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Donald Andersen
Professor Lawless
ENC 1102
Classical Movie analysis
July 5th 2015
Word Count:
Classic Film: Juno
Have you ever had to make a hard decision? A decision that would change your life forever? In
Jason Reitman’s cinematic masterpiece Juno, the main character Juno had to make this type of decision.
The work that Jason Reitman did in this movie was beyond greatness. Mr. Reitman does a fantastic job
portraying such a serious topic with the hints of humor he adds to the movie. Juno will have you on the
edge of your seat throughout the entire movie, while laughing and even sometimes crying. Juno is a
movie about the struggles of unwanted and incapable pregnancy’s which is shown by story line, the film
techniques of time lapse and soundtrack, and the main characters Juno and Vanessa.
Juno is a movie that explains and shows the struggles of making a life altering decision and the
impact that the decision will have on your life. Juno is a 16-year-old girl who decides that she is wanting
to experience sex. She uses her best friend Bleeker to make this happen. He wasn’t too keen on the
idea. Of course, Juno ends up getting pregnant. She makes the tough decision to at first get an abortion.
She quickly changes her mind after taking a visit to the abortion clinic. She decides to go through with
having the baby and giving it up for adoption. Juno ends up finding the so called “perfect parents” Make
and Vanessa in the Penny Saver magazine. After her best friend Leah tells Juno: “They have ‘Desperately
Seeking Spawn,’ right next to the pet ads.” (Ebert) There are many trials and tribulations that Juno and
the adoptive parents go through. Juno telling her parents that she was pregnant, The adoptive parents
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splitting up, to Mark having a strong liking to of Juno, since she came around a lot to keep them updated
on the baby. But after all that Juno ends up having the baby and giving it to Vanessa.
Juno utilizes several different film techniques. One of the most important techniques used was
time lapse. The use of time lapse was utilized by using seasons to represent the progression of Juno’s
pregnancy and important events that happened throughout. By using the seasons it helps shows the
struggles of having an unwanted pregnancy and being incapable of providing for the child. An important
example of this was in the season of the winter, Four months before Juno was going to have the baby.
Juno goes to visit mark to give him the most recent ultrasound picture. When Juno arrives, she finds
mark downstairs playing his guitar. They start talking and Mark tells Juno that he is going to leave
Vanessa. This leaves Juno horrified and wondering what she should do now. Then the movie goes into
the next season spring. This is the season that Juno finally makes the decision on whether or not to
