martes, 29 de julio de 2008

Hollywood vs. reality

I think I should start off by stating that Juno is now one of my favorite movies. I watched it, fell in love, and I have it on DVD because I even bought the box edition that came with a shirt. So I guess the content of this entry might be a bit scewed in perspective and a bit biased. But it might not be.




So, there's still this debate floating around about Hollywood and its attitudes towards teen pregnancy lately, most especially exacerbated by Jamie Lynn Spears who, as some might know by now, has already delivered, and has been quoted by whats-its-name, "being a mommy is the best thing ever!" Well, as usual, there're two sides. One is the "thank you baby Jesus, we're finally getting over the hatred of teen pregnancy and are able to speak of it openly!" The other is, "psh that's nothing like a real pregnancy, I didn't keep the guy at the end/I don't have bazillions of dollars to take care of a kid."

I can't help but notice a few things though. First, when speaking about Spear's pregnancy, almost no one makes mention of the fact that she didn't use protection or was on any form of birth control whatsoever. If any reference is made, it's simply stated that she had premarital sex. And that's something I don't understand about American society. Why are its people more preoccupied with the fact she had premarital sex, or underage sex, then with the fact she failed to use birth control? She had a variety of options. She could've used condoms, which aren't that expensive, not for her anyway. She could've gone on the pill if she were going to be sexually active. She could've used Emergency Contraception if something had failed or she'd messed up. Or, last and seemingly most horrific, she could've had a quiet abortion. But no, it's just that she had premarital sex.

And how many other underage people are having premarital sex? Exactly. (I lack specific statistics to back my fabulous statement, but I will look if anyone wants them.) Just remember folks: it's not premarital sex unless you plan on getting married.

The second thing I notice is how Jamie Lynn is not only being under attack for having premarital and underage sex, no one seems to notice that, compared to her older sister, she has handled the situation far more maturely (up till now anyway) then her older sister, Britney Spears. Unlike her sister, Jamie Lynn has not rushed into marriage (though is in the process of one), and doesn't seem to run the risk of risky behavior and habits. Plus, I think because she's underage, she might be better off than Brit, if only because there will be more people watching her. Maybe.

So she's not a realistic bar towards which other teen mothers-to-be should measure up to. But she's a Hollywood kid, and really, who is real in Hollywood? (Seriously, if they're not ODing on drugs they're jumping on couches.)

Finally, that's the biggest thing I have against those who criticize Juno: that it's not a realistic portrayal of a pregnant teenager. Let's put the pieces together though. First, her social class. I think her parents' reacted in one of the two spectrum middle-class parents' react to a pregnant kid: they were disappointed, but felt that she had just made a genuine mistake and rather than tossing her out of the house, they helped her. (Not without reminding her most of the time that she shouldn't be in this mess anyway.) Second, Juno's (Ellen Page) personality: instead of taking a "poor me" attitude, she took a good look at the situation, made a mature (albeit naive) decision, and stuck to it, realizing that it was a mistake, but that mistakes are made to learn from them.

Third, and most importantly, it's a movie, not a documentary. It's not meant to show us every single stupid step of the process. It's only meant to tell us a story. Juno's pregnancy isn't even the center of this story, it's used as a plot device to tell the story of how she had to grow up quickly, and show the world that not all girls take self-pity attitudes towards themselves. In fact, I applaud the movie for not taking the view most pregnant-girl films take, the one where it's all the girl's fault for getting pregnant.

As I'm about to repeat: it's Hollywood. Do you honestly expect reality? If you want to make sure your teenage girl doesn't get pregnant, do the responsible parent thing: talk to her about it, tell her to use protection, offer to accompany her to a gynecologist visit for hormonal birth control, and, if she does get pregnant anyway, be there for her and be sure that she and the guy who got her pregnant takes responsibility for their mistake and make the best decision.

How hard is it to be a parent instead of letting school/the media/their friends do the job?

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