Well, I did it. I watched the movie, “Juno” last night.  I’ve been curious to see it since it came out, but have been nervous to see it for fear of the emotions aroused.  And you know what? I didn’t cry.  And I think that says something in it’s self, that it didn’t portray the birth mother perspective well.  Little emotions were shown in her decision process or at the hospital, and NON afterwards.  After leaving the hospital is the most difficult time, why did they just paint it out like she popped the baby out and everything was “normal” again.  As some one who has experienced placing, I can tell you that her life is never normal again.  Leaving the hospital empty armed is like a knife stuck in your heart. And yea, that pain subsides but it doesn’t just go away magically like they show it to be.

Oh, I know! Because we’re America and we like happy ending that tie up neatly.  We like our happy feelings and minimize the pain. I get that, I do. But then, I don’t think an adoption plan is a good thing to put in a movie.

I hated that this movie made me feel like people would judge all birth mothers on this character. Like we all got knocked up and immediately disregarded the baby as our own, wanting to give it away just so we can go back to “normal.”  For some, maybe that is true. But I know when I was pregnant, and my birth mom friends as well, it took months of pain and agony to make that choice. For me, it took 7 months of tears and prayers to realize that was what I needed to do and to accept it.  I’m not saying that I want to see my exact story on the screen (every story is different, it’d be impossible to please everyone, I know) I’m just wondering about the effects this  movie has on the perspective people have on birth mothers.

I also really could not stand the relationships in this movie, mainly between Juno and the adoptive dad.  Disgusting. Maybe it’s just my issue with being abused as a child (and therefore my fear), but a grown man and a 16 year old should not “bond” like that.

And lastly, I didn’t like the foul language.  I don’t understand how using curse words portray anything intelligent at all. There was more in this movie than I care to hear.  Oh, and I felt like the story line didn’t flow well.  There are parts I’m still sitting here confused about. Oh well, I won’t be watching it again to try and figure it out.

I’m not saying that this movie didn’t have any truth or good moments in it, cause it did. But over all? Juno is not a movie for me. What’s your opinion (that’s the key word here, opinion. Please don’t get defensive at my views)?  Most birth mothers I’ve talked with seem to have an opinion similar to mine but some see more in it than I did, an adoptive mother wrote that she loved it and thought it portrayed adoptive parents well. The media obviously loved it. Why?