Madelyn Roberts

FHS 2450
OPTION E: FILM ESSAY

Words:533

Watch a film with a central message/theme that relates to something we have studied in this
course, then write an essay describing the course concepts and how they are illustrated by the film. Here
are JUST A FEW examples of appropriate films and the topics they address:

Juno
In the movie Juno, a 16 year old teenage girl becomes pregnant and has to face the
struggles of pregnancy as well as giving up her child. There are several incidents in which the
movie directly relates to subjects in the book Our Sexuality by Crooks and Baur. First and
foremost, negative consequences of teen pregnancy are addressed (page 364). An unintended
pregnancy could potentially be harmful to the womans education or financial resources. With
many women having to drop out of school in order to care for their child or work in order to pay
for childhood expenses. Although neither of these instances happened in the movie Juno due to
her choice of giving up her child, it could have potentially ended up this way had Juno made a
different decision on keeping her child. The use of contraceptives was not addressed in this
movie because it was made somewhat apparent that they were not used during the sexual
activity that resulted in the pregnancy. A study has said that only 44% of sexually active teens
use contraception regularly which is clearly illustrated in this movie. Coital sexual expression is
what happened to cause the child in the movie Juno but what led to the coital sexual expression
was non-coital expression. We see an example of this when Bleaker says 'The Blair Witch
Project' was coming on Starz and you were like 'I haven't seen this since it came out and if so
we should watch it' and then 'but oh, no, we should just make out instead la la la': This makes it
clear to the watchers that the instance of non-coital sexual expression did not stop or prevent
from further sexual activity.
One of the issues most clearly addressed in the movie Juno is the double standards
Bleaker and Juno experience. The character Bleaker is praised for getting a girl pregnant
because it means he had sex which makes him somewhat of a stud. On the opposite hand,
Juno experiences a lot of turmoil and judgement based off her pregnancy. Most people
automatically assume that because Juno was pregnant that she was a slut or whore which gave
her a negative image especially in a high school setting where the norm is to assume any
woman that has sex is to be frowned upon while the men are praised for being legends.
The movie does a very good job at showing what it is like for teenagers who become
pregnant by showing the emotional and physical hurt that the individual goes through during a
pregnancy. This movie especially does a great job of showing what kind of verbal abuse a teen
can go through during this time as well as showing the audience the kinds of decisions a
pregnant teen is faced with when it comes to terms of schooling, financial means and care for
their child.

Citations: Crooks, R., & Baur, K. (2011). Our sexuality (11th ed.). Redwood City, Calif.:

Benjamin Cummings Pub.