Has anybody else seen the trailer for this new movie, Jennifer's Body, coming out?
It really really annoys me but I wanted to hear what you all thought of it. Here's the plot taken off of imdb.com for those who don't know: A newly possessed cheerleader turns into a killer who specializes in offing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?
It's like they had a checklist of what horror-movie stereotypes they needed to trot out for this trailer:
-Intertwined sex and violence? Check.
-Highly sexualized villainess? Check.
-Semi-lesbian relationship with friend? Check.
-And let's not forget random unnecessary shots of Megan Fox half-naked or removing clothing...Check!
That'll get the straight male movie-goers' butts in the seats! After all, those are the only people that go to movies anymore.
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Why do they (we I guess, though I won't be seeing that) have to be "the only people that go to movies anymore" for it to be worth making a movie with Meghan Fox? I'm glad to be able to share this good news with you: there's a rather famous genre of movies targeted to women, as well as movies meant to appeal to a wide audience.
Many studio executives believe that straight males are really the only ones that pay to go to the movies anymore. They really don't see the appeal in putting money into movies where the target audience is women. There have been several articles on Feministing posted about this. I wasn't saying that I believe it to be true. I think it's ridiculous. I was just saying that stupid executives and the ones that decide how to market the movies and put the money into them believe this to be the case.
If Julie and Julia, New Moon, and the Time Traveler's Wife* are targeted to straight guys, movie execs really are stupid. The second and third of those are being promoted all over.
*although I did like the book.
Yes some movies are targeted towards female audiences. But those are not supposed to be big blockbusters. And that's not really what my post is even about. You're nitpicking one line. And yes, there have been many articles about how studio heads do not think women are a huge draw money-wise in theaters. Women prove them wrong time and time again but they don't seem to care. That's why most movies that aren't seen as specifically "chick-flicks" are marketed towards straight males.
But again, that's not even what my post was about. It was about how the advertisers are using sex and bisexuality to sell this movie and how I find it disgusting. I wanted people's perspective's on the trailer. But you can keep harping over one line that I used in jest if you like.
New Moon isn't supposed to be a blockbuster? Boy are the producers in for a surprise.
If I'm not mistaken SATC the movie grossed even more than Iron Man? And I think I remembered that Confessions of a Shopaholic did very well at the box office at well?
And ditto with what aleks said about Twilight being a blockbuster.
There are definitely movies aimed at women, and they definitely are movies aimed at women that go on to rake a lot of money.
OH MY GOD! I agree! My last remark in my post was snark! I think movie execs that decide to rarely put money into female-leaning movies are stupid because they OBVIOUSLY make money. The idea that only straight males pay to go to the movies is WRONG!
BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THE POST!
Moving on...
WRONG!, and apparently not held by anyone.
Yeah but they're all touchy, emotional "chick flicks". I hate that something has to be drenched in romance or female friendship for a movie to apparently cater to me. Kill Bill, Let The Right One In, The Company Of Wolves, thats more like it. Particularly horror movies like Let The Right One In, The Orphanage, if you count it as horror Pan's Labyrinth and even [rec] all had really good female characters without having them strip off their clothes for the male gaze.
Very few movies, and almost no summer blockbusters, appeal to me. That's not relevant to the point I was trying to make, which is that it's very unlikely that studio execs don't realize they're making money on chick flicks. Chick flicks don't appeal to all women, but clearly enough to be profitable, and to BE PRODUCED IN DROVES, so it's hard to understand why someone would insist that "women's movies" are getting shafted. They're crap, like guy movies are, but they're certainly being made.
these are exceptions. the twilight's success approaches fluke territory; it was a surprise. it came out of a relatively small studio - low budget. it wasn't meant to be a blockbuster.
You might be interested in this interview with Diablo Cody, the self-proclaimed feminist who wrote the movie: http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-diablo-cody-interview/ It sounds like Cody wanted to write a movie that took standard horror tropes and then subverted them - and if that's the case, I suspect the trailer is edited to make it appeal to non-feminist guys so they show up, and then turn around with a different message in the actual movie. I don't KNOW that that's the case, mind you, and I admit to being simultaneously horrified at the idea that we have to trick boys into seeing female-friendly movies by using sex and violence, and amused at the prospect of the standard horror film turning into a feminist piece of work. Having not seen the movie, I can't comment on how feminist it actually turns out to be, but I'm not willing to write it off quite yet.
Thanks for posting this, Lara.
I pretty much agree with everything you said about this sparkling piece of shit that's being called a 'movie'. Just my opinion.
Again, as said elsewhere on this site about this thing, no one has seen the movie yet so we can't be 100% sure about it at this time.
BUT I call bullshit on anything that's being paraded around as 'feminist' when there are bisexual trysts being performed for the male gaze. Let's see that for what it is.
And what's so damn feminist about her saying "I'm only killing boys"?! Feminism isn't about objectifying or abusing men just because that's what they do to us! Where the hell is the feminism in this movie that's being talked about everywhere?!
It's certainly possible that the more 'feminist' ideas in this movie have been edited out by the Great Male Movie Execs, as was suggested in another post on this movie. But I'm not a Diablo Cody fan anyway, so in short, I won't be seeing this movie.
Thanks for saying what I've been screaming in my head since I saw this trailer :)
I can't articulate or justify why I feel this way but ... I'm really excited about seeing this.
"No one ever went broken underestimate the taste of the American people".- H.L. Mencken.
underestimating, rather. Sorry!
The only thing feminists hate more than rape scenes are lesbian scenes, I swear. (Seriously, try to get a group of feminists to agree on an acceptable rape/lesbian scene. It's nearly impossible.)
I'm a big believer in reserving judgement on movies I haven't seen and books I haven't read. Often, the marketing campaign is out of control of the actual filmmaker and can give a completely false impression.
I really like Diablo Cody's writing and I like what she's trying to do here. I've been looking forwards to this movie and I do plan to see it, at which point I'll get back to you on whether or not it's feminist.
Diablo's justification for the kiss:
All right, if the two protagonists of the film were a guy and a girl and in a particularly tense moment, they shared a kiss, no one would say it was gratuitous. But the fact that they’re women means it’s some kind of stunt. It was intended to be something profound and meaningful to me and to Karyn [Kusama, the director]. Obviously we knew people were going to totally sensationalize it. They’re beautiful girls, the scene is hot—I’m not afraid to say that. There is a sexual energy between the girls which is kind of authentic, because I know when I was a teenaged girl, the friendships that I had with other girls were almost romantic, they were so intense. I wanted to sleep at my friend’s house every night, I wanted to wear her clothes, we would talk on the phone until our ears ached.
While that is an interesting justification for the kiss that she has, it still doesn't justify the trailer. And I wasn't blaming Cody for the trailer. She's not the one that spliced it together. But that scene was taken purely to lure little 15 year old boys into the theater. That's why it was put in the trailer.
And it really does depend on how this kissing scene is done in the movie though, whether or not it really fits the story or whether it seems to just be in there for the male gaze. I'm not sure how I feel about Diablo Cody yet. Some of the things I've read about her I like but reading some of the stuff in that thread on the main page about her makes me hesitant. In order to get those teenage boys in the theater I'm worried Cody (or the studio) has maybe sacrificed too much of the feminist vision in the movie. And I'm not saying I'd necessarily agree with her feminist vision in the first place either.
Diablo Cody always seems to want it both ways. She wants to be seen as a feminist, but she is very into traditional beauty standards, as she has used her looks to strip and get a book deal and she cast Megan Fox-who could embody mainstream America's idea of sexy more than Megan Fox? Cody says women are "damaged" by patriarchy, but then is very pro-pornography and seems proud of looking at it everyday. (I got all of this from her BUST interview, a magazine that seems to want it both ways just as Diablo Cody does). She seems to embody the type of woman whom Ariel Levy writes about in Female Chauvanist Pigs. That is, women who embrace and participate in the objectification of themselves and other women. This is not to say she is a bad person or anything, just as confused as a lot of us. Should a woman not use her looks to get somewhere? It is a difficult question...I'm sure there are screenwriters who are as talented but not as cute as Cody that have gotten nowhere because they do not have that advantage, which is not to say she should not have siezed an opportunity...As you can see, I am confused on these issues as well!
Attractive woman gets a book deal and it must be because of her looks? Wow, that's original. You are reducing her to her appearance just as much if not more than any strip club patron she may have danced for.
I like pornography, and I am a sex worker. I am a feminist. Those things are not incompatible.