For the record – Ellen Page talks about Juno to The Washington Post:
Is “Juno” a pro-life movie?
Not in the slightest, and if you knew me and if you knew the writer and the director, no one would ever say that. It happens to be a film about a girl who has a baby and gives it to a yuppie couple. That’s what the movie’s about. Like, I’m really sorry to everyone that she doesn’t have an abortion, but that’s not what the film is about. She goes to an abortion clinic and she completely examines all the opportunities and all the choices allowed her and that’s obviously the most crucial thing. It’s as simple as that.
I call myself a feminist when people ask me if I am, and of course I am ’cause it’s about equality, so I hope everyone is. You know you’re working in a patriarchal society when the word feminist has a weird connotation. “Hippie” has a weird connotation. “Liberal” has a weird connotation.
How sick are you of these questions?
Well, because I very much am pro-choice, I don’t really get it. People are always going to project. It’s kind of amazing, though, that a movie that’s caused this much controversy has done really well in America.
“It’s kind of amazing, though, that a movie that’s caused this much controversy has done really well in America.”
I think Ellen Page makes a valid point, that a movie that really goes against traditional values in the US is so widely embraced. We were talking about this the other day. This is a film that never questions whether a 16-yr-old should give up her baby to a divorcee. The fact that you’ve got so much taboo mixed up with the story only speaks to its power -its power as a story. As a message movie, it fails miserably, and that’s just fine with me.
I have one comment for Ms. Page… The little babies have fingernails.
I totally agree that Juno is – thankfully – not didactic in the least. It succeeds where many others have failed in this regard.
I do think that Page’s remarks speak to the inherent problem with the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice.” Are they mutually exclusive? The movie promotes choice, and that choice results in life. So what are we to conclude from that?