Misappropriation-o-rama

This is a little outdated, but still on my mind.

I recently read this article--about a proposed TV series that is said to be "Juno-esque"--which caused my hopeful little heart to go limp with disappointment.

In case you couldn't pick it out, I'll pull the offending bit:

"Fifteen-year-old Amy Nicholson, pregnant after having one uncomfortable sexual encounter with the school's Don Juan, Ricky, tries to figure out a way to deal with her dilemma, as all around her peers face the reality of their own sexual (or non-sexual) choices."

One. Uncomfortable. Sexual. Encounter.

I have not seen this show, as it technically doesn't exist yet, so I can only make speculative judgment about it. I've also never seen 7th Heaven, so this is probably not fair to say, but I am familiar enough with the show's overall tone to know that the creator of both shows is trying to project a deliberate morality when it comes to premarital sex.

Having actually seen Juno, I will use it to illustrate why the idea of this show, and the comparison it draws to the movie, makes me so queasy.  I liked Juno a lot, I really did. But that doesn't mean I didn't have some problems with it, namely that Juno and Bleeker--two otherwise preternaturally smart kids--failed to use protection. However, without that little pregnancy detail, there wouldn't be a movie. So with that, I'll move on. Juno's pregnancy was a consequence of her actions, of course, which she freely accepted. Her protecting Bleeker from similar scarlet-letter fallout bugged me, but it did feel true to her character (and, in all honesty, even if it was openly acknowledged that he was the father of her baby, the stigma is just not applied in the same way in the real world). Still I never got the sense that she was being punished for having sex, or, more to the point, she is allowed to enjoy it.

Juno becomes pregnant as a result of having sex with a boy she adores. She wants to, it is her idea, and even though the pregnancy occurs her first time, she goes on to describe the experience as "magnificent." Throughout the movie the character is met with the disapproval of many others due to her condition, but she is always supported by her father and step-mother (two of my favorite characters in the film) as well as her awesome--and apparently responsibly sexually active--best friend (my absolute favorite). It's not the quirkiness or the instantly quotable, pop-culture rich dialogue, but this air of plain old level-headedness and reason that made the movie so honest and refreshing to me. After everything that she goes through, Juno is never looked upon as "ruined" and it's obvious that the screenwriter wants you to know that she goes on to have a fulfilling life, sex life included, and never for a moment is it implied that she is deserving of anything less.

That this TV show, where the female character isn't even allowed any enjoyment, is likened to Juno, makes me crazy I feel that the creators (or at least the reporters) are totally missing the point. Maybe the comparison arises simply because she's a pregnant teenager and that's so hot right now?  I'll have to wait and see until it gets its network debut, but in the meantime it doesn't stop me from lamenting the perpetuation of teenage sex statistic.

Getting back to actual YA Lit now, here's something to put in the nyah nyah nyah! files: I got an ARC of the Lockhart/Mlynowski/ Myracle joint, How to Be Bad. It was delicious fun (I don't want to out myself as an E. Lockhart superfan or anything, but I knew which character she wrote from the get-go).

Next up: Beth Goobie's Hello, Groin. Now what's all this about a sequel to Hard Love?

Written material © 2008 Dawn Emerman

Comments

[amanda]

yes! i am so antsy to read the sequel to hard love that i can hardly stand it. i'm hoping to not have to wait all the way until july to see it. very exciting.

[Ian]

sequel to Hard Love!? awesome!

[Zdenek]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure TV execs would label the next courtroom drama "like Juno" if they thought it'd get them buzz.

Last year, it would have been "like Little Miss Sunshine", then "like Napoleon Dynamite", and so on.

That being said, I didn't like Juno and I agree with what you wrote.