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What Juno and 16 and Pregnant Really Say About Teen Pregnancy and Adoption
The movie Juno, which premiered in 2007, is the fictional story of a girl named Juno MacGuff and her experience becoming pregnant as a teenager and her choice to place her baby for adoption. While a movie like Juno can help shine a bright light on the issue of teen pregnancy, much of what is shown of Juno's pregnancy and adoption process does not align with the reality of such a life-changing experience.
In the movie, Juno discovers that she is pregnant and confides in her best friend Leah about how to best handle the situation. At first she decides that having an abortion would be her best option, yet when she arrives at the clinic she finds herself unable to follow through and decides to take a different plan of action: she decides on adoption. She and Leah enjoy slushies while flipping through the Penny Saver section of the local newspaper to find an adoptive family that "looks nice."
This casual beginning sets the tone for the rest of the movie. When she tells her father and step-mother about the pregnancy, they express their disappointment by saying they's rather she was "expelled or into hard drugs" instead.
Juno's next step is to meet the adoptive family she found in the paper. During their first meeting, when she's asked whether she prefers an open or closed adoption, her response is, "Don't I just have the thing? Squeeze it on out and hand it over?" Flippant comments like this are repeated throughout the film, highlighting Juno's immaturity and nonchalance.
Juno does finally get emotional after the birth when she decides she doesn't want to meet the baby, but it feels like too little too late. In the final scene of the movie, Juno and her boyfriend spend time together outside, playing music and being sweet together, much like they did before the pregnancy, which leaves the audience under impression that this whole experience had very little impact on their lives.
While the quirkiness and humor made the movie quite enjoyable, it also made for a totally unrealistic tale, especially in comparison to the adoption episode of MTV's 2009 documentary series, 16 and Pregnant. In this show, when real-life teen couple Catelynn and Tyler choose adoption , it is heart-wrenching and complicated (watch the entire episode here).
For example, many of the details of this adoption process are the opposite from what is shown in Juno. Catelynn and Tyler are interested in an open adoption, unlike Juno, and really emphasize the fact that they want their daughter to always know how much they love her. Catelynn talks a lot about how intimidating she finds the entire process and says "I'm scared if I keep her and I'm scared if I give her away, of the pain that I'll feel." Juno seemed to have no such worry. Catelynn and Tyler both are really able to recognize the emotional impact that this is going to have on the rest of their lives. Catelynn completely understands the seriousness of her decision, saying she wants her daughter "to have better than what I have, and I know that I can't do that. So I'm just doing the thing that I think is the best and I know that you guys [the adoptive parents] can provide for her a lot more than I can." She is able to be completely unselfish and do what is best for her daughter even though it is causing her a lot of pain.
Moments after their baby is born, both Catelynn and Tyler decide that they do not want to see or hold their baby for fear of getting attached and making their adoption plans more difficult. Eventually however, unlike Juno, they ultimately do decide to spend time with her and the episode ends with Catelynn saying that she is "at peace with her decision" and is certain that their daughter "will one day come to them and say thank you." Catelynn also recieves a gift from the adoptive mother, a bracelet inscribed with "Always in my heart" -- the same bracelet the the adoptive mother wears, and the baby when she is older. Unlike in Juno, Catelynn's episode shows the connection that Catelynn will have to her daughter for the rest of her life.
While it is important to get the topic of teen pregnancy out and spoken about in the media, it is equally important that it be portrayed accurately. When teenagers get pregnant, no matter what path they take to handle the situation, it is big decision. It will have a huge impact on the rest of their lives and it will be something that they will never forget.