I recently watched Jennifer's body, a 2009 horror comedy film, written by Diablo Cody (who'd also written the screenplay for the blockbuster movie Juno) with a celebrity studded female cast, with the likes of Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried.
Watching it in 2020, what I took from it was that it was a compelling movie with deep and intricate themes of revenge, dynamics of toxic female friendships, social pressure girls face in society, confusion about sexuality, assault, consent, power abuse, and empowerment. It is attempting to throw the viewer into a world of heightened teenage brutality, and for me, it succeeded in doing so. Cody's writing is what separates this film from other teen horror films. She creates sincere moments between the characters amid the violence and chaos that is real, gripping and very raw.
Due to my immense and immediate love for the movie I was surprised to see that the box office, the film critics, and ratings did not side with the movie when it was released in 2009. The movie review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that only 45% of critics gave the film positive reviews and the average rating of this film is 5.30/10.
Here are my 3 reasons why I think the movie did not live up to the potential that it had in 2009:
Ahead of its time
To say Jennifer's Body was ahead of its time would be an understatement. This movie came out in a time where, in my opinion, the audience was not ready for a feminist horror comedy. The script was funny, it was also unapologetically weird, and it celebrated its weirdness wholeheartedly. While in 2009, the movie was brushed off as "not funny enough for comedy or scary enough for horror", the film is appreciated more through the years as the traditional genres of cinema have blended more to bring good storytelling to the forefront.
As years have passed by, I think more people have started to see teenage girls as whole, complete, and complex characters who feel strong emotions and have complicated dynamics with other people. Their stories are not as easily dismissed anymore. Which is why as time goes on and more people (like me) are watching this movie, they are resonating with it. Because I too, have had strong, complicated emotions as a teenager and had a lot of teenage angst.
Bad marketing
The marketing of this movie focused very heavily on Megan Fox's status as a sex symbol and promoted the film with her as the central eye candy. The film was marketed towards young boys who were given the impression that she would be seducing them through their movie screens. However, the movie as well as Jennifer's character in it, poked fun at Megan's status as a sex symbol.
The intention of the film was lost in translation. Because what the audience got was a graphic movie where Megan Fox was a man-eater (literally) and ate the intestines of the men who were objectifying and seducing her. Her acting was underestimated, and the reputation imposed upon her overshadowed the message of the film. The film, according to the writer, was intended to be for young female audiences. But it was marketed and targeted towards young males. The marketing of the movie made sure to exclude an audience (female one) while lying to another audience (male ones).
The Balance between horror and sexuality
The movie had a lot of very vivid scenes. It had Megan Fox projectile vomiting blood, human sacrifices to Satan, cannibalism (although some may argue that Fox's character is technically not human anymore because she is "dead"). While the concept and symbolism of a young girl turning monstrous after trauma is not a new one, this movie does it by favoring horror over sexuality while it's marketing focused on the sexuality more than the horror.
So if you want to watch a great movie over the weekend whose message was initially lost in translation- Jennifer's Body is the one for you!
