Twisted and extreme slang has also become a point of displeasure for some movie-goers. I can't help but quote here what is perhaps the most polemical one: "honest to blog." As I am another scribe in the blogosphere, I think it's probably going to be the most used in our popular collective speech for a while. There are tons of more far-fetched expressions, but this one is noteworthy for being directly associated with the blogging/MySpace/Facebook generation.
Our conversations are full of clichés, of comprised, referential expressions that we pull out time and again without realising we've borrowed them from the TV and other sources of popular culture. Still, we cringe (or pretend to cringe) when we hear a big chunk of them come from the mouths of fictional characters; we feel mirrored in their banality and then these regurgitated catch phrases embarrass us. Or it's possible we get to fall in love with some of these characters only when we forget our/their limitations.
Professor Nicholas Emler is author of The Costs and Causes of Low Self-worth, which quantifies the cost of low self-esteem: "... relatively low self-esteem is a risk factor for suicide, suicide attempts, depression, teenage pregnancy and victimisation by bullies."
Emler also wrote Adolescence and Delinquency: The Collective Management of Reputation about psychology's reaction to deviance, attributing it to flaws or deficits in the individual's psychological make-up. "Cultural stereotypes, cinema and advertising all play their part in shaping our opinion on beauty. While in one group the majority can agree on what they find attractive, it's difficult to say why one person stands out," Emler writes.
And why does a girl like Juno stand out? Why would we consider her beautiful? Why would we fall in love with her? That will happen in the moment we translate the script to our own recondite fantasies. A script is always an experiment — in this case the gigantic success of Juno at the box office is a sign of a connection mainly with the American public, perhaps due to their unconscious desire to resuscitate the old postcard of the American dream (although ironically the film was shot in Canada), the Capra-esque happy ending without retorting to a pinkified, Hollywoodized denouement. Jeff Tweedy (of the rock band Wilco) has said, "I think America has existed as a myth."
Article comments
1 - Marcia L. Neil
How to be different -- go south, young man, as if he must, and homestead a new life in the scrub-brush of the Deep South. A sort of cinder-block hero, perhaps with intent to rescue the teen mom and his/her progeny?
2 - kendra
Is Deep South quirky enough?
3 - Dave C
I think a lot of people are missing the point of Juno. It is not a dramedy, or a deep character study; it is a straight comedy. It has an emotional center like a lot of comedies but it is a comedy. Juno tells jokes and uses bizarre turns of phrases to make the audience laugh, not convey deep meaning. The movie has a happy ending because the movie is fun; it is not a dark comedy.
That said Juno is still the best picture of the year.
4 - Sarah L
The third act of the movie is too dramatized and emotional for a typical comedy. I liked the review, the characters in "Juno" had a deepness under their witty jokes surface.
5 - kendra
Thank you, Sarah L! I think "Juno" was conceived as a coming-age story, so although it's formally a comedy it contains important elements of drama, imo.
Dave C, I agree it's not a dark comedy, but I think the ending is only happy to an extent.
6 - Marcia L. Neil
It's not a comedy, although the main character knows how to joke -- the movie portrays some independent young woman being gradually taken under control in ways that are already advertised.
7 - miranduhh
this movie is amazing..
honest blog..lol.