People are pissed at Juno. Read about it here. Was I offended? No. You know what offends me? People in China throwing away their baby girls. Oh, but you can’t say that. So let me get this straight: we’re not going to condemn the people who discard their babies, just the movies that joke about it. Ask yourself this: is it happening?? Is the comment and statement based on FACTS? Yes. End of conversation.
It infuriates me to no end that westerners are needed to enter China (and East Asia in general) to save its daughters. But the blame can’t be placed on the westerners who offer these unwanted children homes nor a movie that wants to make a joke about it. Direct your anger at China, not Juno. I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of National Geographic – China’s Lost Girls (2004), hosted by Lisa Ling, to get a feel for the situation (I got it off Netflix). It’s a great documentary. Great.
One thing from the article I absolutely agreed with: “Could you have made that joke with any other minority?” Scott says. “I don’t think so. You’d catch hell.”
Ditto. Asians have become the de facto race to mock to cheaply earn your “edginess stripes” as a comedian or writer. Want to be edgy? But too chicken shit to make fun of Blacks or Jews? Solution: Asian jokes! Ta-da! Your certificate as an Edgy Comedian is in the mail. That wasn’t the case here. The movie wasn’t trying to be edgy nor making the joke as a shortcut to be seen as edgy.
Here’s a thought from 8A’s own Christine:
Someone should actually make a list of ignorant remarks made by the character Juno in the film to really emphasize what the character was about. The big thing about Juno’s character was that she thinks she is smart when in reality is really limited to her own experiences as a teenager – very near sighted if you will.
