- Joined
- Oct 29, 2013
To those of you unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, allow me to explain. There was hugely successful indie movie that came out in 2007 called Juno, the story of a pregnant teenager, played by Ellen Page in an acclaimed performance, who undergoes a series of trials and tribulations for nine months. The short version: Juno eventually gives her child up to Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner’s character). Juno gets the guy. Roll credits. Sounds real Hollywood, doesn’t it? In my opinion, it’s a little too Hollywood for its own good. When you really think long and hard about it, the adoption of Juno’s son by Vanessa opens a Pandora’s Box of unfortunate implications. We know that Vanessa Loring, recently divorced from her sleazy husband Mark (Jason Bateman of Arrested Development fame), is now an upper-class single mother, with a very demanding and high paying job. She’s also something of a control freak, and throughout the film, she seems bent on getting a child no matter what. She has one now, so what’s next?
Juno said herself the baby was always Vanessa’s, and doesn’t seem to want anything to do with it. After all, she chose a traditional closed adoption, meaning that under no circumstances is Vanessa legally obligated to give out any information regarding the identity of the child’s biological mother. What if Juno’s son falls ill, and needs access to his medical history? Too bad. It’s his problem now. Buck up and bite the bullet, sea monkey. What if he’s legitimately curious about his genealogical history, like most searching adoptees are? “Why should you? You’re MINE,” Vanessa will bark at his face.
What I’m about to write is going to sound very harsh, and I apologize in advance.
Let’s turn the clock forward to high school. Juno’s son, who we shall call Jupiter in this thread, is unhappy with his life. Though financially supported, he is emotionally stunted. His adoptive mother seems more interested in using him as a means to an end than actually parenting him, living vicariously through him at every turn. She complains about his grades. She chooses his friends of girlfriends. In short, Vanessa Loring has Jupiter by the balls. At the same time, Vanessa can barely contain the amount of disappointment that she has for Jupiter.
“Why can’t you be more like me?” she sneers.
“Your real mother made the wrong decision, Jupiter,” she snarls.
“You should’ve been aborted, you little bastard.”
Fast-forward. Jupiter’s out of high school now. He can barely hold down a job. He can hardly speak to a girl. Every night, he plays Russian roulette with only a single empty chamber. He never succeeds.
“You little coward,” Vanessa’s voice shouts in his head.
One day, he buys an assault rifle and walks into a maternity ward, killing a few people before turning the gun on himself.
That’s Jupiter’s life in a nutshell.
Juno said herself the baby was always Vanessa’s, and doesn’t seem to want anything to do with it. After all, she chose a traditional closed adoption, meaning that under no circumstances is Vanessa legally obligated to give out any information regarding the identity of the child’s biological mother. What if Juno’s son falls ill, and needs access to his medical history? Too bad. It’s his problem now. Buck up and bite the bullet, sea monkey. What if he’s legitimately curious about his genealogical history, like most searching adoptees are? “Why should you? You’re MINE,” Vanessa will bark at his face.
What I’m about to write is going to sound very harsh, and I apologize in advance.
Let’s turn the clock forward to high school. Juno’s son, who we shall call Jupiter in this thread, is unhappy with his life. Though financially supported, he is emotionally stunted. His adoptive mother seems more interested in using him as a means to an end than actually parenting him, living vicariously through him at every turn. She complains about his grades. She chooses his friends of girlfriends. In short, Vanessa Loring has Jupiter by the balls. At the same time, Vanessa can barely contain the amount of disappointment that she has for Jupiter.
“Why can’t you be more like me?” she sneers.
“Your real mother made the wrong decision, Jupiter,” she snarls.
“You should’ve been aborted, you little bastard.”
Fast-forward. Jupiter’s out of high school now. He can barely hold down a job. He can hardly speak to a girl. Every night, he plays Russian roulette with only a single empty chamber. He never succeeds.
“You little coward,” Vanessa’s voice shouts in his head.
One day, he buys an assault rifle and walks into a maternity ward, killing a few people before turning the gun on himself.
That’s Jupiter’s life in a nutshell.
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