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Dylan Petersen
eCore COMM 1100
2 April 2018
Juno
Film Analysis of Juno
When one thinks about finding communication concepts within a film, it is not likely that
one would initially think of a movie about teen pregnancy. This analysis is about the film Juno
and it is intended to inform about the concepts of human communication that are within the film.
The film portrays the value that communication has within a friendship and a romantic
relationship and how a lack of communication can change relationships drastically. There are
many concepts represented in the film, but the most prominent ones are stages of relationship
development, both romantic and friendly, love display, social judgment and comparison theory.
Near the beginning of the film, Juno is telling her friend about what it was like to have
sex with Bleeker. Juno explains that she decided that she wanted to have sex with him in her
Spanish course and how she really likes Bleeker. The following scene then shows her sitting on
Bleeker’s front lawn telling him that she is pregnant. Their romantic relationship development
subtly begins here because although it is not obvious they are in love with each other, the
underlying feelings are there. Juno seems to make more of an effort to flirt with Bleeker, but he
shows signs of nervousness during conversation with her. Later in the movie, Juno goes to
Bleeker’s house and Bleeker begins to tell Juno how beautiful she looks. She seems a little
flustered when he says these things. Although she did not respond with similar comments, it
shows how their romantic relationship has developed. Juno and Bleeker have a small falling-out
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because Bleeker asks another girl out to prom, but it is apparent that they are both upset by the
falling out and Bleeker even attempts to help Juno at the end of the argument.
Juno explicitly says to Bleeker, “I think I’m in love with you,” near the end of the film.
She then tells him that the baby kicks super hard and so does her heart when she sees Bleeker.
He agrees and says that his does too. They then begin to kiss in front of everyone which is the
first blatant form of love display between Bleeker and Juno in the movie. Throughout the movie,
Bleeker and Juno have small tones of romance, but this is the first part where they tell each other
that they love one another. The most prominent forms of love display are when Vanessa holds
her new baby for the first time and at the end of the movie when Juno and Bleeker are playing
the guitar together. Although they are not public forms affection, the scenes are meant to display
the love that is shared between the people involved.
Juno and Vanessa’s husband, Mark, quickly begin to develop a friendly relationship
when Juno finds out about their mutual loves for music. After Juno’s ultrasound, she goes to
Mark and Vanessa’s home to update Mark on how her pregnancy is going and they end up
hanging out and discussing music and movies. Juno ends up calling Mark because her stepmom
claims that visiting him is inappropriate, but she still enjoys getting to talk to him and discussing
music. Their relationship has hit a slight plateau due to outer influences, but that did not stop
both of them from continuing the relationship. Juno goes to see Mark after her argument with
Bleeker and Mark tells Juno that he is going to leave Vanessa, but Juno shows resistance and his
relationship with Juno seems to quickly take a dive.
Social judgement is present when Juno is looking at adoption ads with her friend because
when her friend reads the ads to her, she judges them based off the way they describe
themselves. She states that she would prefer an “alternative” family and that people who describe
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themselves as “wholesome” are probably not what they say they are. She is judging others based
off the words that they use to describe themselves even though she has not met them. The reason
Juno picks the family that she does is because of their picture in the Pennysaver, even though she
has no idea about their character, she just judges them based off of how they look. Vanessa also
seems to judge Juno based off of her sense of humor and the way that she talks with them, but
she also seems that she is trying to look past all of that because she is just happy to become a
mother. When Juno visits their home the second time, Vanessa seems hesitant around Juno
because she thinks that she is going to change her mind at the last minute.
When Juno is receiving her ultrasound, the technician makes a comment about how
teenage mothers are not good for babies. She is taking part in social comparison theory because
she is comparing Juno to other teenage mothers although she does not know anything about Juno
besides that she is a pregnant teenager. This falls into the social comparison theory because the
technician is using her social experiences with others to influence how she views/compares
others.
Communication is something that is always going on around us and different concepts
can be applied and analyzed in different ways. The film Juno features multiple key concepts of
communication such as romantic and friendly relationship development which is shown between
Juno and Bleeker both subtly and prominently. Friendly relationship development occurs
between Juno and Mark, but eventually comes to a rapid decline. Love display is shown in
multiple ways by Juno and Bleeker through affection, Bleeker telling Juno how beautiful she is,
and Vanessa when she is holding her new baby. Social judgment and comparison theory go hand
in hand because social judgment theory is used by Vanessa when she first meets Juno because
she feels that Juno is a little inappropriate simply because of her vocabulary or sense of humor.
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Social comparison theory is similar to social judgement because social comparison comes from
the ultrasound technician judging Juno because of her age. She then compares her to other teen
moms claiming that she would be a terrible mother if she kept the baby. Although the film, Juno,
would not be the first film people think of the exemplify communication concepts, it is a film
that shows many different concepts that are large parts of human communication.