Friday, September 25, 2009

Jennifer's Body

i saw Jennifer's Body last night.

i was told to go in without expectations.

it wasn't difficult, as i was secretly worried because i'd read quite a few negative reviews of the film.

my own reaction? epic.

why can't movies like this be advertised and produced more often?

All Woman Movies.

the kind where, in feminist speak, women take back their name and write (and attempt to re-draft) their own identity.

seriously.

this movie starred and was written and directed by nothing but women.

and it had a positive message about relationships and body image.

it's the kind of movie that gives me hope. the industry is finally expanding, and it's finally becoming cool to be different, in a way.

who knows what started it, but now, sometimes, PC is becoming as marketable as sex.

"good girls" like Taylor Swift and awkward but lovable dorks like Michael Cera are taking the entertainment industry by storm.

it's a sad fact that individuality is becoming commodified, but, at the same time, you gotta love the fact that movies like
Jennifer's Body are finally seeing the light of day.

it's all inevitable, really, what with things like YouTube that give people the power to choose and craft their own work and have a ready and willing audience.

and blogging paves the way for good writers, like Cody, to develop their own voice and build a fan base and get their work published and produced - unique voices laden with original thoughts and humor that previously went unheard.

granted, i can see why someone might give the movie a negative review.

people've started to pick on Cody's chosen vernacular and therefore completely disregard the real meat of what her characters say and how they behave.

i suppose they think Cody's trying too hard to be clever and hip, when, really, it's all just a discourse about the inherent absurdity of adolescence.

no, we might not be THAT ridiculous at that age, but there's no harm in poking fun and laughing at ourselves or our pasts.

and, honestly, sometimes Cody really isn't that far off, anyhow.

also, sugarcoating the pill's been a part of the film industry since practically its inception - it's Cody's way of saying, "This is serious stuff - real emotions - but let's not forget that there can be some humor and fun in this, too."

it's pitch-perfect.

Cody's fascination with the female body is also really interesting and awesome.

with
Juno, the main character, a teenage girl in the throes of hormones and young love, copes with emotional needs with the most intimate physical action.

the result? 9 months of endless bodily changes that directly corresponds to profound emotional and mental growth.

more than that, the way Juno always subtly and not-so-subtly dealt with her own insecurities - especially those tied to her own image/body (i.e. when she adjusts her hipster skirt before seeing Mark and Paulie, and the way her classmates react to her body as she walks down the hall in school) - was always so spot-on that there were times when i might've gotten a little weepy and nostalgic.

in her latest flick, Cody again emphasizes the importance of Body in girl culture and ideology.

the way Jennifer purges after she eats a boy, and it is later revealed that she uses laxatives to stay skinny, all point to this Hott Girl's secret insecurities - the kind that most high school Hott Girls probably feel and are completely aware of.

the title itself is a big reminder to the audience about what the film is actually about.

this girl who has this body - that she knows to use like a weapon - and needs boys to strengthen it.

she needs boys, literally, to revitalize her body: a metaphor for the real reason why girls strive and starve stay skinny and attractive (that is, it isn't for their own health).

it's why Jennifer's biggest prize is Chip, who's the one boy in school who, even with all of her efforts to be the most desirable girl in school, prefers her best friend Needy.

(but this all also presents a really interesting dilemma because it can be read a different way: the fact that when she manages to successfully lure her prey into her trap by using her sexuality only to tell Colin that she needs him to be terrified so that she can consume him might suggest that Jennifer is, in fact, some form of an extremist feminist maneater (pun intended!).

though, maybe not quite a feminist.

maybe one of those faux-feminists, like Samantha on
Sex and the City, who's actually a female chauvinist pig.)

and then comes Needy, the archetypal best friend character who idolizes the hott girl but remains in the shadows of everyone's minds when Jennifer enters the room.

her name is loosely veiled symbolism in the beginning, but, in the end, becomes ironic.

she's the one with the steady boyfriend even though she wears glasses and dorky clothes.

she only becomes self-conscious about her looks when Jennifer's involved.

and she never needs to alter her own self-representation in order to be happy or snag a boyfriend.

unlike so many other teen movies nowadays, where the positive message allegedly lies in the fact that any girl can be beautiful, or that girls can and should reflect their inner beauty in their outer beauty, Chip, like Paulie Bleaker, accepts his girl just the way she is.

even when she's wearing what's supposed to be a totally heinous prom dress.

and it's this security that drives Jennifer over the edge and motivates her to go after Chip.

she needs to know that she somehow holds some kind of power of Needy - that Chip prefers her just because she's invested so much time and energy and starvation into being hott.

but, bless him, Chip refuses.

granted, he ultimately dies for it, but it's a hero's death at least.

::sigh::

someday, Tina Fey and Diablo Cody will merge to form one super human who will forever alter the female image.

and, well, kick ass.

...someday.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Lucky Penny - a poem.

my one clear talent: self-deprecation.

am i ashamed?

meh, maybe a little.

but, honestly, no one fucks up like i do.

case in point: my car accident (on duty) on Saturday night that ended my month-long career as a USC Campus Cruiser - which makes this the second job i've managed to lose in a matter of a couple of months.

awesome.

all in all, i'd been having a pretty effed up couple of weeks, often resorting to old coping methods that have never let me down (but only because i deny the negative effects of large quantities of junk food, sleeping an obscene number of hours, avoiding all responsibilities at all costs, and laughing aloud when, really, i was crying on the inside).

yes, everything was under control.

(as it's been awhile, i probably owe you a short recap of my awesome couple of weeks:

1. got a 30% on a reading pop quiz in my Lit. class because i read the wrong pages.

yes.

a 30.

that just about ties with my lowest ever grade, which was a geography quiz in the 6th grade.

i vowed never to get that low ever again.

i lied.

2 - 3. i got the flu, which developed into a sinus infection.

missed classes (including improv) for several days straight.

4. again, i got into a car accident that was entirely my fault and i consequently lost my job.

5. my old paranoia has returned as i'm almost fairly certain i wasn't born to lead.

6. plans to clean my room fell through as, yet again, my depression managed to incapacitate me.

7-9. more personal reasons.

sorry.

too personal.)

from here, i suspect that you're probably thinking 2 things:
1. "But, Vickie, all of these things are your own doing! You're a dumbshit! Get yourself together!"

and you're probably right.

all my fault.

but is it all REALLY my fault if i was born without much needed common sense and resilience?

wah wah wah annoying self-pity wah wah.

my apologies.

2. "Chin up! Be optimistic! Stop your crazy biznatching and whining!"

also right.

and to this, i bring up The Lucky Penny.

i've never been one to invest my sometimes wanting sack of optimism in a small, nearly worthless piece of copper; but today, in an effort to snap myself out of my annoyingly down state, i've decided to turn to age-old superstition and allow my entire happiness to depend on just 1 cent.

yes, all i ask for is 1 cent of happiness and luck.

1 cent.

not too much.

and if all goes well, i might move on to more sense.

er, cents.

i might end up making my own.

yes, today when i was delivering a letter cross-campus for the office Bigot who i love to work for, and i saw that tiniest of shimmers on the ground some 10 feet in front of me, my heart skipped a little.

hoping no one else had made this discovery, i quickened my pace a bit and prayed that Lincoln would be looking up at me.

and he was.

secretly more excited than i should have been, i picked it up.

i could feel the winds of change around me.

the start of a lucky streak, at last.

finally, hope.

all of my hope and luck in this miniscule, seemingly meaningless piece of copper.

the One Penny.

i almost punched the air in triumph before i remembered that i was in public.

i even composed a poem to show my appreciation:

Lucky Penny
Lucky penny, lucky penny
Oh how you give me hope.
Your little shimmer on the ground
Pushed from my mind to tope.

I picked you up, in a hurry
To secure a little luck;
Because as of late, to be frank,
I've been a little fucked.

Lucky penny, lucky penny
Your head and tail so true,
"In God we trust," in you I trust,
I'll turn to gold from blue.

is this the proper length of a poem?

whatever.

i don't care.

it comes from the heart, and that's all that matters.

yes.

today is a new day.

thank you, Lucky Penny.

i think i'll name you Phillip.