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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice cements Jenna Ortega as queen of the goth nostalgia revival (but she can be so much more)

Jenna Ortega is the heir to the cool goth girl mantle forged by Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci

Jenna Ortega in a promotional poster for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Image credit: Warner Bros

Features by Jules Chin Greene, Contributing Writer

Published on Thu Sep 05 2024

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Winona Ryder is back in the saddle as Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and this time, she is joined by Jenna Ortega. Ortega will be playing Deetz’s daughter, Astrid, in the Beetlejuice sequel, making it the third franchise from the late '80s and '90s that she’s taken a role in. From this, it’s fair to say that Jenna Ortega is the heir to the cool goth girl mantle forged by Winona Ryder in decades past.

In addition to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Jenna Ortega has had leading roles in Netflix’s Wednesday series as well as the recent slew of Scream films. If you remember, Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams in the 1991 Addams Family movie, which came out only three years after the first Beetlejuice film. Clearly, for millennials who grew up watching both films, Jenna Ortega is the new face of these familiar franchises.

I am not questioning Ortega’s success, nor her merit. Rather, I think there’s a lot to be gleaned about the current state of Hollywood from this dark trifecta of roles she’s taken. It isn’t a stretch to say that Ortega’s popularity right now hinges upon her fitting in with existing molds, rather than forging new ones.

Beetlejuice, The Addams Family film, and Scream all originally came out at a transformational time for women in Hollywood. Actresses like Winona Ryder and Fairuza Balk crafted a darker image of femininity in their films and public images that refuted expectations for how a Hollywood actress should look and act. Elsewhere in pop culture at the same time, Sinéad O’Connor was making waves with her outspoken personality and shaved head. Wes Craven’s Scream (starring Fairuza Balk’s castmate from The Craft, Neve Campbell) was a damning look at the misogyny that shaped the slasher subgenre. These films all challenged the public’s perception of women, so what’s the use of them now?

Considering that Ortega’s biggest roles to date are in these three franchises, have opportunities for women in Hollywood really changed all that much since 1988? Sure, there’s no longer quite the same pressure for big-budget studio films directed by women to sweep the box office, but categorizing Jenna Ortega as the 'sequel to Winona Ryder' shows Hollywood’s limits when it comes to investing in women who don’t conform to sunny approachability. Beyond the Beetlejuice sequel, the Scream films, and Wednesday, is Hollywood creating original projects led by edgy goth girls? No.

Instead, through Jenna Ortega’s recent roles, Hollywood has shown that it is only comfortable entertaining an alternate sense of femininity from the safety net of a franchise – of familiarity. This familiarity doesn’t extend across genre, but is rather confined to simple franchise names. It’s incredibly disappointing, considering that an original project can still carry the recognizable vibes of a landmark film like Beetlejuice without, you know, actually having to be a Beetlejuice sequel. It’s why audiences flocked to see Longlegs this summer, and why a dude in front of me excitedly said, “Ah man, [Longlegs] reminded me of Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Zodiac, I love these films” as we were exiting the theater.

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, Multiverse of Color, and Screen Rant.