Movie Chicks on Horror Flicks: Diablo Cody Calls Jennifer’s Body Feminist – Is It?

"Needy" Amanda Seyfried

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Horror

Written by: Diablo Cody

Directed by: Karyn Kusama

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 18, 2009

Running Time: 102 minutes.

RATING: R for sexuality, bloody violence, language, brief drug use.

Previous review: Jennifer’s Body (2009) The Not-So-Pretty Side of Megan Fox.

The horror flick Jennifer’s Body starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried opened in 5th place at the box office, not a great start for a well publicized feature starring hot-actress-of-the-moment Megan Fox (who, despite rumors and ill-informed news reports, has not been cast as Catwoman, by the way). Maybe they shouldn’t have cut the nudity (near nudity, partial nudity, or whatever Fox’s topless swim was originally supposed to offer).

In a Reuters interview, screenwriter Diablo Cody talked about the importance of telling a feminist horror story:

Karyn Kusama and I are both outspoken feminists. We wanted to subvert the classic horror model of women being terrorized. I want to write roles that service women. I want to tell stories from a female perspective. I want to create good parts for actresses where they’re not just accessories to men…If I had gone to this movie as a teenage girl I would’ve come out of it feeling totally inspired. I would’ve wanted to write, I would’ve wanted to create and I would’ve felt like I watched something that was speaking to me.

Just as critics split sharply over whether the movie is any good (“one of the most pleasurable movies of the year so far” – Dana Stevens; versus “so contemptuous toward its own characters, and its audience, that it chokes off any visceral thrills it might have offered” – Stephanie Zacharek), critics also have wound up divided over whether the film is feminist, post-feminist, anti-feminist, or anything-related-to-feminist at all. Of note, we found no shortage of men calling it feminist (e.g., Rollan Schotto, Rene Rodriguez, Richard Turner, Michael Guillen, the list goes on), but finding women who described it using that word proved time consuming.

Is Jennifer’s Body feminist?

Some indicate YES:

“high school horror-comedy with a decidedly feminist bite“ – Carrie Rickey (Flickgrrl), philly.com
“a feminist statement wrapped in gory violence and gratuitous glamour shots of Megan Fox” – Katey Rich, Cinema Blend.
“And why don’t they understand the film? Because it’s one of the very few honest-to-goodness feminist films out there” – Genevieve a.k.a. ScarletScribe, I Went There.
“I turned to my bestie and high-fived her. Why? Because this movie is for us girls. It’s strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.” – Jenni Miller, MTV Movies Blog.

Some indicate NO:

“Feminist? I don’t think so” – Marla Newborn, Fangoria.
“‘Jennifer’s Body’ is NOT a feminist movie.” – B. J. Colangelo, Day of the Woman.
“Any argument that Jennifer’s Body is groundbreaking, let alone feminist, is as simple-minded as its plot development.” – Heidi Martinuzzi, Pretty/Scary.
“In their efforts to create a feminist horror film, Cody and Kusama made a movie that is truthfully neither one of these things.” – Alexandra Gutierrez, The American Prospect.

In “Jennifer’s Body: Is It Feminist? YOU MAKE THE CALL!” Kelsey Wallace lays out point and counterpoint arguments for why it might or might not be considered a feminist film.

Over the course of a few tweets (twitter messages), Roth Cornet (who had reviewed the film for ThinkHero.com) criticized two of the opposing critics quoted above, saying, “Both blogs use @diablocody‘s Jennifer’s Body to serve/support their own agendas, rather than looking objectively at the film. I think there are some legitimate points in each-but stretched pretty far when it comes to this particular movie.”

While EruditeChick of All Things Fangirl doesn’t directly call it feminist in her review titled “What a Ho,” she criticizes those who condemned it as “falsely feminist” or anti-feminist: 

I can see why, with the long shot of Jennifer swimming naked through a clear, placid lake, they would snap back and accuse the film of being anti-feminist while purporting to be otherwise. I say again: They’re wrong.

Dana Stevens commends the movie for some of the same issues that create this confusion:

…one of the movie’s strengths is its refusal to be read as a straight-up feminist revenge story…

Nona of Feministe takes Diablo Cody’s feminist claims into consideration while debunking some feminists’ attacks on the film:

In sum, this movie has some refreshing, feministy elements to it…and some annoying parts, too, like the implication that Jennifer needs to literally ‘feed’ off guys in order to stay beautiful, glowing, and healthy.

Isn't she pretty?