Made to be Monsters: ‘Jennifer’s Body’

The transferrable gender of The Monster

Welcome back to ‘Made To Be Monsters’, the series where I talk in-depth about my favorite films and why I think they’re secretly about the transsexual/queer experience. Remember: I am not trying to argue for the intended text of these films, and this is all in good fun.

Parts one, two, and three can be found here.

It’s hard to pin down what I love so much about Jennifer’s Body. Many of its best elements come from Ginger Snaps’ heavy influence over feminist horror: the high school setting, the decidedly anti-male themes, and its focal relationship between two girls, one being ‘changed’ and the other being tasked with her salvation. I would not argue that Jennifer’s Body rips off Ginger Snaps, but its influence is undeniable. As such, the former film is an engaging angle on the reward/punishment axis on which femininity exists in society, that the latter takes its own, more modernized spin on.

The story of Jennifer’s Body, the story of teen girls Needy and Jennifer (Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox, respectively) whose friendship is destroyed when Jennifer becomes possessed by a demon and starts killing their male classmates, has long been a hot topic when LGBT horror is brought up. It remains one of the most popular horror films of recent…