Lessons to be Learned Through Film | Teen Ink

Lessons to be Learned Through Film

May 17, 2009
By Kirstie Cutlip BRONZE, Buckhannon, West Virginia
Kirstie Cutlip BRONZE, Buckhannon, West Virginia
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight of the soul.” I believe this statement made by Robert Wagner to be very true, though films are thought of in different ways by different people. These can range from simple entertainment to more often as a way to live through a scene yourself, to feel a characters emotion and connect to a film. Films have progressed over the years, evolving from plays and other stage shows and through the necessary inventions to the first film in 1878, passing through the silent era where no sound was possible to the dazzling visual effects and three-dimensional capabilities of today. Films have changed infinitely with the times and are often also considered to embody the generation in which they were made or were based upon.

The film that best embodies the essence of my generation, in my opinion, exemplifies us and our differences at the offset with its writer. This award-winning screenplay was penned by a unique and sometimes unexpected individual, a former stripper and book author, about her own high school experiences and those of her husband and friends. These stories were blended together to form a heartwarming film about a pregnant teenager and her life while managing school, the birth of her baby, and the adoption process. In my opinion, Juno best epitomizes my generation, presenting an important issue in a serious and educational, yet very entertaining manner.

The reason that I believe that Juno exhibits this generation are the issues at hand; from the story’s beginning, the title character is met with difficult decisions that plague many teenagers today. After she makes one of those important decisions, seemingly in the wrong way, Juno discovers she is pregnant and is faced with another choice that an ever-growing number of girls face. Though Juno decides to have an abortion, while she is at the clinic she changes her mind, showing us the difficulty in that choice and the warning that it should never be taken lightly. The majority of the story is then encompassed by the account of the method of putting a baby up for adoption and we follow Juno’s story until the birth of her baby and her final realization that she has chosen the right course of action, both for herself and for her child.

While there is much entertainment value in this very popular film, it also gives one many things to think about. After seeing this movie, I realized the importance and long-term effects of my life decisions and I believe that many of my peers may have had the same reaction. We must realize that our choices affect our futures infinitely more than they do the current moment. This movie portrays this fact in a way that compels the target audience to contemplate the situation, and though this is the conclusion that Juno reached, we must consider all of our options and make our decisions while viewing her story as a cautionary tale.


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