Pop culture 'awaking to reality of life in womb'

Albuquerque Tribune ^ | 1/26/08 | Terry Mattingly

[wagglebee]

Every year or so, a Cinderella movie leaps into the ultimate Hollywood A-list — the Academy Award nominees for best picture.

The sleeper this time around is "Juno," the sweet but edgy story of Juno MacGuff, a geeky teen who gets pregnant after a sort-of-bored sexual encounter with a friend. The movie also drew Oscar nominations for Canadian Ellen Page, 20, as best actress, for director Jason Reitman, 30, and former stripper turned screenwriter Diablo Cody, 29.

Now it's time for the winner-take-all round of campaigning, which often includes behind-the-scenes maneuvers in the tradition of Niccolo Machiavelli. Do not be surprised if rival studios try to hurt "Juno" by circulating shocking rumors that many religious conservatives who oppose abortion have praised this movie.

It helps that the rumors are true.

Take former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, for example. He has listed "Juno" among recent hits — including "Knocked Up" and "Waitress" — that suggest American popular culture is "awaking to the reality of life in the womb."

While these films come from the heart of the "bawdy mainstream," they include images and themes that will surprise traditionalists, argued Santorum, in an essay written as a senior fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington.

"Ultrasound images awakened characters and audiences to the humanity of the unborn. Having a baby, even in the most challenging circumstances, became the compelling 'choice,' " noted Santorum, a devout Catholic and author of the book "It Takes a Family," written during his unsuccessful 2006 bid to stay in the U.S. Senate.

"Adoption was held up as a positive alternative to abortion. And, unlike the news media's portrayal of pro-lifers, protesters outside abortion clinics were authentically depicted as warm and concerned. This stood in contrast to the indifference of the staff within."

In a pivotal scene, Juno calls the Women Now clinic — a parent's signature is not required — and bluntly tells the switchboard operator she needs to "procure a hasty abortion." But when she approaches the facility, Juno discovers a high school friend is staging a solo protest outside.

This scene is played for nervous laughs, with the friend chanting, "All babies want to get borned!" But when she realizes Juno is headed inside, the friend urgently adds: "Your baby has a beating heart! Your baby can feel pain! Your baby has fingernails!"

This last line sticks and, in the waiting room, Juno is haunted by the sound of the other patients around her tapping, clicking and chewing their fingernails. As she flees the clinic, her friend calls out, "God appreciates your miracle!"

The pregnant teen chooses — with strong support from her loving father and stepmother — to endure the public ordeal of her pregnancy, surrender the baby through adoption and then move on with her life.

The key is that "Juno" is about people struggling to make real decisions in the real world, said screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi of Act One, a group that trains Christians to work in the Hollywood mainstream. This isn't a connect-the-dots sermon targeting true believers. The movie doesn't preach, because it wasn't created by preachers.

But "Juno" can be called "pro-life, in the way that just about every Gen-X movie about pregnancy is pro-life," wrote the former Catholic nun, at her Church of the Masses Web site. "I would say 'Juno' is a cultural message movie without being a political one. Certainly, that will be an inscrutable nuance in contemporary Christendom in which almost everything is politics. . . .

"The movie is also anti-divorce in the way that just about every Gen-X movie about family is anti-divorce. And people with faith are here too, in a decent and gritty way that shows mere secularism to be selfish and shallow."

The bottom line, Santorum said, is that a mainstream movie like "Juno" has a chance to connect with mainstream audiences. Secular critics have, so far, even responded with "thumbs up" reviews.

The most hopeful possibility, he added, is that these movies symbolize a kind of power shift as one Hollywood generation is exposed to the hopes and fears of the next.

"They are . . . chronicles from the children of our divorce- and abortion-oriented culture," Santorum added. "There is lived experience, emotional understanding, hard-earned authenticity at the heart of these scripts. And pain."

[wagglebee]

"Adoption was held up as a positive alternative to abortion. And, unlike the news media's portrayal of pro-lifers, protesters outside abortion clinics were authentically depicted as warm and concerned. This stood in contrast to the indifference of the staff within."

It's about time!

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[kinghorse]

I know first hand technology is causing a bunch more couples to keep their babies. It’s really an underreported megatrend. My nephew and his girl are having a baby and the fact the doctor showed them some amazing imagery couldn’t help but make it impossible to hurt someone doing all that stuff in the womb. Great to bring this up.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[beaversmom]

ping to me for later

[tpanther]

I personally have faith in the younger generation.

[diamond6]

Woooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooo!!!

[RobbyS]

Seeing is believing.

[Archytekt]

just watched “Now She Found Me” last night and was stunned at the life affirming message, also showed a live baby on ultra-sound

[ConservativeTrucker]

I think this prolife-leaning culture was there the whole time. I think the media and Hollyweird does a good job at covering them up.

And it is so true how the media and the planned parenthoods and the pro-abortion mob portrays the prolife crowd.

We either do it because we're womanizers who want to oppress the rights of women or we're all a bunch of religious zealots. In any case, we're always the 'extremists' and the 'radicals'.

They want to keep it legal to crush the skulls of innocent unborn babies, and we're 'extremists' for disagreeing with them. Amazing.

Who are the dangerous radicals and who are the down to earth people? Let's see.

THESE PEOPLE DON'T LOOK LIKE CLINIC BOMBERS TO ME!

HOWEVER, I AM NOT TOO SURE WHAT THESE SCARY LOOKING PEOPLE MIGHT BE CAPABLE OF!

Pictures tell 1,000 words! Don't believe the LIES of the pro-abortion left when the smear the prolifers!

Here's a link that portrays pretty clearly - who the radical extremists are!

Billy Kess

[wardaddy]

I have noticed this a bit creeping in with some Echo Boomer sensibilities.

let’s hope so

[cammie]

I hope you never meet some of my college students...you will lose that faith quickly.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I have posted this link before because the song at the link does fit with this growing phenomenon.
http://www.myspace.com/emmettgrayson It also included in the “multi-media” link at the “Fatherhood Forever Foundation” website and I’m very pleased with that. I hope that many will click the link here and give it a listen. It’s free.

[tpanther]

No I won’t.

My nephew is at Paris Island as I type.

My daughter’s 20 and spends most of her time either in church or with her friends planning some church activity. She’s talking about a mission trip to Guatemala for 4 months this spring.

Alot of it depends on the school. Which college?

[Lizavetta]

Now that THIS technology is available, even the most addle-pated leftist cannot deny it's a baby:

[wagglebee]

The left still denies that THIS is a baby:

Partial Birth Abortion

[badpacifist]

Saw it, loved it. Quirky and funny. It should be called strangely pro-life,

[RichInOC]

"Man, it is really hot in here...Mom! [fweet!] Yo, Mom! You're not wolfin' down jalapeños again, are ya? Yeah, 'cause let me tell you about my friend, Ned. His mama ate nothin' but spicy foods?...Homeboy came out red, Ma. Bright red. So if you keep crammin' those peppers down your neck, I might just bust out of here early...grab something on the way out, take it with me."

--Carl's Jr. commercial, 2005

[JZelle]

Very intense! It’s obvious who the violent and vulgar ones are. That gray jacketed dude has some serious cajones!