10 Insanely Intense Scenes In PG-13 Movies

All of the other films on this list fall somewhere within the genres of action/adventure/horror. Quirky cult comedy-drama Juno is a very different type of movie.

Its theme is teenage pregnancy, so it therefore seems befitting that it be rated as PG-13 since teenagers are the intended audience. What’s interesting though is that the MPAA tend to be far more lenient towards violence in movies than sexual themes. It’s easier to justify violence in movies when it deals with simple tropes of heroes and villains. As long as good prevails over evil then the violence (to a certain degree) is warranted.

Teenage pregnancy is far more of a grey area. And the film confronts the issue head on. Unafraid of any potential moral outcry that such a film might evoke from deeply conservative or devoutly religious American viewers, the film’s most intense scene takes place when Juno (Ellen Page) visits an abortion clinic.

Having been told by an anti-abortion protester outside of the clinic that fetuses have fingernails, Juno sits in the clinic waiting room but becomes fixated on and distressed by the tapping fingers and scratching nails of the other people waiting, causing her to run out of the building.

Abortion is obviously a hugely sensitive subject, particularly in America. This scene is neither pro or anti abortion. Instead it depicts the turmoil that Juno is going through without judgement. And it’s important for teenagers to understand the issues of teenage pregnancy and abortion, and not just treat them as taboo subjects. These subjects are too important to be taboo. Demonising them will only lead to ignorance, and recent laws made in states like Alabama are the depressing consequence.