Diablo Cody is one of the figures who gets both the love and hate especially from other women. On the one side she used her sexuality (her stripper book and pole-dancing life) to get her break in Hollywood and I bet that meetings in Hollywood with Diablo are nothing like meetings in the past with female screenwriters.
On the other hand she used what she knew and broke into the boy’s club and now in two years is kicking ass up and down the street with a new movie (Jennifer’s Body- out September 18) and a successful TV show The United States of Tara. She has figured out what works (like so many guys have) and has run with it. Her success opens the door for other women. Her success also opens the door to lots of scrutiny and because there are so few other women at her level, she has a lot of responsibility to continue to be successful cause you know the saying (in Hollywood) when one women fails — we all fail.
I know that women and lots of feminists have issues with Cody and her work. But I am impressed with her. She stands up for herself and her beliefs and for women and feminism. Who the hell else in Hollywood admits so publicly and proudly that she is a feminist and that everything she does is layered with feminism? Let me think. No one.
Here’s some stuff she said in a great interview on The Frisky:
My feminist hat is permanently welded to my head—I definitely can’t take it off! It’s so important for me to write things from the female perspective and in service of women and in the right roles for women. That’s usually what I’m thinking going into it. Obviously, the story goes first. But then my next priority is how am I going to sneak my subversive feminist message into this?
The Frisky: Do you always think the female perspective is the feminist perspective, though?
DC: No, not always. But I think representation is obviously the first step to equality, so if women aren’t being represented in a diverse way in movies, they’re going to remain marginalized.
You have to listen to her on Elvis Mitchell’s show, The Treatment. She’s humble, smart, in awe of the opportunities she has gotten, and is a true lover of pop culture.
Now I haven’t seen Jennifer’s Body yet (I will at the end of this week.) I have never been interested in the horror genre before but I want to see this film because Cody wrote it and because it is directed by Karyn Kusama. (Cody also has an executive producer credit on the film.) Who knows if the film will be feminist. Just because the person who wrote it is a feminist doesn’t mean that the film will be feminist even if it stars women. This is a mainstream Hollywood movie. It was bought by Fox Atomic (which doesn’t exist anymore) and now is being released by big Fox. It’s opening wide which means 2500 plus screens. It could potentially gross 30 million or more on opening weekend. It’s going to attract young men and young women. The men cause Megan Fox is hot and the women cause young women seem to love horror films.
Here’s what the NY Times had to say about women and horror:
And yet recent box office receipts show that women have an even bigger appetite for these films than men. Theories straining to address this particular head scratcher have their work cut out for them: Are female fans of “Saw” ironists? Masochists? Or just dying to get closer to their dates?
Jennifer’s Body is a film created to appeal to both men and women (I think it will skew young). If they can manage to pull it off it will be a big deal.
“Jennifer’s Body” was designed with both feminists and 15-year-old boys in mind, a seemingly eccentric blueprint that, as Ms. Kusama points out, is in line with the best movies of the slasher tradition. “It may be one of the best ways for a young male audience to experience a female story without feeling like they have been limited by a female perspective,” she said.
I think that women, feminists, need to stop beating up on Diablo. We love to eat our young. Sure her feminism is different but does that mean it’s not feminism? Just the fact that we are having a conversation about feminism in a horror movie to me is a step forward.
Here’s the trailer:
The Fempire (Women & Hollywood)
Taking Back the Knife: Girls Gone Gory (NY Times)
Exclusive Q&A: Diablo Cody Talks Megan Fox, Therapy, And Doing “The View” With Courtney Love (The Frisky)
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I really want to see this, and I have ZERO interest in horror films.
Despite the fact that I really like Diablo Cody’s style, I hadn’t planned on seeing “Jennifer’s Body.” But when I saw the trailer I thought, “Damn. Now I have to see an friggin’ horror movie.” So it’s not just the younger boys and girls who want to see it; the movie will also draw people who want to see whatever Diablo Cody puts out.
Honestly just from the trailer and how Diablo has described the film, I fail to see where the feminism lies other than the fact that the “killer” is female.
This cliche “man-eater” tripe is old and tired.
I like Diablo Cody’s work and I agree we need to stop beating up on other women. I’m happy for her success, but for me the issue is how she got to there and the message it sends.
Apparently, her agent was searching for porn on the internet and found her stripper’s blog. Why is this the only way to get the attention of men in Hollywood? When I was living in LA as a young director, I was repeatedly told I would go far IF I slept with the “right people”. Every time I went out, men would harass me and ask “who’s your agent?”, assuming I was an actress. It was very clear I was being judged on my looks and sexuality, not my talent. In fact, despite the endless invitations for 2am meetings, I don’t think it ever occurred to anyone that I might have talent. That would actually involve looking at my work, instead of my body. As you say Melissa “she used what she knew (seducing men) and broke into the boy’s club and now in two years is kicking ass up and down the street with a new movie”.
I wonder how many women exist out there, who kept their clothes on, and don’t have a career?
But her blog wasn’t like a porn blog. It was a blog where was talking about her life and her experiences, which included her being a stripper. The fact that her agent was searching for porn and happened to stumble across a blog by a talented screenwriter is coincidence.
I get your point about being judged on sexuality and not talent but that’s a problem with the industry, not with Diablo Cody.
Eh I’ll save my money for Bright Star instead.
I love her. I’m also annoyed by all the Cody bashing, especially from women… in fact on a feminist blog… Like on FEMINISTING yesterday.
Thanks for writing this, Melissa.
Nice thoughts, Melissa! I am so, so nervous about Jennifer’s Body, mainly because it is being sold using the old pseduo-lesbian/bisexual, girl-on-girl sensationalism. Being gay and a feminist, you can understand how that could really irk me. Even if that isn’t what really happens in the film or if it is a miniscule element of the film, that is still how it is coming across — it is being marketed to men based on the fact that two hot (young) girls are going to posssibly touch one another and that old trope grosses me out. Why not have the focus be on a bunch of really talented women coming together to do something fun? I like Diablo Cody a lot, but I think that is a dirty trick that is being employed.
I know it’s a problem with the industry. I’m not blaming Cody. My point is that the stripper’s trade, the ability to feign sexual attraction to much older married men, is a very useful skill for a young woman to have in Hollywood. Far more useful than the ability to write or director a film.
I agree with you Matt Mazur. I’m hoping it’s just a marketing ploy and the movie isn’t so exploitative, but I won’t hold my breath. I’m also just not a fan of Megan Fox.
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist, people were arguing against the movie and fox because the movie was watered down into every teen boys fantasy. what is feminist about this movie? the fact that men are killed by fox? what a long way we have come
The trailer looks amazing – i love the colour-grade on it, it’s well-shot, great dialogue, it’s funny, I think the actors in it – Amanda Seyfried, Megan Fox – have so far been in films where there hasn’t been a huge chance to show their talent and it looks like they are being given that chance here. I love that the perspective is coming from Amanda Seyfried’s character – thats how it comes across in the trailer, the male characters look fairly marginalised.
Are we even talking about the movie greg? or have we just seen the trailer?
Yes the trailer is sexy, but not necessarily indicative of the themes of the film, and maybe if it’s sexy enough to get people into the actual movie thats a good thing. The tables have to be turned before you can live in a world where teenage boys will come to see a movie because it’s ‘focus(ed) be on a bunch of really talented women coming together to do something fun’. They have snuck in an agenda where boys and men will come watch it too and hopefully come away from the film a little changed. I think good on Diablo Cody and Karyn Kusama for getting a film with a feminist agenda to 2500 plus screens.
Any thoughts on Karyn Kusama by the way? Aeon Flux? Girlfight?
I can’t wait to see Jennifer’s Body! I don’t have a problem with Diablo Cody, I think her fempire is cool, her writing is witty and I hope she has a long career in the industry.
This thread just proves that we can be our own worst critics and ultimately, enemies. Successful women aren’t judged by women, they are judged by every individual woman by a personal set of criteria. So what happens? We rarely agree on anything and we never truly support anyone in the kind of numbers that create a groundswell or critical mass of support for change.
When you don’t write the rules that define power, you don’t get to write the rules for redefining power. You find a niche, a week spot, anything that can provide a crack in the ceiling and then you manipulate it until there’s a break and you get in.
What’s important is not how Cody found her crack in the ceiling and broke through, it’s what she does now that she’s in. And that cannot be judged on her first post Oscar film. It will need time and a body of work AND a body action.
As far as supporting films that are directed by women and star strong women, I will skip this and watch Whip It! and Amelia instead.
“Any thoughts on Karyn Kusama by the way? Aeon Flux? Girlfight?”
I’m with you Abigail. I think it’s interesting all the talk and the publicity is going towards Diablo and Megan, but who technically holds the reigns in any given film? Not the writer or the star, but the director mostly, right?
I did not see Girlfright yet, but have heard nothing but praise from both feminist circles and critical circles. She was panned for Aeon, but I did see that one, as well as the making of etc. Did I love the film, well, no. But I did thoroughly enjoy it. I wasn’t a fan of some of the casting choices, and some plot points, but Karyn brought an interesting POV to the story. She didn’t back down on the violent action (which you tend to see in female-led action flicks), and showed a visual creativity in the overall look and style of the film. I liked it a lot, and was sad it didn’t do very well. I like Karyn too because she knows how to work with a truly diverse palette. She doesn’t just stay away from gender typing, but it seems she stays away from ethnic typing as well. I wished she did many more films frankly; she can only get better. And no one can accuse her of using sexuality to get where she is, right? It’s a nice range actually: Megan (a lot), Diablo (some), Karyn (none).
But to me, she could be the difference in this looking like female sexuality exploitation or a thought provoking film about the struggles and ambivalence of teenage women coming into their sexuality. A good film to compare this against would be Species, or the Species series. There it did seem as if you could boil it down to women’s sexuality = scary, violent and male consuming, but I didn’t see the whole thing – so maybe it wasn’t that bad.
I can actually already see a difference in this one. I actually didn’t watch this on the site initially, I saw it on Fandango, and they showed a brief trailer of that sorority horro film coming out before. In that one the emphasis was on how many women die; all it showed was screaming women meeting their doom. This one seems mostly about relationship: there is far more dialogue, there is an actual connection between the villain and someone else. To me, this seems more like Heathers – a horrific tale where the murder seems acceptable, until it is not, and the weaker heroine has to grow in strength to defeat it, despite her connections to said horror.
And I even saw a little subversive feminism in the trailer. When Megan says “you can’t even finish gym”. I thought that was a critique on all the girls in the country who shun gym class and insist they don’t need it, it’s too boring, they’re too weak, etc. I saw it when I younger in those gym classes, and I see it now in women’s sports with the controversy surrounding the South African runner and in the praise being heaped on Oudin in a way I rarely saw with the Williams sisters; it’s almost as if strength, and physical (non-sexual) prowess equals male, which is why so many action heroines are pegged as acting like males when they really do that, and its not just for show.
In the end, will it be a good film? Well, some films can have the best of intentions and still suck. But I do see potential in it. We’ve seen female murderers before (from Species, to many vampire films, to even the first Friday the 13th (since that was his mom)). But it is the combined vision between Kusama, Cody, and Fox that’ll shape it.
So I agree with you totally Melissa! I just hope our love trickles down to other female actors/directors/etc. who are working hard for the cause, but may not do it in the way we expect.
And while I agree that sometimes women’s tastes are too variable to get a real concensus going between us in a way that guys seem to be able to do at times – regardless of ethnicity, class, etc – I disagree that females are Diablo’s worse critics. From the bit (and I admit it wasn’t exhaustive) I have seen on the internet, guys in general seemed to be far more critical of her; writing off her talent as non-existent, and attributing her success to her stripping (or even the scam of stripping, some people believe she made that up).
what’s that quote that audrey lorde used to say- the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house…
I think it is great that a celebrity proudly proclaims herself to be a feminist when that word has been turned into a slur. However, just because she calls herself a feminist does not mean she is one. In the Bust interview, she lamented about the double standard when it comes to looks and business, but she sure does not rebel against it. I know several people who claim to be prejudice-free, but then spout racist beliefs. I know women and men who call themselves feminists, but believe women and men should follow gender roles. There have to be standards for labeling someone a feminist.
I love that quote by Audrey Lorde, but I definitly think that Diablo Cody is using the Master’s tools. Hollywood loves hookers with a heart of gold, and she plays up the “ex-sex worker who is now a spunky sexpot screenwriter.”
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