Heathers
Like St. Elmo’s Fire, Heathers was another one of those 1980s movies I admired due to its aesthetic – specifically, the aesthetic of the titular characters, as well as its outlaw, JD (an obvious word play on that rebel without a cause, James Dean), played by Christian Slater.
As an adult, I appreciate it for its dark humor and satire of a serious subject matter, which in the 1980s, shocked many. And it has a subtle pro-single message.
Winona Ryder, who I’ll always know as Lydia Deets from Beetlejuice, stars as Veronica, a basically nice girl who’s broken into the Heathers clique. They’re a trio of popular girls all named Heather who rule the school. Veronica doesn’t like the way this group treats the less popular, but she doesn’t want to give up her status either (what a human thing to do!). One day, a new kid, JD, moves to town, and he’s your classic James Dean clone. Veronica likes his mystique, and soon, they’re doing the nasty.
And then they’re doing murder. After a series of complicated circumstances involving Veronica vomiting on the lead Heather at a college party, said lead threatens to ruin Veronica’s social standing. Because social capital is very competitive at that level, Veronica and JD conspire to murder Heather and disguise it as a suicide. Veronica relents, but accidentally ends up killing Heather anyway due to JD’s sabotage. They then shoot a couple of bullying jocks in the woods and devise a cover story that they were a gay couple who were tired of living a lie (this was the 1980s).
The movie becomes a dark comedy about teenage suicide and deindividuation, as the “victims” are glamorized by the student population and surrounding town. And, for the 1980s, it had to be revolutionary.
It’s also a pro-single movie, as Veronica realizes JD, while brilliant and charismatic, is more than a little unhinged. The last scene has Veronica reclaiming power by taking a red scrunchie from Heather #3 (played by the recently deceased Shannon Doherty), thus symbolizing her newfound rule over the school. She then befriends overweight outcast Martha, who’s attempted suicide. The last shot has them walking off together, the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
As an adult, I appreciate it for its dark humor and satire of a serious subject matter, which in the 1980s, shocked many. And it has a subtle pro-single message.
Winona Ryder, who I’ll always know as Lydia Deets from Beetlejuice, stars as Veronica, a basically nice girl who’s broken into the Heathers clique. They’re a trio of popular girls all named Heather who rule the school. Veronica doesn’t like the way this group treats the less popular, but she doesn’t want to give up her status either (what a human thing to do!). One day, a new kid, JD, moves to town, and he’s your classic James Dean clone. Veronica likes his mystique, and soon, they’re doing the nasty.
And then they’re doing murder. After a series of complicated circumstances involving Veronica vomiting on the lead Heather at a college party, said lead threatens to ruin Veronica’s social standing. Because social capital is very competitive at that level, Veronica and JD conspire to murder Heather and disguise it as a suicide. Veronica relents, but accidentally ends up killing Heather anyway due to JD’s sabotage. They then shoot a couple of bullying jocks in the woods and devise a cover story that they were a gay couple who were tired of living a lie (this was the 1980s).
The movie becomes a dark comedy about teenage suicide and deindividuation, as the “victims” are glamorized by the student population and surrounding town. And, for the 1980s, it had to be revolutionary.
It’s also a pro-single movie, as Veronica realizes JD, while brilliant and charismatic, is more than a little unhinged. The last scene has Veronica reclaiming power by taking a red scrunchie from Heather #3 (played by the recently deceased Shannon Doherty), thus symbolizing her newfound rule over the school. She then befriends overweight outcast Martha, who’s attempted suicide. The last shot has them walking off together, the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
