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.
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THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC wrote:
yes, I concur with everything you’ve said here.
Posted on 13-Feb-08 at 11:55 pm | Permalink
Lana wrote:
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but if it’s offensive, then make some major noise about.
When you start to make known to the rest of the world that you, that you will no longer be silent about things like this, then people slowly stop thinking of you the ‘de facto race to make fun of’.
Won’t happen if you stay silent except amongst your own, though.
Posted on 14-Feb-08 at 10:14 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
According to an article I just read, the director of Juno, Jason Reitman said, “No one could be more sensitive to this idea than myself. My wife and daughter are Chinese, and my sister is adopted.”
Posted on 17-Feb-08 at 8:38 pm | Permalink
Chuck wrote:
I saw this movie and thought it was great. In full context of the story and characters, the line in question sounds perfectly sensible and funny given the character speaking it. However, if I were the one cutting the trailer, maybe I would try to find a different line to pull out and use as a representative slice of the film. Maybe instead of getting angry at the writer or director, we should indict the marketing folks? They’re often to blame for stuff like this, anyway! (J/K)
Posted on 21-Feb-08 at 1:04 am | Permalink