Juno: The Title Character And Her Cheese

Ok, so first of all, doesn't it look like Ellen Page and Michael Cera are 13 in this picture?! They are, as of January 2008, 20 and 19 respectively. But damn, look at them there.

Anyway, in this last post for Juno (for now, anyway), I will address the portrayal of Juno and Paulie. As the title character, we see most of the movie through Juno's eyes. She narrates, gives commentary (the part about the true desires of jock kids was pretty funny), and provides a lens through which to view the other characters. However, she herself admits that she is too immature to deal with life just yet, so we must assume that this lens is cracked and faulty. Just because Juno may feel something doesn't mean that it is right or rational, especially when her pregnancy hormones kick in.

I've said this before, but I must warn you again, there will be spoilers in this post. The intro posts tend to be the most spoiler-free and geared toward people who haven't seen the topic of the post yet. Once I get more into things, my writings become a little more about analysis of the deeper meanings meant to help guide people who have seen the film/show/book before.

Juno's relationship with Paulie starts out prior to the film as that of a best friend. They were in a struggling band together, and while Paulie's mom may have disapproved of the off-kilter Juno, we are led to believe that they were inseparable. Of course, conception tends to change the relationship between people who are "just friends", and the two sort of grow apart through the course of the movie.

It doesn't help that Paulie is throwing himself at Juno in a very passive way, while all Juno can focus on is her pregnancy. She cannot be blamed for this, as teenage pregnancy is no light matter. But when she suggests that Paulie date some random girl, then berates him when he does, Juno proves that for as much wit and wisdom as she seems to have, she still has a long way to go to achieve maturity. I'm kind of surprised that Paulie did not say one word about hormones ("Fuck you hormones!" -Knocked Up), because she definitely exhibited some wild mood swings.

Paulie, on the other hand, needed to learn to go after what he wanted (though this may not be a sign of immaturity, but of timidity), and to learn how to pick up obvious signals. Juno's suggestion to date the other girl may have only been a sign of fear, not an actual suggestion. However, while Juno does get mad at Paulie, I do not think the audience is ever meant to dislike him the way we are kind of led to dislike Mark and/or Vanessa.

So there is Juno. There is still a lot to talk about; I didn't even mention Juno's other friend, Leah, but my discussion of the lack of good guy/bad guy dynamics is at an end. While I am moving on for now, rest assured that if I ever feel the need to talk about a topic again, I will not hesitate to return.

Up next: Comparing and contrasting Arrested Development and Veronica Mars...