Jennifer’s body : the consequences of bad marketing
On paper, Jennifer’s body (2009) it had all the arguments to attract the public, at least the male one. Bloody horror with Megan Fox sexier than ever in her high school clothes and killing teenagers. All sprinkled with lesbian sexual tension with her friend Amanda Seyfried, and both ready to kiss in skimpy clothes in a bedroom! Does this seem sexist and reductive to you? However, it is overall how the film was sold during its theatrical release (October 21, 2009 in France). This is demonstrated by the poster that highlights Megan Fox’s sensual side and the trailer that does the same. But in no case what should be remembered. Because the reality is different.
Directed by Karyn Kusama, Jennifer’s body addresses more for a female audience (or spectators capable of grasping two or three feminist themes without batting an eyelid), and an audience in search of strong emotions and sexy girls. This is also what may explain the film’s failure, as the actual audience it was aimed at wasn’t really aware that it was aimed at them. Screenwriter Diablo Cody also spoke about this topic in an interview. While many still talk about it Jennifer’s bodyyou ask logically”where was this audience when the film came out?“.
The feature film was indeed a critical and commercial failuregrossing only $31 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $16 million. A soundtrack all the more disappointing since its star, Megan Fox, was on her way out Transformers 2 and its $836 million in revenue worldwide. Luckily, 15 years latersome people are there to rehabilitate Jennifer’s body, this horror comedy full of bites.
Megan Fox devours attackers
A high school student in small-town America, Jennifer (Megan Fox) attracts all eyes. However, she remains close to her best friend Anita (Amanda Seyfried). One evening, the two attend a rock band’s concert in a bar. Jennifer immediately catches the singer’s attention. But the concert is interrupted by a fire. The two friends kiss and the singer doesn’t miss the opportunity to ask Jennifer to follow them in their van, under Anita’s worried gaze. The teenager will therefore be the tragic victim of this Satanist group that hopes achieve success by sacrificing it. Left for dead, Jennifer will come back to life, but having changed, well determined to make men pay.
If Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody play on horror clichés and stereotypes of female charactersit is evidently to denounce them better. In her life, Jennifer is more than a sex symbolfar from being a mindless person. His chemistry with the “nerd” Anita (still the cliché of nerd presumably) is not trivial. But the young woman, being dispossessed of her body for the sake of the success desired by this group of boys, becomes its victim.
In the post-MeToo era, the portrayal of sexism and sexual harassment it’s clear Jennifer’s body. Themes that were much less highlighted at the time. We recall in passing that Megan Fox, hypersexualized when she was only 16 years old during a plan Bad Boys 2 (2003), she was often stripped down to her looks, then sidelined by Hollywood after a conflict with Michael Bay.
A rape and revenge politics rather than a sexy horror comedy
In Jennifer’s bodythe victim becomes the antagonist who attacks men by devouring them. Even if her actions are reprehensible, she is the fruit of this violence. And since she can no longer eat normally, these murders are as much a pleasure in revenge as they are a question of survival for her. Without this, Jennifer loses her strength and beauty, which adds to the idea that she is not a “sexy monster” that straight men will fantasize about. In an article that aims to reevaluate the film, Vox he wrote, taking up some proposals Vice :
Jennifer’s Body was a rape-revenge fantasy in disguise, a fierce and intelligent look at “abuse, empowerment, and responsibility” that anticipated the MeToo era and was torpedoed in 2009 by crude misogyny toward Cody and Fox.
The media insisted on this idea Jennifer’s body East”a response to trauma and tragedy“experienced by the young girl. It is even a “cathartic fantasy for her, turning her trauma against her attackers, using her victimized and violated body to take bloody revenge on the patriarchyAfter all, even if they are Jennifer’s victims, men, all of them, are never considered endearing characters (bad or simply pathetic). Which is not a problem in itself and should not, in principle, prevent a male audience from being interested in the film.
“A comment on girl hatred”
Opposite Jennifer is another girl, Anita, in a complicated situation between the desire to help her best friend and the fear of her. She will be too victim of a system (locked up and considered insane at the end of the film). But the feature film points in an interesting way the relationship between girlsmore often driven to rivalry than to mutual aid. Diablo Cody explained about it:
This film is a commentary on girl hatred, sexuality, the death of innocence, and the politics of how the city responds to tragedies (of the gory deaths of several young people). Anyone who dares to react in an unconventional way is considered a traitor.
And Karyn Kusama added:
I hope that audiences can see that it’s a little more complicated than just a comedy, than just a horror movie, than just a simple high school movie, and see it for what it is, which is a fresh look at all of this stuff.
More than ever, Jennifer’s body she is therefore to be reevaluated, just like Megan Fox, perhaps here at her best, in everything she represented at that time and from then on. The film is currently available on Disney+.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
