Queertober Part 5: Jennifer’s Body

One of the oddest things about reading contemporary reviews for a lot of older queer movies is finding reviews that just, for one reason or another, just did not get it. An excellent example is But I’m A Cheerleader, a film which actually does some fairly intelligent skewering of the absurdity of enforced gender roles and the cruelty of conversion therapy, but which straight critics completely failed to understand. And while perhaps not quite the unsung classic But I’m A Cheerleader was, this movie is another example.

Oddly enough though, when judged as a pure horror film, Jennifer’s Body doesn’t land very hard. It has a couple of fairly scary sequences, but except for the sequence where Jennifer is sacrificed, it has very little that’s truly harrowing. But then in case it’s sarcastic tone doesn’t clue you in, Jennifer’s Body isn’t intent on being a full horror showcase, it has more interest in being a horror comedy, which must be judged by different metrics.

But you’re not here to read a review, you’re here to hear about the queer content, and for a little bit, I felt like I was breaking my rule about subtext. But I do feel that the fact that Jennifer is intensely in love with Needy, and terrified of that fact does rise to the level of text, although how much of that comes from the screenplay and how much from Megan Fox figuring out something unexamined about the character and running with it, is kind of up for debate.

But if we accept it as text, then we see another way in which queerness can intersect with horror, the fear of being queer. And while being queer is something that can bring a lot of joy (I know it’s brought me a lot of joy) it can also be terrifying, especially in 2009 America. The usual fear of rejection comes along with the fear of being ostracized, the subject of hate or even violence. Given how much work the episode puts into depicting the town as a tiny, close minded place, it’s no wonder Jennifer buries her desire for Needy under her feigned desire for men.

Not that Needy isn’t clearly interested back, and it’s here that we get a little bit more depth, where I wish the movie was more explicit. It’s clear the director knew where it was going, and the infamous moment where Jennifer makes out with Needy seems to indicate that Amanda Seyfried was on board too, since she’s very clearly into it. This is not an unrequited love, it’s very requited, both of them are just too scared to find the words for what they want. If the film was just a little braver, willing to admit the reason Jennifer targets Needy’s boyfriend in the finale is because she wants Needy to herself, the film could be something really sharp, and it would explain better why Jennifer lets Needy win when she yanks off her BFF necklace.

As it is, the film ends up being mostly about how female friendships can turn toxic and codependent, a reasonably sharp, but more commonly made and therefore less interesting to me. That’s not to say it’s not good at that, I think it’s a pretty good example of that concept, especially since it doesn’t show up in horror much. It’s a decent execution of a pretty decent concept that occasionally dips its toes into something deeper.

Alas, none of this really mattered; Faced with an army of film critics who weren’t interested in even trying to pick up what the movie was laying down, Jennifer’s Body got savaged by contemporary critics. And with an advertising campaign more interested in trying to bring teenage boys enamored with Megan Fox from the Transformers movies (where she was shot in a way that wouldn’t out of place at Brazzers) than any women who might relate to it more, the movie limped into theaters and then back out a few weeks later. And it’s there that I think that more women, queer people and queer women critics might be useful, because they could have at least tried to pick up on the subtext and draw attention to it. Maybe it wouldn’t have had to wait nearly a decade to find its audience. And hey, if you’re looking for a queer woman critic, I am available.

Because I’m also willing to go pretty far off the beaten path for my writing. As you’ll see in our next movie: 2014’s Lyle.

Yeah I bet you hadn’t heard of it until now.