the other "A" word

I went to see the movie Juno last night. I liked it, it was a feel-good kind of movie and it kept both my boyfriend and I laughing a lot, but parts of it kind of unsettled me.

I got excited because the movie used the "a-word," abortion, which happens soooo rarely in the movies, but then I was quickly disappointed. When the 16-year-old main character Juno finds out she's pregnant, she decides to "nip it in the butt," as she says, and go to an abortion clinic.

But something creeped me out about this... The filmmakers present her as extremely nonchalant about the entire situation, as if abortion is a very light decision for anyone, and it is not until a classmate protesting outside of the clinic tells her that her baby already has fingernails that she runs out of the clinic, while the classmate tells her that Jesus thanks her for her decision.

Huh?

I started feeling like I was watching a commercial for The Knights of Columbus or Pro-Life America. Juno decides to go through with her pregnancy and put her baby up for adoption. There was a feeling throughout the whole movie of abortion being the "bad" choice, or the easy way out, and keeping the baby being the "right" choice.. It sort of reminded me of the whole Jamie Lynn Spears fiasco where everyone praised her for doing the "right" thing. Hollywood and the media seem to omit the fact that Spears is a millionaire who has lots of family support, whereas most young women who get abortions don't have that kind of security. I'm just sort of sick of Hollywood telling us what the "right" thing to do is... I won't even touch on the fact that most mainstream movies are written and directed and produced by men, who will never have to make that kind of decision, or possibly know how it feels.

Knocked Up is another great example of Hollywood being way too afraid to touch the A-Word with a ten foot pole. Probably the most unrealistic pregnancy movie of all time.

I feel like I'm doing a lot of ranting today, I'll try to come up with a happy post.