Representation of parents in We Need To Talk About Kevin and Juno

In We Need to Talk About Kevin, the story isn't told in chronological order as there is a mix of past and present throughout the film. However, as the film goes on, we piece together clues as to why Kevin did what he did and why he's the way he is. The final scene ends with Eva hearing about the high school massacre and the shock on her face when she finds out her sons the killer. What makes her more distraught is that she sees all the young dead bodies and realises that she is partially responsible for their deaths. The film should tell about the horrors of pregnancy, however the real horror is after Eva gives birth to Kevin. The two main characters in this film are Kevin, played by Ezra Miller, and Eva, played by Tilda Swinton. Eva struggles with motherhood and her only strength to keep trying is the need to please her husband and the father of her children, Franklin. However, the only time when her love becomes unconditional is when she sticks by her son even though he has brutally murdered 9 people. She shows that even though she didn't show any love throughout the times when it mattered most. She did try to show a young Kevin love but motherhood didn't come easy to her. Eva also has to struggle with containing her hate towards her son around Franklin who is ignorant to how estranged their son is. This frustrates her and leads her into a state of depression as she feels nothing can make the relationship between her and her son better. She is blamed for the acts that her son did, in which she shares the blame herself. Kevin is the other main character in We Need To Talk About Kevin. Kevin's lack of sympathy for mother makes this story. Ezra Miller plays the satanic child who even though his struggling mother tries to give him the love she could give, but he is not accepting of her love. He channels his hate for his mother to fool his ignorant dad. In the end he easily murders 9 people that he knows for reasons that are hard to understand, for he is a psychological killer. He has no remorse for his victims and he sheds no light as to why he did what he did.The acts that are seen in the film affect the audience by shocking them and leaving them wondering why Kevin has turned out the way he has. We also wonder why Eva lacks so much in motherhood and why she is so deterred to get help. 

In Juno, the story is told over four seasons, starting in autumn when Juno, a 16-year-old high-school junior in Minnesota, discovers she's pregnant after one event in a chair with her best friend, Bleeker. The whole idea plays on the fact that 'it all began with a chair' and it all ended with a chair. The final scene with Juno and bleeker ends in the summer, which could be a message that they have overcome nature to shine once again. The main characters of this film are Juno MacGuff, played by Ellen Page, and Paulie Bleeker, played by Michael Cera. They are two teenagers who along with growing up, have to face the problem of a teenage pregnancy. Juno, who is faced with a teenage pregnancy, makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child. That decision is to have the baby but give it up for adoption. However when her chosen couple faces flaws in their relationship and a divorce is settled, Juno finds that months into her pregnancy her perfect idea isn't going to plan. On top of this she has to face the struggles of a teenagers life.I think that Juno acts like an adult and in fact feels a strong pull toward Mark Loring, the husband in the couple who are set to adopt Juno’s baby. But then she runs around doing childish things like setting up furniture on Paulie’s front lawn, eating Red Vines, and using a hamburger phone. The other main character is Paulie Bleeker, and although he's a quiet and unnoticable character I would say that he is one of the protagonists because of his involved with Juno and how their relationship progresses is shown in the film. He struggles to realise the amount of problems that Juno has to deal with and why she acts mean towards him. By the end of the film Juno realises that her relationship with Paulie Bleeker is strong enough to overcome the heartbreak of giving up their baby. She also realises that a maternal love doesn't have to be with a biological mother. The scene ends with Juno singing a song with Paulie about their unconditional love.

This scene comes after the incident with Kevin's sister. His chilling attitude for his sister makes this one of the most disturbing scenes in this film. What makes this more disturbing is the way Kevin peels a lychee fruit with an almost devilish glee. The scene begins with the camera at a medium long shot so that Kevin is at the head of the table while Eva and Franklin are placed secondary to him, as if to say that Kevin has control over them, that he can do anything he wants. For the main part of this scene is that the actors are placed in the middle of the shot. Ignoring the rule of thirds the director takes risks in whether the audience will find that this scene lacks in something, however the results are quite the opposite as the setup intrigues the viewer. The way that the shot is setup when Kevin eats the lychee is clever because during the whole scene Kevin taunts Eva in a way that isn't obvious to his father, Walter. Then when Kevin eats the lychee we can see the juice that spurts out of the lychee, we can also see a close-up of him chewing it. What makes this part of the scene so sinister is that we can also hear the squirting of the juice coming out from the lychee. There is very little sound when nobody is speaking so that we hear the silence in the room, at best we hear the subtle clinking of glasses and knives and forks. As for the props, kitchen utensils and food is needed as it fits with the set. Without these, the scene would not get the desired effect that it has on the audience. I think the most essential thing in this scene is the sound and that fact that its so minimalistic which makes it so cold.

This scene comes near the end of the film when the plot is reaching its resolution. The scene consists of Juno and her father talking in the kitchen. She discusses with him her love life briefly, "...find a person who loves you for exactly what you are," says Juno's father in which Juno replies, "I sort of already have". This is when she questions "relationships", i.e., between not only her and Bleeker but between a mother and her unborn child, a couple who are facing a major cross road in their marriage, her father and his second marriage, and even her best friend's crush on a high school teacher. The scene was shot in a fairly small set as judging by their intentions I think the idea was to make it intimate as Juno was discussing something personal with her father. With dimmed lighting to create a better ambience it ties the scene together. The camerawork is manly shot over-the-shoulder each time the character speaks to another, this is mainly shot like this because its a conversation between the two. When the scene begins, Juno comes out from behind the kitchen countertop, almost as if to show her pregnant belly so it's almost as if she's saying that she's not covering up anymore and it shows that she's about to open up. The scene has been edited so that we see the over-the shoulder camera angles one after the other. This would have been filmed separately and then collected together for editing. Juno starts the scene by talking quietly but as she opens up more her voice gets louder to represent her finding her voice. The props inside the scene fit with the set because if they don't fit with the set then it distracts the viewer from the acting in the scene.