(Spoiler alert!)
Over the weekend, I decided to go back and watch the movie ‘Jennifer’s Body’, however rather than making jokes about it, I finally understood the meaning of the movie.
For those who have never seen it, here is a quick summary. Needy, the main character played by Amanda Seyfried, discovers that her best friend Jennifer, played by Megan Fox, is now a host to a demon. However, there is a twist: instead of doing whatever demons do in regular horror movies like ‘The Exorcist’, the now demon-hosted Jennifer targets only men.
On the surface level, Jennifer’s body can be seen as a bad horror film that people watch just to make fun of. However, most of the victims that Jennifer picks are men who have harassed or objectified her. The reason she is a host for a demon is because she was sacrificed by a boy band in order for them to be successful. This, further makes it clear how the men in her life have negatively affected it.
However, the movie is resurfacing now in recent years, as it joins a new genre of movies. Many women are reclaiming the narrative, making it a “good-for-her” like ‘Midsommar’ and ‘Promising Young Woman’. The “good-for-her” genre has made a rise in recent years as a way for women to get the justice they deserve in movies. It can range from getting out of a toxic relationship to getting revenge against men who have wronged a female main character.
The main reason why it is called a “good-for-her” movie is because, at the end of the film, the audience mostly will root for the main female character to get the justice that she deserves. Even though at the end of the movie Needy does defeat Jennifer, there is still a scene that shows that Jennifer’s abusers got the justice that they deserve in the end classifying as a “good-for-her” film.
While Jennifer’s Body was originally written by a man and certainly still has the male gaze, it has been reclaimed by women. The movie has become a symbol for women, giving them power, just like movies such as ‘Midsommar’ and ‘Promising Young Woman’ did. When the movie first came out, people harshly criticized it or only watched it to make fun of it. Now Jennifer’s Body has written a new narrative for itself and is now getting the attention it deserves.