Thursday, October 21, 2010

Structure Analysis – Juno

This is my analysis of the structure of Diablo Cody's screenplay for "Juno." As you'll see, it fits standard screenplay structure (which I've outlined here) very nicely. Note that there are spoilers in this analysis, so read at your own risk!

Juno
Written by Diablo Cody
2008 Best Screenplay

GENERAL INFORMATION

Genre – Comedy / Drama
Number of pages – 101

STRUCTURE OUTLINE

Statement of Theme
The closest thing to this is when Leah tells Juno on page 7 that Juno loves Bleeker, but Juno says that it’s complicated and she’d rather not talk about it. Juno is afraid to admit that she has feelings for anyone because she believes that relationships never work out.

Small Catalyst (10%)
External (Page 10 – 10%)
Juno tells Bleeker that she’s pregnant. He says that it’s okay for her to have an abortion and abdicates all decision-making to her.
Internal (Page 7 – 7%)
Juno tells Leah about the moment that she decided to have sex with Bleeker.

Large catalyst (17%)
External (Page 19 – 19%)
Right as Juno is going in to have an abortion, Su-chin tells her that the baby already has fingernails. This freaks out Juno so much that she can’t go through with the abortion.
Internal (Page 14 – 14%)
Juno and Bleeker watch another couple fight. This seems to be what Juno expects in every relationship.

Plot Point 1 (25%)
External (Page 24 – 24%)
Juno finds a great couple to adopt her baby.
Internal (Page 25 – 25%)
Juno tells her parents that she’s pregnant. They’re supportive.

Twist 1 (37.5%)
External (Page 31 – 31%)
Juno and her dad go to negotiate the terms of the adoption with the Lorings. On page 3, they agree to a closed adoption and start getting the paperwork ready to sign.
Internal (Page 38 – 38%)
Juno sees that Mark has a Les Paul guitar. They discover that they have a lot in common and hit it off very well.

Mid-point (50%)
External (Page 56 – 55%)
Juno shows the ultrasound picture to Vanessa. The baby seems real to her for the first time. She also assures Mark and Vanessa that she won’t flake on them.
Internal (Page 51 – 50%)
Mark and Juno bond over his favorite song and his favorite horror movie director. Mark becomes more overt about his pursuit of Juno here.

Twist 2 (62.5%)
External (Page 69 – 68%)
Juno (and Leah) run into Vanessa at the mall. Vanessa touches Juno’s stomach and the baby kicks for her. Juno is impressed with how genuinely affectionate Vanessa is.
Internal (Page 63 – 62%)
Bleeker asks Juno if she wants to get back together once the pregnancy is finished, but Juno says that she didn’t know that they ever were together.

Plot Point 2 (75%)
External (Page 80 – 79%)
Mark tells Juno that he’s leaving Vanessa.
Internal (Page 74 – 73%)
Juno and Bleeker fight about him asking Katrina De Voort to the prom, even though Juno has made it clear that she doesn’t even want to go to prom.

Resolution
External
Juno decides to go through with the adoption with just Vanessa, and Vanessa agrees.
Internal
Juno realizes that she really is in love with Bleeker, so she finally tells him so. After she has the baby they get the band back together and sing the cutest song ever. She accomplishes both her external goal and her internal one for a feel-good Hollywood ending.

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