INTRODUCTION TO JUNO:
Films are considered to as the mirrors of society and represent the events and behaviors practiced by the people living in that society. Films are the artifacts of specific culture which gets their inspiration from the society and in turn impacts the overall thinking of the society. The films are not the only source of entertainment but are also strong tools to educate and indoctrinate the people of society. A properly presented story in an attractive manner can inspire its spectators. Psychological topics have always been considered in the storyline of films which includes life development, family dynamics, adverse life conditions, age related life sequences, etc. (Cook, 2007).
The movie Juno deals with the psychological issues like developmental issues, disagreements, and constraints that one has to experience during their budding adulthood. The central character in the movie is Juno who is a sixteen-year-old college going girl. Juno is a fun-loving and carefree girl with a deep interest in music and is a bit tomboyish. She lives with her father, step-mother, and step-sister and is not complaining much about her life except her mother left her when she was just six. But the scenario changes when she discovers that she is pregnant with her boyfriend Paulie Bleeker. The unexpected teenage pregnancy forces Juno to either select abortion or set up an adoption as options to select. Ultimately Juno chooses to carry on with the pregnancy and then hand over her child to its adopting parents named Vanessa and Mark Loring. The story revolves around the emotional roller-coaster that Juno is experiencing with her teenage pregnancy and the early adulthood, the pressure of making mature decisions and the dilemmas arising due to it.
The present paper reviews the struggle of Juno and attempts to identify the psychological aspects behind her different characteristics and behaviors throughout the movie. The adolescence psychology theory is applied for the critical evaluation of Juno’s character in the movie. The paper will also identify the connections between Juno’s character and health profession.
ADOLESCENCE PSYCHOLOGY THEORY:
Larson & Wilson (2004) explain that adolescence is a period of psychological and physical transition when a child gradually becomes an adult. These gradual changes include anatomical, psychological, and social changes. The authors quote that, “adolescence is much more than one rung up the ladder from childhood. It is a built-in necessary transition period for ego development. It is leave taking of the dependencies of childhood and precious reach for adulthood.”
In other words, the adolescence period starts when the child becomes sexually mature and the period ends when the independence from adult authority is legally procured. Adolescence period is divided into three main phases as below:
- Early period (12-15 years age): This period is usually very exciting as well as confusing for a child as he/she starts to leave their childhood and develop a feeling of independence and uniqueness. However, in this period the child is mainly concerned about the anatomical changes and normally conform these to their similar aged friends.
- Middle period (15-18 years age): This period is characterized by the development of cognitive which includes development of qualities like attention, memory, learning, reasoning, problem solving and it explains the attitude, attribution and group dynamics of the growing adult. Though the peers (family, friends, and teachers) still have an important role in the child’s life but now he considers himself to be self-sufficient for decision-making. This is the phase of life when a person learns to control his emotions especially impulsivity. Making an early decision is a most prevalent criteria among these teenagers and acceptance of the opposite sex becomes an important issue for them.
- Last period (19-22 years age): This is the period when the growing adult becomes determined to achieve the vocational aim. He tries hard to get accepted by others of the same age and older and therefore pretends strongly to be mature (Powell & Allen, 1971).
The protagonist in the film is dealing with the characteristics presented in both the early period and middle period of adolescence. The psychological analysis of Juno can be categorized in three important themes namely cognitive development, emotional development, and social world.
I. Cognitive development:
Mansell (2004) point out that as the young person approaches adulthood he/she starts to generalize and conceptualize the moral rules and principles. Cognitive development of a person or the perspective to watch life is hugely influenced by her awareness and understanding of the environment around her. Juno’s mother left her at the age of six and she faced the difficulties of surviving with a single parent (she is not very much intimate to her step-mother though she is very supportive). Her experiences make her realize the moral and value of a complete family. Therefore when she discovers that Mark is going to get separated from Vanessa she gets upset and tries to convince him to rethink.
Juno: Just do not divorce your wife! Will you please, just do me a solid and stay with her?
Mark: You are so young.
Juno: No, I am sixteen…… I am old enough to understand…….
The way Juno argue with Mark represents that she has started developing concern for her baby and is thinking about his future. She wants to provide love and safety of both the parents to the child as she was deprived of it. At this point she seems to be aware of the situation and consider herself to be self-sufficient about identifying truth and false. After a failed argument with Mark, Juno is shown crying and depressed for the first time in the film after her pregnancy. Although she gathers herself after a while as she understands the need of being stable and make hardcore decision. The decision making ability and confidence of Juno is expressed in her note to Vanessa which says,
“Vanessa—If you are still in, I am still in. Juno”
Decision of Juno to give the baby to Vanessa also mirror her strong decisive side as she thinks that Vanessa will be able to take proper care of the baby even if she gets divorced.
At certain moments in the movie (eg. in Mark’s music room where they both are alone), Juno is shown to develop a soft corner for Mark as he shares the same interest as hers. However, when she realized that Mark wants to drop the adoption plan; she understands that her relationship with him was not correct and he is an irresponsible person and self-centered person.
II. Emotional stage:
Teenager undergoes various emotional experiences during the adolescence period like love, affection, joy, anger, fear, and anxiety (Arnet, 2007). All these emotions are well depicted by the growing adult Juno.
Although Juno is well aware that decisions like abortion are neither dangerous nor harmful, but she still fears it as she feels that she would be unable to attain it or it may hurt the baby.
Juno: Couldn’t do it Leah! Shu-Chin was there and she was like “Oh, hi. Babies have fingernails.” Fingernails!
Even though Juno was petrified with her condition and decides to go for abortion, her caring emotions or the fear of hurting someone prevents her. This fear compels her to opt for other option like adoption while her caring affection compels her to find out a perfect couple as parents for her unborn child.
Arnet (2007) identifies that adolescent experience joy if they are lovingly considered as companion, respected for their maturity, and are appreciated for their discovery of their own talent and abilities. Juno turns very joyful due to all the above-mentioned reasons when she shares the USG photo of the child with Vanessa. She considers herself as a companion to Vanessa who is mature and capable enough to present her with the baby. She also feels that she is making Vanessa happy by sharing such picture and Vanessa and Mark are appreciating her gesture.
Vanessa: Is something wrong with the baby?
Juno: The baby is great. It’s the right size and everything. I even saw his phalanges today! Here… it’s the baby….. It’s your baby.
Juno: Kind of looks like it’s waving? You Know, like it’s saying “Hi Vanessa, will you be my mom”?
The dialog above not only represents Juno’s joy but also showcase that she is now becoming aware of other’s feelings. Caring for others and getting emotionally attached to them gives her sense of pleasure. The fact that she is providing the most precious and valued thing to well-groomed and rich Vanessa; somewhere satisfies her ego and she feels value added.
Expectation of love and intimacy with the opposite sex is a crucial feature of teenage. Juno gets attracted towards Mark as he shares the same interest her like music and watching horror movies. She chats freely with him and allows a minute bit of physical intimacy.
Juno: Who’d you dance with?
Mark: Cynthia Vogel…..She let me put my hands all over her butt.
Juno: Hot. I can just totally picture you… (She puts her hands on Mark’s waist).
Mark: Actually it was like this (Mark lifts her hands and put them on his shoulders, Juno allows him to place his hands on her butt).
Though Juno is getting attracted towards Mark, she still has affection for Beeker. She feels jealous when she hears about him taking another girl to prom night and fights with him. Such behavior of Juno depicts the typical romantic mentality of adolescents who feels infatuated with various people at the same time.
III. Social World:
Explaining the psychology of adolescents about relationships; Brown (1990) explains that this period may turn out as a period of loneliness for many. Since adolescents are not comfortable in sharing their concerns with others, they try to remain in solitary isolation. They are only comfortable in sharing their thoughts with their close companions who reside within their own imagination.
Juno is portrayed as a fun-loving girl who can have many friends but she shares her pregnancy news with only her close aid Leah. She openly displays her doubts, resentments, and concerns of various kinds in front of her. She shares her ideas of continuing the pregnancy and giving the baby to adoptive parents with Leah easy. An important psychological aspect of Juno can be observed here. Leah argues about the Juno’s decision and explains her all the pros & cons of the situation but at last Juno continues with her decision. This suggests that even though Juno trust Leah and is close to her but she believes in herself and is confident enough to carry forward her decision. On the other hand, Leah who is of the same age is an ignorant teenager but still she stands by her best-friend’s side which showcases their strong bonding.
Juno: I was thinking maybe I would give the baby to somebody who actually likes that kind of thing. You know, like a woman with a bum ovary or something. Or nice lesbos.
Leah: But then you will get huge. Your chest is going to milktate and you have to tell everyone that you are pregnant.
May be they will they will shit and super mad at you and not let you graduate or go to Cabo San Lucas for spring break.
(Juno continues with her decision)
Leah: Well, then you could look at those adoption ads.
While Juno is so close to Leah, she is in the second stage in connection with her family. Steinberg (2001) explains such condition as “The struggle for Emancipation” where a child pretends to be as mature as her parents and silently deny the further dependency on parents. Normally such a struggle for emancipation is silent but they may turn turbulent and full of differences. Dealing with teenage children is normally a huge tension for the parents. Grotevent (1997) explains that parents need to deal with patience with their teenage children. Open-mindedness and a tendency to hear them as well as understand children’s idea is very crucial. When Juno reveals the news of her pregnancy to her parents, they deal it with patience and even make fun out of it. Such behavior from the parents encourages the child to share more with them and feel safe in adverse situation. While this situation explains the cordial and stable relationship of Juno with her parents (especially the father), another incidence in the movie depicts her conflict with Bren. She is so much fascinated with Mark that she even neglects her mother Brenda’s suggestions and behaves inappropriately with her. This conversation shows that Juno is not able to control her temper and becomes short-tongued.
When Juno returns from the Loring house after showing them the baby photo…
Bren: That was a mistake Juno. Mark is a married man. You overstepped a boundary.
Juno: Look Bren-duhhhh, I think you are the one overstepping the boundaries……. Besides, who cares he is married? I can have friends who are married
CONCLUSION:
From all the evidence discussed above it can be observed that Juno’s behavior is highly influenced by the environment around her. Juno is in the middle period of adolescence who tries to face situations and make decisions as per her awareness of the life experiences of her friends, parents and herself. The carefree girl who makes sex with her boyfriend and conceive and then decides to go for abortion; gradually evolves psychologically through the course of the movie. She becomes cognitive after the varied experiences, realizes her mistakes, and ultimately becomes mature enough to make the correct decision.
ROLE OF HEALTH-PRACTITIONER IN TEEN-PREGNANCY:
Accurate and comprehensive sex education are required for children and adolescents so that they can work out healthy sexual practice. It is well known that early, immature, and risky physical intimacy in children may lead to both problematic health and social consequences. Such problematic consequences may be unintended pregnant, infection with sexually transmitted disease, and social stigma (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). Evidence suggests that mostly the children with learning problems, low academic interest, with behavioral problems, from low income families, emotional stress, substance abuse, children from ethnic minorities, children with low level of parental support or guidance, and victims of sexual abuse are at highest risk of getting involved in early and risky health practices. Many students with a strong feeling of homosexuality or heterosexuality are also at high risk of developing risky sex behavior to counter the curiosity. Risky sexual behavior in children is defined as having sex at illegal age, having sex with multiple partners, having penetrative sex without condoms, and getting physically involved with strangers (Bradely & Corwin, 2002).
All these factors identify the need for active role by the school nurse in providing sexual health advice. For providing sexual education or advice, a school nurse requires to develop a confident and longitudinal relationship with both children and their families. Relationship with family or caretaker ensures that the child experiences similar advice and attitude while discussing sexual matters both at school and family. Furthermore, the nurses providing such education must evaluate themselves for personal opinion, beliefs, and values regarding sexuality so that while providing education or advice they can remain bias free.
Recently with the rise in incidences of teenage pregnancies and teenage STIs, role of the school nurse has suddenly shifted from Band-Aid provider to an expert providing sexual health advice and promoting awareness at school levels. With her clinical knowledge and refined skills school nurse provides sexual health care advices not only to the students but also educate the staff for encountering such conditions in school. A school nurse helps to develop a normal and positive development of sex related knowledge. She identifies the understanding levels of every student and provides information with respect to that. She also identifies the students requiring special attention and develops plans for developing understanding in them. Creating an informative and transparent environment for answering sexuality related curiosity in the students is very necessary. A school nurse provides leadership in promoting legal, healthy, and safe sexual practice among students. She can also provide consultation in a group as well as individual level. She can act as a precursor in developing school policies related to sexual behavior in students. She can act as a first person in dealing with such emergency according to the medical and legislative guidance (Anonym, 2012).
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