MovieChat Forums > Jennifer's Body (2009) Discussion > More Horses

More Horses

posted 11 years ago by NeedysBoy
18 replies | jump to latest

I watch JB again.

Every time, I guess my eyes focus on a different part of the screen.

This time I saw more horses. There are three or four toy horses in the sand box with Little Needy and Little Jennifer.

The other horses are the one in Jennifer's backyard, The foal in the jar in the classroom, and a horse in Needy's room.

These horses are deliberately placed in association with Jennifer and Needy, but their symbolic meaning is not clear.

A friend suggested a link to Rose Bonheur's The Horse Fair, because of her proto-Feminism.

Yes?

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] NeedysBoy 11 years ago

In some fairy tales, a horse will help save a child from the underworld.

Maybe that's the meaning of the horses in JB.

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] NeedysBoy 11 years ago

I read someplace that Aries is not a ram but a horse in India, and that Christ is associated with Aries. That would fit the Christian allegory.

Is that why Ahmet is from India?

To steer us in that direction for the horses?

Yeah, that might be pushing it a bit...

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] Dozhd 11 years ago

I think we have to be careful in trying to find symbolism in everything. Merely because a film is full of symbolism does not mean everything is a symbol. Maybe one of the bigwigs just loves horses, so when picking out toys, chose little horses. They are in a pretty rural area, so maybe they just thought horses would make sense at Jennifer's house.

[–] NeedysBoy 11 years ago

Dozhd writes: "Maybe one of the bigwigs just loves horses, so when picking out toys, chose little horses."

Oh ye of little faith...

Here's what The Gnostics and Their Remains by King says about horses: Death was conventionally depicted by a horse's head looking in through a window upon a party feast. (p158)

I would say that is exactly what happens when Needy looks in on Jen before jumping through the bedroom window. A horse can be heard as the glass breaks. And of coarse, a horse grazes in the backyard. Jen is using her yearbook as a menu to select boys.

This also from the above book: Darius gained his crown through the neighing of his horse. (p173)

Now Darius was a Persian emperor. Their title was Shah en Shah -- King of Kings.

King of Kings is also a title of Jesus. Jennifer (the Christ figure) gains her crown by the neighing of her horse.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, everything (and I do mean everything) in this film has meaning! (Diablo Cody is a genius!)

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] NeedysBoy 11 years ago

So...

A While ago someone mentioned that the scene in which Jennifer kills Colin was reminiscent of Fuseli's The Nightmare. (Google it, if you don't know what it looks like.)

As the Fuseli painting has a horse looking in on a demon (? incubus) and a woman, this leads us to the question of where's the horse in the JB scene?

The horse is Needy -- she apparently has a vision of the death of Colin. The cross-cuts between Jennifer and Colin, Needy and Chip can be interpreted this way, I think. Needy looks in on the scene with Jennifer (demon) and Colin her victim. Therefore, Needy is Death. She is the horse looking in on a feast.

And so children, this ends the current course of Cinema 391 -- More Horses.

I hope someone got something from it, I know I did.

Until next time....

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] NeedysBoy 11 years ago

"The horse, intimately tied to our psyche and civilization, has symbolically and literally brought both death and salvation."

-- The Book of Symbols, Cologne: Taschen, 2010. (p. 314)

Italics mine.

A little bit of Dada there?

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] zziiyy 10 years ago

I think in a burst of 14-year-old-girl over-analysis, people give Diablo Cody wayyyyy too much credit. She is not that great of a writer. She can only link pop culture references. The only reason Juno was such a hit is because Jason Reitman saved it.

[–] NeedysBoy 10 years ago

Wow!

You missed a lot!

But then, not everyone is able to perceive symbolism and allegory.

I guess it's a gift.

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] zziiyy 10 years ago

If you think being delusional is a gift, go at it.

[–] NeedysBoy 10 years ago

Fifty symbols and personifications are hardly "delusional."

https://archive.org/details/TheDiabloCode

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] devilchasnme 10 years ago

I downloaded The Diablo Code and number 16 about the band's name-

16) Low Shoulder = L. S. = Last Supper.

I read the September 20, 2007 draft before I watched the movie and the band's name was Soft Shoulder. I looked through the Blue March 7, 2008 script and the band's name was still Soft Shoulder.

So who made the change to Low Shoulder? And why? Was it the writer or director?

Who's symbolism are we looking at? Is it the writer's or the director's.

Or was the name changed to Low Shoulder because that was what happened to be on the sign they used at the end of the movie when Needy was hitchhiking to see the band?

I don't remember anything about horses in the 2007 script I read but I wasn't really looking for it either.

How much symbolism is in the movie or accidental or imagined? And who's symbolism is it?

[–] NeedysBoy 10 years ago

I'm not sure why the band's name was changed. But I think they are low -- they are bad, so that may be why the name was changed.

The horses are only in the film....

I think there are too many symbols, which create a perfect allegory; therefore, I'd say the symbolism is not accidental.

You've seen the list...

Although Diablo Cody didn't direct, I assume most of the ideas are hers, or she approved of them. The pieta is specifically mentioned in her script. And the pieta is the climax of the Christian allegory.

Also, Cody's other films (Juno and Young Adult) are also about God symbolically. (I haven't seen Paradise, but it was once titled Lamb of God, which, I think, is highly significant.)

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] Bhoooop_Daahuut 10 years ago

Very interesting stuff, NB.

[–] NeedysBoy 10 years ago

Bhoooop_Daahuut writes: "Very interesting stuff, NB."

Thank you!

"Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] WizardsMug 9 years ago

in which way are young adult and juno about god?
could you expand on that please ?

[–] NeedysBoy 9 years ago

@ MyMB,

Very quickly, Juno is the Roman Goddess of childbirth, women, and family. The title character literally acts like the goddess when she bestows her child on Vanessa.

I think YA is a passion play, and it may be a re-working of Alcestis by Euripides.

 "Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

[–] BlueeRain 10 years ago

You missed a lot!

But then, not everyone is able to perceive symbolism and allegory.

I guess it's a gift.

Good grief.

[–] MFurie369 9 years ago

It's the bronies...MLP has taken over my life in an unwanted way..so many ponies..so little time!