call Gloucester a “Juno” effect is ridiculous.
I think it is important to know whether in fact there was a “pregnancy pact” in Gloucester or an actual effort by these girls to become pregnant or whether this is just a statistical bump up in the unplanned pregnancy rate. If in fact these were INTENTIONAL it says a lot about the family life of these girls that they so lack love and hope for their future that they wanted to find those things in a baby, even a baby from a homeless man, and really not much about which sex education is better. If they were unplanned then we can get into the usual arguments about abstinence v. comprehensive sex education.
Chris, you are missing an important distinction between the actor and the creator (writer, director, producer.)
Many singers have performed in Wagnerian operas but we don’t accuse them of being anti-Semites, or would you take it that far?
JohnS,
One of the girls was on GMA yesterday and said there was no pregnancy pact. She may have not been involved in the situation where there was a pregnancy pact, but this girl is a senior, her boyfriend is 20 and attends a community college, and they said they were just trying to make the best out of a bad situation. I also read that the girls made the pact after they became pregnant to be there for each other and help each other get through school while raising their babies too.
Elizabeth:
If that is true, this is really all just a tempest in a teapot. Perhaps, as Jill suggests, what this is is a bump up in the carry to term rate and not the pregnancy rate.
phylosopher @ 10:42 AM
Chris, you are missing an important distinction between the actor and the creator (writer, director, producer.)
In what way? He’s not making this statement as the film character. He’s someone who is involved in the industry, and certainly aware of film’s influence on the American culture. He’s literally grown up in front of the public. Your naïveté is completely disingenuous.
Many singers have performed in Wagnerian operas but we don’t accuse them of being anti-Semites, or would you take it that far?
I’m curious – how did you even come close to arriving at this thought? Missing your morning coffee, or did you heartily read into what I wrote, or was it you hardly read what I wrote?
(It’s so good to have preview capability once more!)
naïveté = naivite
Interesting – I’ll have to check this out.
I have to go with Chris on this one, I doubt many actors today would agree to be in a blatantly racist or anti-semetic movie on the grounds that they’re just “acting” it’s the writer and produced and director to blame. That said, I don’t think there was anything in “Juno” that would lead a teenage to want to become pregnant.
Chris: I have to respectfully disagree with you. Hollywood is a business, and making money is the most important consideration. If they can make money with a message movie, they will, but that’s not the main motivation. Movies are too expensive to make, and because they take two or three years to complete, they are guessing as to what the public will want see.
For instance, regarding the anti-war movies, despite the public’s negative feeling about the Iraq war, most of them were flops at the box office.
I’m not an expert on film, but I think message films were much more prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s.
Chris,
Great work. Thank you.
It is indeed nice to heave the “Preview” function working.
Fair Play @ 12:05 PM
Agreed – also I agree to some extent with what Jason Bateman said, but notice that his response becomes almost non-responsible – “whomever”.
Hollywood doesn’t have to produce an overt message movie, but clearly every movie does send a kind of message, and just like comment feedback here, the consumers vote with their dollars.
I don’t think there’s a direct causal relationship between Juno and Gloucester, but it’s disingenuous for Bateman to suggest that the movie industry is culturally neutral. Just check out Diablo Cody – find her blog and read it. She’s anything but neutral. And you’re right – it’s about the money.
Your welcome Doug.
I’m beginning to think that since fixing it my grammar has become much worse – “your welcome” vs “You’re welcome!”.
BTW – the next time I decide to “heave” the preview function, I’ll let you know. ;-)
Now where did I put that spell checker???
“Preview” isn’t a cure-all, unfortunately!! Proof-reading is still required! :-)
Chris, thanks for your efforts!
My welcome, indeed. I’m going to have to train myself to click on that “Preview” button. I’d done forgot ’twas there.
But, enough about Jason.
What about the “Justine Effect”?