10 Movies With Terrible Life Messages

3. Teenage Pregnancy Is No Big Deal - Juno

Juno begins as the titular 16-year-old protagonist (Ellen Page) fools around with her friend, Paulie (Michael Cera), and soon enough, she discovers that she's pregnant. Instead of being an honest exploration of teenage pregnancy, the film instead is more content to flash its self-consciously quirky sensibilities, eschewing all that morning sickness and hormonal craziness in favour of a hamburger phone and a glut of wise-cracks. Writer Diablo Cody manages to avoid the whole abortion argument by having Juno offload the kid to a mother who is keen to adopt (Jennifer Garner), and so basically it all ties up very nicely, with Juno returning to her carefree life by the time the credits roll. The problem is that the film seems to suggest that an unplanned teenage pregnancy isn't really that big a deal, that it's just something people can take in their stride when they're not busy making up new catchphrases and listening to music you've probably never heard of. Sociologists remarked a possible "Juno effect" in the years following the film's release, suggesting that teenage pregnancy might have been glorified in the film to the extent that it would actually affect their incidence. Nevertheless, for all of its Academy-courting successes, the film is irresponsible and more than a little misguided.