This is a very sad story, grievously politicizing small town values and small minded thinking about abortion related matters. Not wanting to be "too" controversial, it merely sets us up with all the obvious options, and then leaves us with an unexpected solution equally as tragic as the others. First we are given a moral dilemma which would be unfortunate for anyone, accept that in this case the girl is the valedictorian of her high school class! How could this happen with the brightest girl in school? Well, because the film wants us to question stereotypes, but then makes of everyone else a strawman, to be knocked down effortlessly. Even the "boy" involved is trivialized into a "James Dean" stereotype, thus making a hypocrisy of the attempt to un-stereotype the girl.
In short, the story is very manipulative and dependent on sentimentality to further its sociological agenda. The deeper issues are merely glossed over in order to promote an "anything goes" mentality, even while giving a nod of recognition to the obvious consequences. The future life for the girl, and the future life for the child, will be immeasurably changed by whatever happens, and in ways hardly advantageous to either. But the film gives a muddled and trivialized focus on the problem of teen pregnancy, which ultimately makes a mockery out of everyone including the girl. It is sophistry at its worst, merging good and bad arguments together until they "all" seem hopelessly wrong.
In short, the story is very manipulative and dependent on sentimentality to further its sociological agenda. The deeper issues are merely glossed over in order to promote an "anything goes" mentality, even while giving a nod of recognition to the obvious consequences. The future life for the girl, and the future life for the child, will be immeasurably changed by whatever happens, and in ways hardly advantageous to either. But the film gives a muddled and trivialized focus on the problem of teen pregnancy, which ultimately makes a mockery out of everyone including the girl. It is sophistry at its worst, merging good and bad arguments together until they "all" seem hopelessly wrong.