Junebug

Okay, most of you know that I wasn't a huge fan of the movie, and the second time around didn't do a whole lot more for me, it did seem a little more tolerable this time but I can't say I'd see it again. The thing that did help while watching this time was watching it while contemplating it in a literary sense. In terms of conflict, most of the conflict seemed internal and though it was outright, it seemed to leave an uneasy feeling while you watched it. Some of the most obvious confict was Ashley's conflict with her own views of where she saw her and Johnny's relationship and where it currently stood. In her ideal mind, he would affectionately love her and the baby and they would, so to speak, "live happily ever after". It seemed that everyone in the family saw more potentential in Johnny than he saw in himself and he took it in offense. There were several scenes where Johnny half-heartedly expressed his care for Ashley like attempting to tape the Meerkats and when she went into labor. Johnny's internal conflict was with his own intelligence and how he perceived others to perceive him. Both of these conflicts seemed to be somewhat, but not totally, resolved when he actually wanted to try to conceive again. Another conflict occured as Madeleine struggled to be accepted in a family in which she was very much out of place. She came into the situation unprepared and uneasy while still possessing the good-heartedness of a newly wed trying to get to know her inlaws. The events that occured within the family brought up the struggle on where she placed her newly acquired family and her work in priority. I believe by the end she had a new sense of family and was able to place a little less emphasis on work. In contrast to how other conflict is resolved, though some of this conflict is settled in this movie, much of it is still left unsaid and uneasy. I did like this aspect of the movie because it goes to show that not every situation is going to have a happy ending and seems a bit more believable and relatable to many peoples lives. Though I still don't consider myself a "fan", I did pick up a little more on the movie this time around and have a new respect for it.