CONTENT WARNING: this episode contains discussions, though NOT graphic descriptions, of sexual assault and violence against women, rape and rape culture, trauma, and women’s loss of bodily autonomy as portrayed and commented upon in these films. If these topics will not be a good experience for you to hear about, please take care of yourself and skip this episode. We'll see you next time!
We're calling this the "feminist body horror" edition of Summer "Camp" and looking at two modern classics within this subgenre: 2009's Jennifer's Body and 2007's Teeth. We look at the parallels between these two films, both in their commentary on women's bodily and sexual agency within patriarchal culture in the movies themselves, and in how the films were received and perceived by pop culture audiences. We also looked into the mythos of the "vagina dentata," the archetype explored in Teeth, and into how Jennifer's Body star Megan Fox was treated by the media and culture at large in the years surrounding the release of the film, and we are here to talk all about these topics and more!
Further Reading:
Reassessing Jennifer's Body in the wake of #MeToo (article from 2018)
Video + transcript of the 2019 conversation with Megan Fox and Diablo Cody
Academic article on the cultural context of Teeth (PDF)
Exploring "vagina dentata" mythos around the world
Queer Movie Night podcast episode on Jennifer's Body
The Whorrors podcast episode on Teeth
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