a little coffee

Finally, all my classes have finished talking about the film we watched, Juno. All eight of them (and even Chris’s classes) shared opinions that are remarkably different from, I’ll say, an American interpretation. At least mine and Chris’s.

First, they all hate Bleeker. Why? I thought he was funny, a contrast to outgoing, self-assured Juno. I sympathized with Bleeker. The students explained that he’s timid, cowardly, irresponsible. Irresponsible? Ah, there it is. When pressed, they said he should have faced up to his responsibilities as a father to Juno’s baby. When further pressed to explain what responsibilities, many say, after a moment of nervous giggles, “I don’t know.” Some say he should have married Juno. (Then many of their classmates dismiss that by saying “Juno’s only 16! Too young.”) The more articulate students say he should have been there for Juno in the beginning instead of just at the end of the movie. Some admit that they like Bleeker much more at the end of the movie, the coward reformed.

But it was their idea that he should have faced up to his responsibilities that I found surprising. He didn’t runaway from Juno at all. Even asked “what should we do” when Juno told him she was pregnant. Even asked if he should go to to the ultrasound with her. No, he certainly wasn’t denying responsibility. So now I wonder if they all thought he should have been with her, held her hand and everything, even though she never asked for his help. I wish I would have asked if they saw Juno as too independent.  Or did Bleeker not conform to their idea of what a man should be?

Many students also respond to Mark like they did with Bleeker. He was an irresponsible coward for getting a divorce. Despite that he says he’s not ready to be a father, despite that it’s clear he and Vanessa aren’t in love and have incredibly different desires for their lives. The general Doodle repsonse is something like he made a promise to adopt the baby and he should stick to his decision and stay with Vanessa, regardless, it seems, if she even wanted him around. Again I suspect Mark didn’t conform to their idea of what a man (a father, a husband) should be. That, as Chris thinks, a sense of duty and following the rules should trump everything else, even if it makes all parties involved miserable.

The best question I thought to ask was “What if Juno had lived in China instead? Would she have made the same decision to adopt? What about her family’s reaction?”

Some exclaim it’s not possible in China for a 16 year-old girl to have a baby (meaning she can’t have a baby without being married first). I assured them that it is possible and it has happened before. Everyone else shook their head and said “abortion!” or “kill the baby!” Many students were completely baffled by Juno’s parents reaction to her news. Disappointed, a little angry sure but they immediately decide to support their daughter. “In China,” several students said in their blunt way, “the parents will beat their daughter and force her to abortion the baby.” They have to do it before she starts to “get big” or everyone will know and bring shame to the parents. They will ridicule her, discriminate against her. And, worst of all, force her to leave school until she gets rid of the baby, in one way or another. A few students expressed amazement that Juno was allowed to still go to school and were further amazed when I said that the school would probably get into serious trouble if they expelled a student just for being pregnant. “So free!” a couple girls said.

That these responses were so consistent across 500 students provided another in site into the Doodle brain. And that I was initially taken off guard by their responses, especially their dislike of Bleeker, showed me again how “American” my brain is. Whenever I pressed the students for reasons why a Chinese parent would beat or even disown their daughter for getting pregnant, they’ll say something like “China is traditional.” By the last few classes, when I’d (mostly) become desensitized to this, I wanted to get them to really see how backwards, how harmful so many of their traditions are. In particular this concept of avoiding shame at practically any cost, this “saving face” which is at the root of the Chinese parent’s reactions of forced abortions. Would you do it to your kid? Would you make fun of a classmate that became pregnant? Actively shun her? “Frankly, these traditions are a little stupid” I want to say but don’t. It’s not fair or helpful for me to ridicule the way that they were raised. But what I can do, like showing Juno, is present them with alternatives, different opinions, different ways of thinking and, hopefully, help them come to new conclusions on their own.