This is why I think that the feminist arc comes from Needy's story not Jennifer's story arc. Needy goes from being "needy" locked into a steady relationship with a boy who is not very nice to her and whose best friend bullies her.
Needy is the one who embraces her own sexuality by losing her virginity, who pushes against the social BS and expectations, liberates her demonic friend, and goes on the murder the boys who killed her friend.
I think the horror in Jennifer's Body comes form the idea of what if you push a woman so far she begins to act like the men? Just like how the band uses her body to get the social currency of fame, Jennifer uses men's bodies to become more attractive and charismatic, but just like how the entertainment industry constantly needs new female bodies to exploit, Jennifer has to continuously consume men's bodies as well.
I think one of the strong points of the movie is it starts with showing us victims who feel like they deserve it. It starts with gross men, those that would 100% exploit Jennifer if they could. It is only later in the film that is shows Jennifer's first victim as a marginalized, and in many ways weaker foreign exchange student. This mirrors the idea that exploited women somehow asked for it, or were deserving of their fate when in reality these men target the weak and vulnerable. I think this point is further supported by the band leader insisting Jennifer must be a virgin, because girls like that are always teases. Clearly Jennifer deserves this treatment for being a tease.
I think in many ways Jennifer's Body is a good feminist film, but in so far as it explored gendered dynamics and female exploitation. As a feminist revenge story, not so much. Jennifer's story is just sad through and through, and I think Megan Fox goes a good job portraying that.
While "Jennifer's Body" isn't a specifically feminist film, I do think it touches on feminist issues. The band's entitlement in sacrificing Jennifer can be seen as a metaphor for rape culture, for example; Megan Fox has even commented that she sees that scene as a dramatized version of what the entertainment industry writ large does to many attractive female performers.
I agree with you that Jennifer's rampage afterward isn't really a revenge arc; Needy is the one who ends up avenging Jennifer's murder. Alternately, Jennifer's arc can work as an extremely sped-up metaphor for how severe untreated trauma and PTSD can cause people to lash out at those around them who had nothing to do with their trauma, eventually destroying themselves and their loved ones, especially how society as a whole tends to treat victims of sexual assault. Jennifer’s transformation can be read as a grotesque amplification of how traumatized women are often recast socially as dangerous, unstable, hypersexual, corrupted, “damaged" and contaminating to others.
I am not a move watcher and can’t speak to that. This, however, strikes me as exactly what the Phyllis Schafly’s of the world attempt. It certainly bit Pam Bondi in the ass though. Proximity isn’t safety.
“It’s a story about what happens when a girl realizes that in the world she lives in, bodies are already being consumed.
She just decides she’s tired of being the one on the menu.”
This is why I think that the feminist arc comes from Needy's story not Jennifer's story arc. Needy goes from being "needy" locked into a steady relationship with a boy who is not very nice to her and whose best friend bullies her.
Needy is the one who embraces her own sexuality by losing her virginity, who pushes against the social BS and expectations, liberates her demonic friend, and goes on the murder the boys who killed her friend.
I think the horror in Jennifer's Body comes form the idea of what if you push a woman so far she begins to act like the men? Just like how the band uses her body to get the social currency of fame, Jennifer uses men's bodies to become more attractive and charismatic, but just like how the entertainment industry constantly needs new female bodies to exploit, Jennifer has to continuously consume men's bodies as well.
I think one of the strong points of the movie is it starts with showing us victims who feel like they deserve it. It starts with gross men, those that would 100% exploit Jennifer if they could. It is only later in the film that is shows Jennifer's first victim as a marginalized, and in many ways weaker foreign exchange student. This mirrors the idea that exploited women somehow asked for it, or were deserving of their fate when in reality these men target the weak and vulnerable. I think this point is further supported by the band leader insisting Jennifer must be a virgin, because girls like that are always teases. Clearly Jennifer deserves this treatment for being a tease.
I think in many ways Jennifer's Body is a good feminist film, but in so far as it explored gendered dynamics and female exploitation. As a feminist revenge story, not so much. Jennifer's story is just sad through and through, and I think Megan Fox goes a good job portraying that.
While "Jennifer's Body" isn't a specifically feminist film, I do think it touches on feminist issues. The band's entitlement in sacrificing Jennifer can be seen as a metaphor for rape culture, for example; Megan Fox has even commented that she sees that scene as a dramatized version of what the entertainment industry writ large does to many attractive female performers.
I agree with you that Jennifer's rampage afterward isn't really a revenge arc; Needy is the one who ends up avenging Jennifer's murder. Alternately, Jennifer's arc can work as an extremely sped-up metaphor for how severe untreated trauma and PTSD can cause people to lash out at those around them who had nothing to do with their trauma, eventually destroying themselves and their loved ones, especially how society as a whole tends to treat victims of sexual assault. Jennifer’s transformation can be read as a grotesque amplification of how traumatized women are often recast socially as dangerous, unstable, hypersexual, corrupted, “damaged" and contaminating to others.
I am not a move watcher and can’t speak to that. This, however, strikes me as exactly what the Phyllis Schafly’s of the world attempt. It certainly bit Pam Bondi in the ass though. Proximity isn’t safety.
“It’s a story about what happens when a girl realizes that in the world she lives in, bodies are already being consumed.
She just decides she’s tired of being the one on the menu.”