In this episode, Alex and Andrea aim their smart-bombs squarely at Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body and how there’s much more to the film than meets the eye.
REQUIRED READING
Jennifer’s Body. Dir. Karyn Kusama. 2009. [DVD]
EXTRA CREDIT
Horror Films… And the Women Who Love Them by Christine Spines, originally printed in Entertainment Weekly. A look at the trend of leading and supporting female roles in horror films and an examination of how the horror market has begun to sway towards women as they make up an increasingly larger percentage of ticket buyers.
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I was wondering what your thoughts were regarding the kiss scene in connection to the bite scene in this film. Do you think one foreshadows the other?
Also, do you think that the film fits better into a LGBQ critique rather then a strictly feminist one as a sexual discovery film in the vein (pardon the pun) of Lost and Delerious?
Great episode that sent me back to watch Jennifer’s Body, which I hadn’t seen. The initial poor reviews had me giving it a pass when it came out but now I’m shocked at that early negative reaction. This is a great, funny horror movie that got an undeserved bad rap. The weird symbiotic relationship between Jennifer and Needy was amazing. Megan Fox sold that performance for me. It looked like she was having fun in that role but I was surprised at learning about the backlash against her. There was a parallel backlash against the screenwriter, Diablo Cody, at the time too (if I remember correctly). Most of that seemed like sour grape envy for her breakout success with Juno but, like with Fox, there was a certain sexist venom to it.
Anyway, thanks for sending me back to find this gem in the horror genre. Kudos!
I went a sought out this movie for the first time so I could listen to this episode and WOW, did I miss out! I never bothered because of the negative reviews when it came out and I went in to it expecting an utterly different movie than what I got.
I’ve been watching horror movies for so long that it feels like nothing is fresh anymore and Jennifer’s Body really was. Thank you for sending your listeners back to this gem!
In regards to the kiss, it didn’t bother me as much because like you said, Jennifer uses sex to get what she wants.
I think the kiss for Jennifer is largely because she views herself as an object. She is a body. That is all she has ever been valued for and is the source of her confidence and her insecurity. I think she feels that her body is the only thing she has to offer and so for her kissing Needy makes sense. She is confused by all these new urges what with the hormonal changes that come with being a teenager and new survival instincts that come with being a demon. Add to that this very confusing, supernaturally intimate bond she has with Needy. Jennifer kisses Needy because sex is what she knows. It’s how she values herself, how she gets what she wants, and how she protects herself. So, the kiss is a combination of love and defense for her.
On Needy’s end, I think she loves Jennifer, but she doesn’t necessarily like her and that’s confusing. They’ve been friends since they were small, the age when people form intense bonds with their friends. For a lot of people, I think they grow apart from those friendships when they become teenagers and those bonds are replaced with intimate sexual bonds through dating.
Jennifer doesn’t form intimate bonds with the boys she dates so for her, her most intimate bond is with Needy. So, intimate that they are able to sense each other’s presence.
Needy has a boyfriend, but she is not connected to Chip the way she is with Jennifer. As you mentioned, when she and Jennifer kiss, Needy is into it. She seems much more aroused in that scene than in the scene where she has sex with her boyfriend.
Again, I think it has to do with this bond they share. If Needy can sense Jennifer kissing someone else, imagine what kissing Jennifer would feel like for her.
Now Needy’s response could be because she is into women and just hasn’t figure it out yet, but I think it’s more complicated than that. I think she doesn’t know what to do with this very intense relationship that has run it’s course. They are outgrowing each other socially, but spiritually they are still deeply bonded. If they were sisters or lovers that bond wouldn’t be so confusing, but they’re not. In fact, I don’t think with the intensity of their relationship that either of them could have healthy romantic relationships and still maintain their bond. Look at what their friendship does to her and Chip.
So, she either loses her bond with Jennifer or she loses Chip. She can’t have both. In the end, we see in the film, she loses them both.
I hope my crazy long response made sense. I love your show and especially enjoy how you two get me thinking about the films I love on a deeper level. You rock!