Comments on: The Knock on Being Unready http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/27/the-knock-on-not-being-ready/ Fearless. Thoughtful. Witty. Canadian. And Opinionated. Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:04:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: The Walrus Blogs » Waiting for Princess Charming » Act Like A Man http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/27/the-knock-on-not-being-ready/#comment-6784 The Walrus Blogs » Waiting for Princess Charming » Act Like A Man Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:50:36 +0000 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/?p=629#comment-6784 [...] UPDATE: Further thoughts on this subject, including responses to some of the comments below, are here and here. [...] [...] UPDATE: Further thoughts on this subject, including responses to some of the comments below, are here and here. [...]

]]> By: Edward Keenan http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/27/the-knock-on-not-being-ready/#comment-4370 Edward Keenan Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:14:53 +0000 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/?p=629#comment-4370 Interesting point, Steve -- my full response could probably fill another entire page. I think your take is exactly what he'd say if he was confronted with my criticism by one of the characters in the film. The script has nuance, of course (damn good writing for making moral interpretation complicated!), but I don't think it really shows him struggling with his relationship so much as it shows him struggling to come to terms with growing up. He'd already made an affirmative decision to become a dad, had been through the process once before right up to the end (there's that scene where the "complications" last time were mentioned) and had come this far with Juno and his wife. I think we're supposed to read that he is somehow awakened by Juno to his not-forgotten dreams and inspired to live. In past generations, there were whole stories where that would be the jumping off point for a heroic story about him. That's the part for another post. He didn't stumble into fatherhood as so many men do (and as Paul Rudd does in Knocked Up), he placed ads to make it happen. I think in this case, he did the equivalent of getting a girl pregnant (by signing adoption papers and whatnot, agreeing to become a father) and then deserted not one but two expecting mothers-to-be by saying, "Uh, I changed my mind." Which, when people do that in real life, we call them deadbeats, not respectable. So in answer to your question: if making a strong decision to break your commitments to chase your bliss, at the direct psychological expense of two apparently vulnerable people is an adult choice, I suppose that's what he made. But I could also fill several more posts with the assumption both movies make that people need to be married to be parents. That, however, is for some other time. Interesting point, Steve — my full response could probably fill another entire page. I think your take is exactly what he’d say if he was confronted with my criticism by one of the characters in the film. The script has nuance, of course (damn good writing for making moral interpretation complicated!), but I don’t think it really shows him struggling with his relationship so much as it shows him struggling to come to terms with growing up. He’d already made an affirmative decision to become a dad, had been through the process once before right up to the end (there’s that scene where the “complications” last time were mentioned) and had come this far with Juno and his wife. I think we’re supposed to read that he is somehow awakened by Juno to his not-forgotten dreams and inspired to live. In past generations, there were whole stories where that would be the jumping off point for a heroic story about him. That’s the part for another post.

He didn’t stumble into fatherhood as so many men do (and as Paul Rudd does in Knocked Up), he placed ads to make it happen. I think in this case, he did the equivalent of getting a girl pregnant (by signing adoption papers and whatnot, agreeing to become a father) and then deserted not one but two expecting mothers-to-be by saying, “Uh, I changed my mind.” Which, when people do that in real life, we call them deadbeats, not respectable.

So in answer to your question: if making a strong decision to break your commitments to chase your bliss, at the direct psychological expense of two apparently vulnerable people is an adult choice, I suppose that’s what he made.

But I could also fill several more posts with the assumption both movies make that people need to be married to be parents. That, however, is for some other time.

]]> By: Steve http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/27/the-knock-on-not-being-ready/#comment-4355 Steve Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:14:53 +0000 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/?p=629#comment-4355 Isn't the Bateman character making an adult decision in a way, too? He recognizes his marriage is going to fail -- if not now, then at some point in the future -- and removes himself from that relationship, in the least harmful way he can. While appreciating that his decision is a little shallow, at least he makes a strong decision. Which -- in my view -- makes him a little more respectable than the ever-suffering Paul Rudd character in Knocked Up. The fact that Bateman's character is a nostalgia-clinging jerk doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't made an adult choice. Staying in a doomed relationship just for the sake of it is not a particularly adult choice, either. Isn’t the Bateman character making an adult decision in a way, too? He recognizes his marriage is going to fail — if not now, then at some point in the future — and removes himself from that relationship, in the least harmful way he can. While appreciating that his decision is a little shallow, at least he makes a strong decision. Which — in my view — makes him a little more respectable than the ever-suffering Paul Rudd character in Knocked Up. The fact that Bateman’s character is a nostalgia-clinging jerk doesn’t necessarily mean he hasn’t made an adult choice. Staying in a doomed relationship just for the sake of it is not a particularly adult choice, either.

]]> By: Edward Keenan http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/27/the-knock-on-not-being-ready/#comment-4350 Edward Keenan Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:06:13 +0000 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/?p=629#comment-4350 There was somthing unsettling about him, I think, in his breezy manner in the first scene he's in ("Oh, yeah, who doesn't want all that.") But then I think I was disarmed by him in the same way Juno was, possibly because I'm still some kind of sucker for horror flicks and indie rock, at least in principle. There was somthing unsettling about him, I think, in his breezy manner in the first scene he’s in (”Oh, yeah, who doesn’t want all that.”) But then I think I was disarmed by him in the same way Juno was, possibly because I’m still some kind of sucker for horror flicks and indie rock, at least in principle.

]]> By: DR http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/27/the-knock-on-not-being-ready/#comment-4349 DR Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:41:59 +0000 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/?p=629#comment-4349 I actually found Jason Bateman's character creepy from the beginning - not from any fundamental disapproval of the boy-man character, just from the way Bateman played him. I think I would have found the plot more effective if I had found him initially sympathetic, as you did. I actually found Jason Bateman’s character creepy from the beginning - not from any fundamental disapproval of the boy-man character, just from the way Bateman played him. I think I would have found the plot more effective if I had found him initially sympathetic, as you did.

]]>