Though fall has passed, along with its seasonal classics, some can stay socially relevant the entire year. For many, the tale of Jennifer Check is a multifaceted one. Her story tackles the idea of the “Perfect Victim” as well as homoerotic friendships. Getting into this specific, you could even say, haunting, recurring thoughts about the way Jennifer is perceived by people around will show how the film ‘Jennifer’s Body’ made her into a vainglorious villain.
‘Jennnifer’s Body’ is a horror comedy from the late 2000s following Megan Fox’s character, Jennifer Check. After getting possessed during a ritual gone wrong her best friend Needy tries to save her. Her storyline revolves around the relationships the males around her have with her body. How they objectified, used and sacrificed it.
Jennifer is an attractive cheerleader who is popular and loves the attention it gives her. Cheerleaders are often considered sex symbols that fit the (terrible) marketing campaign for the movie, focusing on the male gaze and audience playing right into the themes the movie calls out.
She’s aware of the effects she has on boys. Low-cut tops are her signature, she believes cleavage is a weapon. For instance, how she uses it to get drinks at the bar during her last night as a human. Then, once again, when she lures her prey.
Each time she hunts her classmates she excites the boys just enough before putting her clothes back on and revoking access to her body.
After her assault turns her into a boy-eating succubus, she takes revenge on boys the same way she was taken advantage of by the band that thought they sacrificed her.
Knowing that regardless of the sketchy situations she puts the boys in, they won’t be able to pass on the “opportunity” of hooking up with her. Yet, she still manages to be bored of them because they’re all the same.
Layers in a low-cut cropped style with an adolescent, girly influence is how Jennifer’s fashion throughout the film can be described, which aren’t inherently sexual outfits (unlike the outfits in promotions as they were made sexier to bring in male viewership) yet it still manages to have sex appeal and she knows it.
Jennifer’s source of power is also her weakness. Her vanity is very evident at the beginning of the film and later becomes the other half of her motivations. She puts a lot of effort into her appearance and makes sure she is the “hot one” in her friendship with Needy.
While always wearing outfits that accentuate her figure and looking at herself in mirrors, everything Jennifer does is based on her looks and what it does for her. It’s tragic.
The lead singer Nikolai assumes she’s a virgin because of the way she carries herself. Believing she “shows it off but never gives it up.” Due to his botched ritual, she becomes a demon based on his expectations of her.
The audience can see the pros and cons of her new form, after her transformation she maintains her beauty by feeding on boys but decays without their attention.
After her first kill, her new power makes her giddy like the teenage girl she is. However her lack of empathy is more potent, she’s more egotistical than before. Not even noticing the town grieving the many people killed in the fire as well as her victims.
When looking back on Jennifer’s story, it’s easy to see a teenage girl who had insecurities like everyone else and was misunderstood. A girl who was taken advantage of, a victim, who spun the bottle right back on the deluded males who created the monster she became.
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