Some lovely and talented dude named Rio Yañez out there in Internetlandia wrote a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece asking, “What would Juno be like with a Latina lead?:”

For my part, maybe I would have too much baggage as a politically conscious Chicano to enjoy it. Would I see a Latina Juno as too mocking?

We don’t know, homeslice. Why don’t you share your totally boss take on it, after the jump:

I laughed my ass off at the beginning of the movie when Juno downed a half-gallon of Sunny D so she could pee on a bunch of pregnancy tests. If she was Latina I would probably think “Damn man, that’s fucked up.” Not to get all philosophical on your asses, but I’d think twice about laughing at the the struggles of a young pregnant Latina with the knowledge of how patriarchal, racist, and ageist our society is. Sigh could Latinos on either end of the spectrum appreciate a comedy that would take teen pregnancy so lightly? Mariela’s right, we’re just too damn complex.

Truth be told, one of my biggest criticisms of my own people is that (in general, yo) Latinos lack a good appreciation of irony. I don’t think anything could make a Latina Juno have the same dynamics of Ellen Page as Juno. But those are just my thoughts right now. I really want to know what you all think. What do you think the impact of a Latina Juno would be? How would you feel about it? Would it work? Does anything I’ve just written make any sense?

But, as Mr. Guana Bust A Nut observed, maybe we need more Latino comedy that is able to poke fun at the absurdity stereotypes without being, you know. Carlos Mencia. We would love to see a Latina pregnancy handled with the same mix of maturity, childish denial, humor and pathos that Juno managed to cobble together - with maybe about a third of the seriously annoying and confusing “teen slang” that made Juno sound like someone’s “cool soccer mom” trying to play a kid by wearing an Urban Outfitters hoodie and a sarcastic smirk.

While, as Rio noted, a Latina pregnancy is loaded with historical, societal and cultural significance that would be lost on most non-Latinos, that probably makes it even more necessary to hold Latino filmmakers, screenwriters and actors accountable for presenting potentially controversial material in a way that audiences can relate to, laugh at and learn from instead of shy away from because it contains “too much baggage.”

Hmmm. That didn’t contain any spoilers did it? Well here’s one: It was all a dream! And here’s another: Juno is a man! And another: Bleecker was dead the whole time!

Anyway. What do you turds think? Should U.S. Latinos in the film industry take note of Juno’s (arguably) nuanced approached to a controversial subject? Or stick to safe, vanilla shit like Chasing Papi — which ends up being more offensive and patronizing in the long run, in our humble AWESOME AND ALWAYS CORRECT opinion?

Latinos and Juno [Flickr]