Anda di halaman 1dari 7

I have decided to view five films and

relate them to what we have learned


this semester. The five films I have
chosen are: Juno, Brokeback Mountain,
Dan in Real Life, American Pie, and
Anger Management.

Juno
Juno is an extremely well done film that depicts the struggles of adolescent
pregnancy. When Juno discovers that she is pregnant, she ultimately decides that
she will receive an abortion. She schedules her appointment and arrives at the clinic.
When she arrives, she sees a classmate of hers standing outside, protesting the exact
situation that Juno is in. She states that the child Juno is carrying has fingernails.
This is not true though, as our text states The second trimester begins the 4th
months of pregnancy. By now the sex of the fetus can often be distinguished.
External body parts, including fingernails, eyebrows and eyelashes are clearly
formed (Crooks and Baur p. 330). Juno is only a few weeks pregnant at this time, so
while Juno may believe her classmate, they are both mistaken. This has no effect on
Juno at first, but as she is in the clinic she starts noticing the other patients there. All
the patients are doing some sort of activity with their fingernails, such as scratching
or tapping them on a clipboard. The sound gets louder and louder until Juno realizes
she cant go through with it and runs out. Abortion is the last resort for women who
are faced with pregnancies they did not want (Crooks and Baur p.320). Juno
thought this was her last resort, but realized adoption was another option. This is
what she decided to go through with.
The rest of the movie depicts Junos struggles through the pregnancy and her
process in choosing and developing a relationship with the couple that decided to
adopt her child. Our book refers to adolescent pregnancy struggles, but all these
struggles are aimed towards teens that decide to keep their child. Juno does not fall
into this category though. She undergoes the morning sickness, excessive hunger,
and mood swings that nearly all mothers go through but all her other struggles are
different than the average teen mother. The majority of her struggles are
surprisingly with the couple that she has chosen for her child. Juno begins to
develop a relationship with the father that leans towards a romance. Juno puts an
end to this and the future adoptive mother and father divorce. Juno ultimately
decides to give her baby to the adoptive mother, Vanessa, anyways. She believes
that she will be a great mother even without her husband.
This movie portrayed an extremely unique experience regarding
pregnancy in high school. The majority of high school students who become
pregnant will either get an abortion, choose a closed adoption where they dont
have a relationship with the adoptive parents, or keep the baby for themselves. Juno
definitely undergoes a struggle, but it is out of the norm. It is one of the few films
that restrains from glorifying teen pregnancy as we see in much of the television
shows today.

Brokeback Mountain
Many have thought of this film as simply a story between gay cowboys. This
is not true; it is a love story that has severe complications throughout it. The film is
about the tragic romance between Ennis and Jack. The film takes place in 1963,
which was not a very accepting time for the homosexual community. Ennis and Jack
were both assumed to be straight by their communities. Ennis is even engaged. The
two engage in sexual activity while working together as sheepherders. They deny
the fact that they have romantic feelings for each other and chock it up to a onetime
occurrence. Fairly quickly after denying their true feelings, they have sexual
intercourse once more. Due to their intense denial, they end up physically fighting
one another and part ways. They both marry women and conceive children of their
own. Both of their marriages inevitably diminish in health and result in divorce.
This movie is a classic example of fear. Both men fear coming out and
expressing their feelings for each other and this is extremely common in the
homosexual community. Ennis lives in fear due to a past memory of a gay man who
was tortured and murdered for his sexual preference. This man that Ennis
remembers endured what is known as a hate crime, attacks motivated by sex,
sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability (Crooks and Baur p. 262). These
types of hate crimes are known for inducing fear in the homosexual community.
This fear has led the men to have difficulties with self-acceptance. Self-acceptance
is often difficult, because it involves overcoming the internalized negative and
homophobic societal view of homosexuality (Crooks and Baur p.270). Jack
unfortunately and devastatingly dies. His wife states that he died in a tire changing
accident, but it is not truly how he died. His true cause of death is not discussed in
the film, but it is implied that he was murdered.
This film is an extreme, but very real, example of what the homosexual
community fears most, rejection. The fear of hate crimes, self-acceptance, and
community acceptance are major struggles that homosexuals have to endure. This
films purpose is to inform its audience that these struggles need to cease and if we
dont practice tolerance, we will never achieve this goal. The themes and morals of
this movie are very powerful and can directly relate to anyone experiencing the
same issues. Homophobia, the irrational fears of homosexuality, the fear of of the
possibility of homosexuality in oneself, or loathing towards ones own
homosexuality (Crooks and Baur p. 262) and the discrimination against
homosexuals are very heavy components in this film and are depicted as harmful
and devastating.

Dan in Real Life


This film is the portrayal of a less-common circumstance, a widowed man. In
most heterosexual couples the man dies first, a tendency that became more
pronounced during the 20th century (Crooks and Baur p. 395). Dan lost his wife and
is left to father three daughters on his own. It is said in the film that he hasnt had
much interest in women since his wifes passing. For some people this emotional
tie remains so strong that other potential relationships appear dim by comparison
(Crooks and Baur p. 395). This proved true for Dan until he met a woman named
Marie. Marie is the first woman he has shown any interest in since his wife, and he
actually falls in love with her. There are complications with this love though; she is
in a relationship with Dans brother. The sexual desire and tension between Dan and
Marie appears to be quite difficult to hide from Dans family.
Not only is Dan having difficulties with his feelings for his brothers
significant other, but he also is experiencing difficulties connecting with and raising
his three daughters. Only one of his daughters, the youngest, seems to be
appreciative of him. He has one, the oldest, who wishes to branch out and be
independent but Dan is having a hard time letting go. His middle daughter is
experiencing teen angst. His middle daughter wishes to spend time with her
boyfriend, but her father is quite obviously against it. She is caught sneaking off with
her boyfriend and claims they love each other. Her father calls it infatuation, if
passion only exists, without intimacy or commitment (Crooks and Baur p. 184). His
daughter is excessively angry with Dan and holds an intense grudge against him for
coming between her and her love. She is obviously enduring puberty and the
increased sexual drive that comes with it.
Marie continues to spend time with Dan, his brother, and their family. After a
short while, she can no longer deny her sexual attraction and emotional connection
to Dan. She breaks up with his brother and kisses Dan. The entire family ends up
witnessing this kiss and sees it as a sign of betrayal. Dan and Marie are finally
together at the end of the film, on their wedding day. His brother finds a new girl for
himself and everyone is finally able to experience happiness.
This film is a great portrayal of finding happiness once again after losing a
spouse. It shows the difficulties of a single father who is trying to experience love a
second time. I appreciate how the writers chose the unique path of making the
husband the widower instead of the wife. Its a unique and unexpected take on these
types of situations.

American Pie
The film American Pie is all about adolescent sex. Four boys make an
agreement with each other that they will no longer be virgins by the time high
school is over. A push towards adult behaviors, peer pressure, pressure from
dating partners, and a sense of obligation to a loyal partner are other reasons that
adolescents engage in coitus (Crooks and Baur p. 358). This proved to be true,
whether the characters in this show knew it or not. They felt that if they graduated
high school as virgins, they wouldnt be socially acceptable. One boy decided to
make this agreement and the others went along with it as well. This would be the
peer pressure aspect.
These boys are clearly severely focused on sexual activity. The boys are
constantly viewing various types of pornography, experimenting with masturbation
and experiencing oral sexual activity. Everything they are doing in this film is
extremely typical of their age group. Masturbation is a very common occurrence in
this film. It is defined in our book as stimulation of ones own genitals to create
sexual pleasure (Crooks and Baur p. 230). This was presented in the film to show
the sexual frustration in teens when they do not receive the same stimulation from a
partner. Oral-genital stimulation is also widely portrayed in the film. One of the boys
girlfriends has stated that she is not ready to lose her virginity, so they participate in
oral-genital stimulation instead. This is a common occurrence in teens.
Experimenting in different sexual activities other than vaginal intercourse is
common due to the belief that it maintains virginity and it can increase their
confidence level when the opportunity for sexual intercourse arises.
Voyeurism is also present in this film. Voyeurism is the act of obtaining
sexual gratification by observing undressed or sexually interacting people without
their consent (Crooks and Baur p.499). A camera in one of the boys rooms catches
a woman masturbating. He enters the room in hopes of having sexual intercourse
with the woman, but experiences premature ejaculation instead, Premature
ejaculation is a pattern of ejaculations within one minute and an inability to delay
ejaculation, resulting in a mans impairing his or his partners pleasure (Crooks and
Baur p.403).
There are countless variations of sexual activity in this film, I was unable to
relate each and every one to the text, but I chose the ones I felt were the most
important. This film does an extremely well done job at depicting a teens thought
patterns, desires, and struggles during this pivotal time of development.

Anger Management
The film Anger Management is about a man who is wrongly accused of
assaulting a flight attendant. Due to this poor accusation, he is forced to participate
in anger management classes from an instructor who has anger issues himself. He
undergoes mass amounts of misunderstandings and complications. While the main
theme of this movie is the sense of anger, there are sexual occurrences that relate to
our text. In one of the scenes of the film, the main character, Dave, is asked to take
his clothes off by his anger management instructor, Buddy. When he refuses, Buddy
accuses Dave of being a homophobe. Even though Dave is obviously not
homophobic in any way shape or form, Buddy feels he needs to prove himself.
Buddy hires a transvestite prostitute so Dave can experience male intimacy, but not
for sexual intercourse. The transvestite experiences what is known as transvestic
fetishism, a sexual behavior in which a person derives sexual arousal from wearing
clothing of the other sex (Crooks and Baur p. 492).
Daves wife, Linda, has a best friend who is known for the size of his penis.
This increases unnecessary concern within Dave. An area that receives
considerable attention is the significance of penis size (Crooks and Baur p.99). Men
have been known to measure their masculinity through the size of their
reproductive organ and often become threatened when they feel they are
inadequate. This is what Dave is experiencing when it comes to his wifes best
friend. He attempts to hide his sense of inferiority but it is quite clear how he feels
throughout the film. The time that Linda spends with her male best friend arouses a
sense of jealousy in Dave. Jealousy is defined by our text as an aversive emotional
reaction evoked by a real or imagined relationship involving ones partner and a
third person (Crooks and Baur p. 196).
There are also instances of infidelity in this film. First, Buddy creates a rouse
that temporarily makes Linda believe he is having an affair. Linda decides to break
up with Dave all because Buddy convinced her to do so. Buddy then takes Linda out
on a date himself. In the end, this is also a rouse in order to complete Daves anger
management course. Dave and Linda are reunited in the end. Their love is known as
a consummate love according to our text. A consummate love is when [intimacy,
passion and commitment] are presentthe fullest kind of love (Crooks and Baur p.
184).
Overall, I was surprised that this film was in the suggested film list. As I
watched though, I realized there was quite a bit that could relate to our text. This
was more of a love story that underwent many complications that led to a happy
ending.

Resources
Crooks, Robert, and Karla Baur. Our Sexuality. 12th ed. Belmont: Jon-David Hague,
2014. Print.
Juno. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2008. Film.
Brokeback Mountain. Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2006. Film.
Dan in Real Life. Touchstone Home Entertainment :, 2008. Film.
American Pie. Universal, 1999. Film.
Anger Management. Sony Pictures, 2003. Film.

Anda mungkin juga menyukai