Jennifer’s Body’s Jennifer Check was a bit of a mean girl and a literal succubus… but the scariest thing about her was actually the truths she laid bare about our society and how it treats...
00:00Jennifer's Body's Jennifer Check was a bit of a mean girl, and a literal succubus.
00:05Jennifer's evil.
00:06I know.
00:07No, I mean, she's actually evil. Not high school evil.
00:11But the scariest thing about her was actually the truth she laid bare about her society and how it treats young women.
00:18In the 2000s when the film was released, but also in ways that continue to resonate even today.
00:23While the way she behaved and treated people, particularly her best friend, wasn't always right,
00:28it all stemmed from her very correct assessments of the world she was growing up in, and what it would take to survive it.
00:35So what can we really learn from Jennifer? Let's take a closer look.
00:39I am a god. Okay?
00:42Even before she becomes a demon's vessel, Jennifer has the confidence to believe that she should be able to create the life she wants for herself,
00:50regardless of what others might think.
00:52She knows that so many of the rules of the world are actually ridiculous, and only meant to hold girls back from their full power.
00:59Are you PMSing or something?
01:01PMS isn't real needy. It was invented by the boy-run media to make us seem crazy.
01:06It's not a game you can ever really win.
01:08The best way to survive is to figure out how to create your own rule.
01:12They're just boys. Morsels. We have all the power. Don't you know that?
01:16All young women have to confront one of society's most obnoxious catch-22s, that they're expected to be hot and seem available to the men that want them,
01:24but also to not ever actually be sexual by their own choice, or in a way that they themselves are in control of.
01:30Jennifer pretty much ignores this, and instead that's what she wants.
01:34And while it might get her slut-shamed, it turns out that the only reason she survived the attempted sacrifice is because she wasn't a virgin.
01:41It's demonic transference. It's something that happens when you try to sacrifice a virgin to Satan without using an actual virgin.
01:48Her becoming possessed by a demon is a metaphor for how much of the world sees young women as impure for having slept around,
01:55but only mets that judgment out on the girls in the equation.
01:58Just like the band end up finding the success they were seeking, even though they didn't actually follow the rules of the sacrifice.
02:04For men, the rules just don't apply.
02:06She doesn't actually harm anyone until after she's possessed by a literal demon,
02:11while the normal human guys in Low Shoulder are willing to kidnap and kill a teenage girl just for the chance of it helping their music career.
02:19Satan is our only hope. We're in league with the beast now, and we have to make a really big impression on him.
02:25And to do that, we're going to have to butcher you.
02:27Jennifer always saw through this ridiculousness, and when she's found her own power,
02:32she flips this script and turns this all back on the guys around her.
02:36As much as Jennifer might try and play the I'm not like the other girls card,
02:41My skin is breaking out and my hair is dull and lifeless.
02:45God, it's like I'm one of the normal girls.
02:49It clearly comes from a place of insecurity.
02:52The one part of her life that she does feel secure and safe in is her relationship with her best friend, Needy.
02:57She does not always show it in the best way, and clearly has not always treated their relationship as equal and reciprocal.
03:04You were never a good friend.
03:07Even when we were little, you used to steal my toys and pour lemonade on my bed.
03:11The world, especially the world of the 2000s, has always had a focus on pitting women against each other.
03:18Even when, or often particularly when, they're friends.
03:21And in Jennifer, we can see this battle of the mind playing out.
03:25Wanting to prove she's the best, coolest girl around,
03:28but also desperately trying to reach out and connect with her friend without dropping that facade.
03:34She attempts to push Needy to believe more in herself and stand up for herself,
03:38though this often comes out in a way that feels like as much of a dig as a positive push.
03:42Jennifer has been inundated with the idea that every relationship with another girl,
03:47even her closest friendship, is still a competition that she needs to come out on top in.
03:51Do you have to undermine everything that I do?
03:54You are such a player hater.
03:56You're a jerk.
03:57Wow, nice insult, Hannah Montana.
04:00But even given all of that, it's clear that deep down Jennifer knows,
04:04even after she's been taken over by a demon,
04:06that her best friend is her most important connection.
04:09After her ordeal, the first person she turns to isn't her parents or some boyfriend,
04:14but Needy.
04:15Because the only place she can really feel safe is with her best friend who understands her.
04:20I don't really remember what happened after that.
04:22I just know that I woke up and I found my way back to you.
04:27And as we'll unpack in a minute,
04:29having that kind of close friend that can see the real you underneath all of the walls you put up
04:33can be the most important thing.
04:36Jennifer knows that how she's treated by the world, and especially men,
04:40is connected to how she looks.
04:41How are you going to get alcohol?
04:43Uh, I'll just play hella titty with a bartender.
04:46They don't see her as a full person, but just a piece of meat to ogle.
04:50There's always that girl.
04:52They look showed off, but they do not give it up.
04:55Before she was turned, she used this to her advantage to get the things she wanted.
04:58And after she turned, it was the perfect lure for her to be able to turn men into literal meat.
05:04You're killing people.
05:05No, I'm killing boys.
05:07They've never had to think about their own safety or the possible consequences of their actions
05:13in the way that the girls always have.
05:16And Jennifer knows that she can use this to her advantage.
05:19They didn't see her as human when she was one, and it only hurt her.
05:23Now they don't see her humanity,
05:24and she's able to use it to lull them into a false sense of security and turn them into dinner.
05:29As we talked about in our video on Jennifer's body and the female gaze,
05:32One important thing about the film is that it's on Jennifer's side.
05:36She's not framed as just some evil hot girl demon,
05:39but instead we get to see her as a full person.
05:42Sad, funny, afraid, lonely.
05:44And so we're given the chance to look underneath the mask she puts up
05:47and see the very capable person underneath.
05:51She plays dumb on occasion, but it's only a ploy to hide her true wit.
05:55She knows that if other people underestimate her,
05:57then she can enter confrontations with the upper hand.
06:00Because she's got a very important card up her sleeve.
06:03Being a good friend is of course about enjoying the good times together,
06:07but it's also about helping each other through the bad times.
06:11And also sometimes means you have to be the one to hit your friend with a dose of reality.
06:15Is it just to tick me off?
06:18Or is it because you're just really insecure?
06:20I am not insecure, needy.
06:24Jennifer always saw the strong, interesting person needy was behind her quiet facade.
06:29In the same way that needy always saw that there was a kind, engaging person behind Jennifer's cool girl act.
06:35Even before she became possessed by a demon,
06:38Jennifer and needy were quite open with one another.
06:40Even though needy was the more meek of the two,
06:43she wasn't afraid to point out when Jennifer was being rude or mean.
06:46And after Jennifer is possessed,
06:48needy is the only person who can really tell that something major is up.
06:52And so is the only one that tries to help Jennifer or do anything about it.
06:56Maybe there's a way to reverse the curse.
07:00To save you.
07:02While Jennifer murdering her boyfriend is the impetus for needy to finally decide to take her out,
07:07deep down it's also because she wants to free whatever's left of her friend.
07:11It should have killed me, but for some reason it didn't.
07:18Maybe it did.
07:19What really destroys Jennifer is actually needy taking away her BFF necklace.
07:23Her connection to needy was her last connection to her humanity.
07:27And knowing that their friendship was truly over meant that Jennifer was really done for.
07:32Needy knew that all of the things that she had loved about Jennifer,
07:35the things that had kept her around even when Jennifer was being not a great friend,
07:39were gone.
07:40And so destroying the demon and the husk of Jennifer was the only thing left to do.
07:45My dead.
07:50No.
07:51Your heart.
07:53Needy then goes on to get revenge for both of them by killing the band.
07:57For them destroying Jennifer's life and taking Needy's best friend away.
08:01Following this rock band?
08:03Must be one hell of a group.
08:05Tonight's gonna be their last show.
08:07In their story, we can also see how friendship can change you
08:10and connect you to different or even totally new parts of your inner self.
08:14Jennifer's final act is biting Needy, transferring to her some demon-powered.
08:18It drives home how being in this kind of friendship can damage you for a long time.
08:22But we also see how Needy was able to pull a new sense of confidence and purpose out of the ordeal as well.
08:28Every day I get letters.
08:30I think I get more letters than Santa Claus, Zac Efron, and Dr. Phil combined.
08:35I'm kind of the s***.
08:37In a world that's still trying to put young women and girls into a box
08:40and judge them harshly no matter what they do or how they behave,
08:43we can take some important lessons from Jennifer's story.
08:46Not to become possessed by a demon and go on a killing spree,
08:49but just to be unafraid to throw out the rules of the world that hold us back or try to tear us down,
08:54and to instead focus on going after what we want,
08:58and we can learn from where she faltered.
09:00We shouldn't try to put down other women in a quest to prop ourselves up,
09:04and we should work to push through the barriers that might make it hard for us
09:07to connect with each other in a genuine way,
09:09because that real deep relationship underneath is what really matters,
09:13and it can change our lives in amazing ways.
09:17Sometimes change can be good.
09:18For instance, most occult scholars don't know this,
09:20but if you're bitten by a demon and you live,
09:23you just might absorb some of the demon's abilities.
09:27Just might get lucky for once in your miserable life.
09:30That's the take.
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