THE movie \u201cJuno\u201d\u009d is a fairy tale about a pregnant teenager who decides to have her baby, place it for adoption and then get on with her life. For the most part, the tone of the movie is comedic and jolly, but there is a moment when Juno tells her father about her condition, and he shakes his head in disappointment and says, \u201cI thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Female viewers flinch when he says it, because his words lay bare the bitterly unfair truth of sexuality: female desire can bring with it a form of punishment no man can begin to imagine, and so it is one appetite women and girls must always regard with caution. Because Juno let her guard down and had a single sexual experience with a sweet, well-intentioned boy, she alone is left with this ordeal of sorrow and public shame.<\/p>\n
In the movie, the moment passes. Juno finds a yuppie couple eager for a baby, and when the woman tries to entice her with the promise of an open adoption, the girl shakes her head adamantly: \u201cCan\u2019t we just kick it old school? I could just put the baby in a basket and send it your way. You know, like Moses in the reeds.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a hilarious moment, and the sentiment turns out to be genuine. The final scene of the movie shows Juno and her boyfriend returned to their carefree adolescence, the baby \u201d\u201d safely in the hands of his rapturous and responsible new mother \u201d\u201d all but forgotten. Because I\u2019m old enough now that teenage movie characters evoke a primarily maternal response in me (my question during the film wasn\u2019t \u201cWhat would I do in that situation?\u201d\u009d but \u201cWhat would I do if my daughter were in that situation?\u201d\u009d), the last scene brought tears to my eyes. To see a young daughter, faced with the terrible fact of a pregnancy, unscathed by it and completely her old self again was magical.<\/p>\n