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Call the arrival of Juno in theatres a wrap on one of Hollywood’s unlikely trends in 2007: Unwanted pregnancy. While it might make for awkward dinner conversation ala King Middle School, moviegoers can’t seem to get enough of the young, tough, smart-mouthed pregnant heroine. Waitress, Knocked Up, and now Juno all deserve credit for their treatment of the issue.; they all dared to be flippant, funny, and honest about a touchy subject that has become political fodder for both wings of the country.
While Hollywood unabashedly pounded its pulpit with a slew of serious politically-minded dramas and thrillers to mixed results, these three films about unplanned parenthood seemed to speak to broader unconscious concerns about the cost of bringing children into a world where they have to be adults in lieu of adults acting like children.
The pregnancy in each film is presented as anything but a gift. Keri Russell’s Jenna is pretty blunt about her resentment for her unborn child, and Ellen Page’s Juno treats hers like a bad pimple that’ll eventually just go away, but by the end of each film, a transfomration beyond the physical has occurred. After a life of frustration with their own limitations -whether it’s their age, their bodies, their socioeconomic status, or the just the sophomoric company they keep - they become aware of themselves as individuals worth saving. In the process of ushering life into the world, they achieve a self-worthiness and realization that they actually do matter. Who knew unwanted pregnancy could represent the American spirit?
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