Juno and Satire

The 2007 Academy Award Nominated movie Juno, was a big hit in the box office and will probably join Mean Girls as a cult classic from my generation. The movie follows a 16-year-old high school student, Juno, played by Ellen Page, as she finds out she is pregnant and starts to navigate the issues of teen pregnancy.

The movie shows two different types of satire, Parody and Reversal pretty heavily, while Incongruity can be seen in areas. Before we dive into the examples of this in the movie and the implications it can have, lets first define what parody, reversal, and incongruity satire are.
Parody is the act of imitating the techniques and style of some person, place, or thing. While reversal means to present the opposite of the normal order. Incongruity means to resent things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to their surroundings.

Juno shows signs of parody in that it shows the insights of teen pregnancy in a funny way. While Juno also has some intense and heartfelt moments, the premise of the movie is to take a comedic approach to teen pregnancy and the issues that come with it. One of the best scenes that I believe portrays the parody of this movie is the scene where Juno first finds out she is pregnant in the gas station.

When the gas station clerk says "that is one doodle that can't be undid", he is making light of the fact that she is pregnant and also using satire because she really is just a kid, and etch a sketches are a common children's toy.

Another type of satire that is seen throughout the movie is that of reversal. This can be seen with the relationship between Juno and Paulie Bleeker. Paulie gets Juno pregnant after one night together, and is not until after Juno is very pregnant that she tells Paulie that she does indeed love him. At the end of the movie once Juno has given her baby up for adoption, her and Paulie start dating. This is the reverse of how we would expect things to happen in 'real life'. Where we would expect that dating and love will come before a baby.

Juno also shows areas of incongruity within it's satire, especially with Mark and Vanessa Loring. The Lorings are the couple hoping to adopt Juno's baby. Within the world that Juno lives in, the Lorings seem out of place and almost too perfect to be in her world. Although in the end the Lorings get divorced and we realize they are not so perfect, they are portrayed as the light in Juno's somewhat meek life.

The implications of the satire in this movie is that it allows people to see the real issues of teen pregnancy without necessarily feeling sad and distraught. It also allows women going through this that there are options for them, adoption and abortion are options available to them, and their life isn't over because they got pregnant at a young age. This has the potential to save a lot of young women severe heartache. It also serves to show people that their schemas about young women that get pregnant aren't all true. This movie does a lot to play light on the stereotypes and schemas that people hold for teenage pregnancy. This allows people to look into those stereotypes and schemas they hold and determine if they are really true. in a space that also allows comic relief for a serious subject.