The gender dynamics in Juno are fascinating. Our apparently inadvertent heroine instigates a first sexual encounter with her shy boyfriend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera, who was perfect in his awkward roles as Harold in the short film Darling, Darling and Evan in Superbad).
She approaches Mark in a clumsy seductress way — Juno feels sexy in Mark's company — but the intimacy shared during their simulated prom dance is designed to leave the viewers uncomfortable, disoriented, and even feeling a bit dirty. It's also the scene that turns the seduction game upside down and Mr. Loring suddenly becomes an entirely different man. Mark is transformed by Juno's temptation. A minor third male character, a young school mate, the jock Steve Rendazo (Daniel Clark), bullies Juno although he secretly is infatuated with her.
Mark represents a darker, threatening part of the male universe unknown to Juno; their aborted relationship becomes a testing of the most basic principles of her personality. Juno is confused, cries desperately inside her van, her sturdy façade collapses, her humour is gone after confrontating him. I think Juno recognizes in that moment Mark's self-alienation as her own.
Compare as both speak similarly:
"So that’s cool with you, then?" (Juno asks Bleeker about her first idea of nipping the baby in the bud before it gets worse.)
"But I thought you’d be cool with this." (Mark tries to justify a separation from his wife Vanessa.)
Juno's father, Mac MacGuff (J.K. Simmons) will philosophically rebuke Juno's attraction for Mark and she'll forget her idealization of him, since he isn't "the kind of person that's worth sticking with."
I didn't think of the story as intended to marginalize the male characters in any moment, despite the express devotion (and autobiographical hints: Diablo owns Juno's hamburger phone) of the script to Ellen Page's character; more the opposite, these are not unidimensional guys. Mr. MacGuff, Mark, and finally Bleeker empower and define the ultimate Juno: compassionate and funny, invincible and frail.
Maybe what I found really impressive in the film was observing the deconstruction of Juno's individuality from her instinctual responses and the unapologetic way of refusing to articulate Juno's decision to give her baby to Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner, playing her best dramatic role so far). After struggling with her demons and choosing love above herself, Juno stlll must sacrifice her son to the replicant mom, the female who symbolizes the politically correct sweetness, the welfare state, the maternal normalization, the grand-scale morality, Vanessa.
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.