Ednave, Kyla Cathrine COMM 103

II BA COMM Media Effects

“Jennifer’s Body: A Monster or an Icon?”

“You’re killing people?” “No, I’m killing boys.”

This iconic line is a dialogue between Needy (played by Amanda Seyfried), a teenage
innocent girl and her mysterious chic best friend, Jennifer (played by Megan Fox). Despite their
differences, they have been childhood best friends, where Needy often exists behind the
blinding figure of Jennifer because of her foxy appearance, often sexualized by men in the plot
and in the audience as well. If we are about to ask men why they watch the movie, most of them
will express their initial desires to witness Jennifer’s seductive image.

The carnal image of Jennifer intensified when she transformed into a demonic individual
where she feeds herself with blood and internal organs of people, particularly men. She lures
them in by using her attractive and seductive features before she takes them somewhere
private to attack them. This is a repetitive pattern to explain how she successfully murders
individuals all throughout the movie. Male audiences, however, have the same sentiments on
the male characters in the movie. Despite the knowledge that Jennifer is a dangerous individual,
her monstrous image is often forgotten due to her sultry portrayal. This proves the impact of
sexual objectification is deemed as the most significant view of men against women, regardless
of other qualities. Either a woman is sexy and smart or sexy and psychotic — the latter
description is nonexistent at all. The study of Ward, Erickson, Lippman, and Giaccardi (2016)
also supported this claim, wherein sexual imagery is not only prevalent in movies, but also in
music videos, television programs, advertisements, and even video games where female
characters are envisioned to have an hourglass figure and dressed in a little clothing.

The stated sentiment is a perception based on men’s Uses and Gratifications as to why
they consumed the particular media, based on simple questions and answers I’ve done with my
group of friends. According to them, Jennifer’s portrayal of seduction made them forget the
danger and imposes, and Megan Fox’s physical appeal is one of the main reasons as to why
they watched the movie in the first place.

However, further questions pose as I try to understand the initial desire of women in
consuming this media. As opposed to men, we clearly do not watch the movie because of
Jennifer’s sexual imagery. There are a lot more possible reasons, like enjoyment of horror to
boost our adrenaline, boredom, adoration of characters — or simply we are also astonished in
Jennifer’s image. Yet, I want to view this movie in a different light.

In the beginning of the movie, Jennifer was acquainted with a rock band who initially
wanted her because of her seemingly virgin traits. She was astonished by their appeal and
agreed to go with them. Unbeknownst to her, the group was actually devil worshippers who
initially chose her as a human sacrifice in exchange for their success. Jennifer thought she was
about to get raped, hence lying to them by saying she was a virgin even though she’s not. This
only intensified the band’s desire to offer her to the devil, and instead of giving the band a
power, Jennifer absorbed the supernatural powers, hence turning into a beautiful, immortal, and
invincible monster.

The first theme I recognized is romanticizing virginity as a social construct. Living in the
21st century, we are slowly becoming aware of the toxic construct made by this patriarchal
society to label and control women by means of degradation. One of them is the construct of
virginity. The film only affirmed this view when Jennifer turned into a devil because she wasn’t a
Ednave, Kyla Cathrine COMM 103
II BA COMM Media Effects
virgin when she was about to be slaughtered to death. In examining this situation, women who
are not virgin prior to marriage are deemed as dirty and devilish, something in common in our
real-life society where they are often degraded, maltreated, and judged due to this fact. Clearly,
the concept of virginity is a means of enforcing inferiority of women among men, where the
symbol of their value is between her legs; through this mindset, it is easy for the patriarchy to
place women wherever they want to (Jimenez, 2021).

Jennifer was often antagonized for her monstrous image all throughout the film. In fact,
she was seen as the main antagonist and Needy was the heroine who tried to stop her, which
eventually had a turning point at the end of the film. However, the demonic being of Jennifer is a
reflection of how society views women when involved in heinous and scandalous acts. In other
words, I see this event as victim-blaming. Jennifer is not the antagonist; she was a victim.

Although her latter acts of murders are clearly illegal and immoral, we often forget that it
was her nature to kill, afterall. Human food makes her sick and to sustain her strength and well-
being, she needs to be fed by human blood and flesh. But, why does Jennifer only prey on
boys? I see this plot as a means of karmic events on boys who once objectified and used her for
their own interpersonal pleasures. Given the fact that Jennifer has an attractive trait, it was easy
for her to lure those who are with sinful minds. The objectification was turned to her advantage
where she could unleash her true potential, which was then transformed into antagonism. In real
life situations, women who use their gifts as means to survive or a basic practice of rights are
often seen as antagonists as well. One example of this is how men consumes sexual objecitifed
media such as erotic films, televisions shows, or even pornographic clips, but are highly critical
of women who are dressing in any way they want to (that allegedly stirs up men’s libido). These
women are often degraded by terms such as ‘slut’ or ‘asking for it’.

This angle of the movie based on a feminist point-of-view tackles the Standpoint theory,
where women can see through the lens of the camera what film truly means and represents.
The representation of both genders remains to be highly critical throughout the years, and
through the art of literature it is inevitable to show the difference between the two. Living in the
21st century where most women finally had the rights to vote, acquire personal possession, and
other lifelong achievements — the problems of women will always evolve into one thing or
another. Today, we are facing a dilemma in deconstructing stereotypes among women’s value,
decisions on their body, and antagonism in career-oriented women. By slowly criticizing those,
we are about to fully unleash our full potential, and new sets of problems will arise in the future.
However, the criticism will not end until both genders finally commit equality among all.
Ednave, Kyla Cathrine COMM 103
II BA COMM Media Effects
Bibliography

Jimenez, K. (2021). Common Sense: If Women are Sluts, What are Men?. The Daily Campus.
Retrieved from https://dailycampus.com/2021/09/16/common-sense-if-women-are-sluts-what-
are-men/

Ward, L., Erickson, S., Lippman, J., & Giaccardi, S. (2016). Sexual Media Content and Effects.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.2