I saw Jennifer’s Body last night (bummed I couldn’t make it opening weekend, but such is life), and for all the feminist debates about whether or not it (or Diablo Cody or Megan Fox) has any merit, I have to say I liked it.  I’m not usually the horror-movie type, but like it or not, this one was different.

For one thing, its kind of refreshing to see women in a horror film who aren’t completely helpless and don’t spend all of their time shrieking, crying, running, and hiding.  You don’t spend much time in this film perched on the edge of your seat waiting for the Big Bad to jump out and attack the poor little woman – in fact, you spend more of your time on the edge of your seat waiting for the Big Bad to jump on and attack the poor horny boy.  It’s amazing how disorienting it was to watch male characters struggle to get away from a teen in a prom dress, not because they shouldn’t want to, but because it’s so rare to see a woman not only powerful, but on offense rather than defense.  For once, both the villain and hero were female and the prey were male, and not the other way around.

Based on this premise, one might think that the film has some feminist under(or over)tones, and yet the reactions in the webisphere have been pretty strongly divided.  Yes, the film is titled “Jennifer’s Body” – there is some objectification inherent.  Yes, Megan Fox is a babe and there is a fair share of (implied) nudity.  Yes, Amanda Seyfried is pretty beautiful for a “mousy” best friend.  Yes, there is some girl-on-girl action.  And yes, sex has some graphically violent consequences.  BUT…

My analysis (spoilers and all) ahead.

First, Jennifer’s body owns this movie.  Jennifer (as far as we can tell) is the alpha female of her small town, and knows her body and her beauty give her a great deal of power.  When she uses this power to get in with a visiting small-time indie band, things go wrong, and she is sacrificed by the band so they can make it big.  From this point on Jennifer is essentially no longer herself, or at the very least has a new demon roommate sharing her body.  And although this demon has imbued her with the power to heal wounds and defy gravity, these powers would be relatively useless if not for her body’s ability to bait her prey.  So yes, there’s some objectification, but the film is very much about the power of the female form (for good or evil).

Point two: Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried are both beautiful women.  Surprise: they’re Hollywood starlets.  Although it’s certainly a trope to feature the beauty and the geek friendship, when are we as consumers/women/feminists going to stop punishing actresses for being “too pretty” for their roles (such as Emma Watson as Hermione)?  And although Megan Fox has put her foot in her mouth a fair amount of times, can we please stop the woman-on-woman hate and astonishment at feeling okay about a young, sexy actress finding success?

Issue three: the “lesbian” kiss.  I think Diablo answered this criticism best by saying “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.”  Furthermore, even if it is a “stunt,” it seems to me that getting more viewers in to see a film that subverts the trope that women are nothing more than deer-in-the-headlights can’t be an entirely bad thing.  And why does a kiss between two attractive women have to be perceived as a “stunt” anyway?  The girls in the film shared a very intimate (if sometimes dysfunctional) relationship, and it doesn’t seem like a huge stretch of the imagination to think that such a friendship could blur borders between platonic and sexual from time to time, especially when hormones and adrenaline are racing.

Finally, there’s the classic “sex leads to death and punishment” criticism, which is common to most if not all horror films.  Jennifer’s Body mixes it up a little here, too.  It could be argued that Jennifer was punished for being a sexpot when she’s abducted by the band and sacrificed as a “virgin.”  It could be argued that if she had been a virgin, she would have died a horrible death, but her community, friends, and family might have been spared some trauma in the long run.  But, on the other hand, it could also be argued that because Jennifer owned her sexuality and was not a virgin, her abduction did not equal endgame for her.  Furthermore, Jennifer’s sexuality became her lifeforce, allowing her to survive (and thrive) following her murder.  For once (ready for another subversion?), male sexuality is what is punished, not female sexuality.  When two virgins lose it, he’s the one that doesn’t make it to the end of the movie, not her.

Jennifer’s Body puts a whole new spin on horror films, at least in comparison to any of the flicks I’ve seen.  Maybe instead of tearing Jennifer’s Body up, we should take a look at how it could be empowering.  I think Diablo Cody put it well herself:

We all hold each other up to an incredibly high standard in a way that men do not. Let’s say a woman directs a movie that’s not very good-everybody piles up on her. It’s, like, “No! You’re representing us! It has to be perfect!” And that’s not how it works! Women should be allowed to make bad movies. Good movies. Porno movies. Terrible made-for-TV movies. Women just need to be out there directing as many movies as men do. We don’t all have to be the model woman-what we need is to be more visible.