i dunno what's up with all the anti-abortion messages coming from hollywood lately. first there was knocked up, which basically ignored the reasonable question of why the main character wouldn't choose to get an abortion on discovering her pregnancy from a one-night stand. actually, that didn't even bother me that much, because i figured that's just how she feels, she doesn't have to prove anything to me. but then comes another movie about young'uns getting pregnant, juno.
this time, the girl seems within a pretty obvious age range for getting an abortion, 16 yrs old. juno is planning on getting an abortion, and goes to the clinic. on the way in, she runs into a lone fellow student protesting abortion. she kind of mocks the girl, until the girl's bogus claim that the baby already has fingernails hits a chord. walking in, she receives an odd greeting from a young dyed-hair, pierced receptionist who tells her about the way flavored condoms make her boyfriend's balls taste, and tells her she has to write her entire sexual history on a form.
now, i guess a defender of the film would say that juno ended up not getting an abortion because of her irrational fear based on the false information about the baby's fingernails. i actually think the movie gave the impression that abortion clinics are unfriendly and unprofessional places, and that the character was actually misplacing the fear of its strangeness onto the issue of fingernails. i think after seeing this representation of an abortion clinic, a teenage girl would be very hesitant to go.
personally, i guess i'm not sure how important all this stuff is. knocked up was kind of a non-issue i thought, even though many of my friends argued that it seemed a very anti-abortion movie. but i think just having seen the second one of these within the year, and one that goes even farther against the fact that sometimes abortion is the right choice, and especially as roe v wade is coming back to the supreme court, i think something foul is afoot in lala-land. who doesn't want us to get our abortions?
this time, the girl seems within a pretty obvious age range for getting an abortion, 16 yrs old. juno is planning on getting an abortion, and goes to the clinic. on the way in, she runs into a lone fellow student protesting abortion. she kind of mocks the girl, until the girl's bogus claim that the baby already has fingernails hits a chord. walking in, she receives an odd greeting from a young dyed-hair, pierced receptionist who tells her about the way flavored condoms make her boyfriend's balls taste, and tells her she has to write her entire sexual history on a form.
now, i guess a defender of the film would say that juno ended up not getting an abortion because of her irrational fear based on the false information about the baby's fingernails. i actually think the movie gave the impression that abortion clinics are unfriendly and unprofessional places, and that the character was actually misplacing the fear of its strangeness onto the issue of fingernails. i think after seeing this representation of an abortion clinic, a teenage girl would be very hesitant to go.
personally, i guess i'm not sure how important all this stuff is. knocked up was kind of a non-issue i thought, even though many of my friends argued that it seemed a very anti-abortion movie. but i think just having seen the second one of these within the year, and one that goes even farther against the fact that sometimes abortion is the right choice, and especially as roe v wade is coming back to the supreme court, i think something foul is afoot in lala-land. who doesn't want us to get our abortions?
posted by Amanda at 3:16 PM
3 Comments:
I know having abortions is what all the cool kids are doing, but what's so bad about showing rational woman who decide that shamabortion isn't for them? It's just one view point. Another view point: just abort that shit.
yeah, that's exactly what i said to people's criticisms of knocked up, but by the second pro-"very young people having babies" movie, it seems like an odd trend.
It's funny, theres a huge value judgment placed on young single women who choose to abort, and on young single women who choose to keep the baby i.e. the whole "Jamie Lynn Spears" thing. I don't know if you read the Times article about her, but the kind of good pure girl vs. bad pregnant girl Manichean moralizing it espoused, shit, it was just flagrantly offensive.
I guess pregnant straight chicks just can't win?
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