"Heathers" film: The Strong & the Weak

It's not necessarily a traditional review, but it's my own analysis of "Heathers." Check it out on Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/content_230596644484
THE STRONG AND THE WEAK

Despite the touchy subject matter, “Heathers” is a movie about the true distinction between the strong and the weak.

“Heathers” is a film that cut past the cheery surfaces of John Hughes’ slew of 1980’s movies (“Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club”), and created something much deeper, and certainly darker. In the same way that “Heathers” departed from idealistic teen movies of its time, “Heathers” is also not simply a dark teen satire; it is a witty analysis of the subjectivity of who’s strong, and who’s weak.

The film focuses on four teenage girls who rule their Ohio high school. Three of the girls are named Heather and they used to be a trio, until Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) joined their very exclusive clique. When a teen rebel James Dean-type named J.D. (Christian Slater) comes to town, Veronica becomes involved in various murders and mishaps. Still, the film is less about a body count, than it is about the hierarchy of power, and how the seemingly strong turn out to be weak.

Veronica and the Heathers are perceived as ultra-confidant by their peers, but the differences in the girls’ self-esteems become strikingly apparent when the girls interact with each other. Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) is the “queen of mean,” the commander-in-chief. Heather Duke (Shannon Doherty) is the one who wants Heathers’ position, and Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk) is the girl who’s there for the ride. What is ironic about the Heathers is that besides the leader Heather Chandler, Veronica has more power than the other two Heathers. It’s strange because Veronica just joined the Heathers, but she plays Vice President to Heather Chandler’s President. It’s possibly a reflection of Veronica’s inner strength. Veronica is outspoken and not scared of Heather Chandler like the rest of the Heathers are. It seems that Veronica would have her confidence even if she wasn’t popular, because Veronica has a strong personality and sense of self.

The movie’s main plotline is the murder spree that ensues when Veronica meets J.D. Since Veronica is a strong individual, she’s not content with being popular and nothing else. Or as Veronica describes it, “they’re [the Heathers] people I work with, and our job is being popular.” Seemingly by accident, Veronica and J.D. kill Heather Chandler, which begins a chain of other murders, which Veronica and J.D. disguise as “suicides.” The murder spree that occurs is a result of pathos on Veronica and J.D.’s behalf.

During a dream sequence that Veronica has, her rebellious boyfriend J.D. plans to kill Heather Duke. When J.D. is sharpening a chef’s knife, Veronica says, “Someone will just move into Heather Duke’s place, and I could be next.” But technically, Veronica should have been the next in line to replace Heather Chandler, because Veronica is stronger than Heather Duke and Heather McNamara, and the one that Heather Chandler confided in the most. For instance, when Veronica comforts Heather Duke when she was throwing up in the bathroom, this scene shows that Heather Duke’s weaker than Veronica. And in the later scene when Heather McNamara tries to overdose on pills, Veronica stops her. This shows that Heather McNamara is weaker than Veronica. So this brings to mind the question: did Heather Duke immediately take Heather Chandler's place because the position was open, and Heather Duke wanted the position so badly? And that being so, is it true that Heather Chandler's position was clearly open to Veronica, but Veronica had no desire to take Heather Chandler's position? The fact that Heather Duke pounces on the chance to be Heather Chandler shows how much Heather Duke lacks her own personality.

In most societies, people are pressured to conform to a standard. All of the Heathers’ peers perceive the Heathers and Veronica as four pretty girls who dress well, go to parties, have the full attention of men, and are the envy of women; none of the students realize that Veronica is a stronger person than all of the Heathers combined. Visibly, Heather Chandler is viewed as the strongest, yet the reason for that perception is subjective. If a person’s definition of strong means snapping at people, playing cruel pranks, and performing fellatio on random frat boys, then Heather Chandler is a strong person. Veronica’s statement to Heather Chandler sums up the true feelings of how Heathers’ peers feel about her. “Do you realize that everybody thinks you’re a piranha?” When Heather Chandler goes down on a frat boy, she is conforming to the rules of being “cool.” The scene of Heather Chandler rinsing out her mouth after pleasing the frat boy shows how much a victim of society Heather was. When a frat boy tried to make passes at Veronica, she set him straight.

The issue of “teen suicide” is not what the core of “Heathers” is about. “Heathers” is an analysis of humanity; from the way people treat each other to how people react in situations. The movie shows that in life, there will always be some kind of social structure. Adults have their own social hierarchy, as do teenagers. When the teenagers become adults, they will still have a social hierarchy. Humans seem to need a social hierarchy to survive; it’s survival of the fittest, which is what life is all about. By using intelligent humor, “Heathers” slickly conveys its points about human behavior. As J.D. puts it, “the school is society.”

If you want to watch a movie that makes you think, yet makes you laugh, “Heathers” is for you. “Heathers” explores the dynamics of power and how the truly strong stand on their own two feet. “Heathers” makes the distinction between strong and weak so very clear.

Mind reproducing it here? It'd be easier for people to read, and I'd be able to make your post as a review.

Heathers is one of my favorite black comedies of all time. Post your review in this here review thread and I will tag it for our review system.

Thanks.

"Dear Diary, my teen angst bull**** now has a body count."

_S

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you know what... you've just inspired me to rewatch this movie. i don't think i got it. i hate admitting that, but i am a strong enough person to admit when i fall short... thanks!

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letterboxd

weird. always saw Veronica as weak because she wasn't strong enough to not bother with the Heathers at all. Or strong enough to stop JD from doing what he did. She was culpable, and could have prevented everything, risen above it, if she were truly strong *enough.*

Note: There were are many options for boys and girls to become Heathers. It's what you do with those situations - as you say, the reactions and survival techniques of the fittest that counts. You come out ahead of the pack if you recognize that to be a Heather is to be useless, victimized and demoralized by your need to be valued by peers versus your need to value yourself regardless of what your peers think. it is a waste of human space. It is a failure to create something unique and individual. It is instead the urge to copy or mimic, to replace your identity with that of someone else's or at least try to.

You're better off being alone or unpopular, and if you recognize that when you have the option to be a Heather, you don't engage at all, and enjoy the freedoms from the society that perpetuates and creates Heathers in the first place. And you avoid freaks like JD.

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life without movies is like cereal without milk. possible, but disgusting. but not nearly as bad as cereal with water. don't lie. I know you've done it.

i saw this movie quite awhile ago and i admit i don't remember it as well as my shiny mind should, but i kind of agree with thm. i saw Veronica as someone who folded to the desire to be pretty, envied and popular... i saw JD as her guilty pleasure who got out of hand.

which is why i really want to see this movie again, because i need to be able to make up my ****ing mind! (sowwy)

i wish i had realized that about ten years ago...

I agree with you about the greatness of rising above, but Veronica made a mistake. I'm saying even before the murders started, Veronica is a stronger person than the Heathers. Like all humans, Veronica made a mistake and her mistakes got out of hand. And true, after that frat party, the next morning Veronica was going to suck up to Veronica, because that way high school would be easier to endure. Your paragraph that I highlighted in bold is really on-point. Being popular usually requires conforming yourself and being something you're not. I know first hand that being an individual and knowing what's right for myself is the best way to go. The only time I was truly popular was when I was in 8th grade, and then I switched schools and that was all over. LOL But it worked out for the best because I learned a lot about life. You feel so much better when you do your own thing.

Lear. Plear rate the film so the review can be pegged.

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yes, you're right. and Veronica did make a mistake. She was stronger because she SAW what the Heathers were, and chose to "go along." That's the genius in the movie - we all do this to some degree, the point is to avoid doing it as much as possible.

So you were quoting her diary entry ... there's a sullen irony in her because, as a strong individual, she KNOWS better. She knows the girls are stupid and vapid and vain and useless and selfish and harmful. She knows they harm others, so why wouldn't they harm each other AND her? Yet there's a part of her that allows herself to continue to engage, hang out, and "be friends."

That's what JD's character is for. He is to show her you can't compromise, or you will pay a price. She thought she could compromise, pretend she wasn't doing what she was doing (ie, telling lies makes you a liar, no matter how you paint it), and he shows her otherwise.

If she REALLY hates the Heathers and recognizes what they stand for, she should not be their "friend" in the first place because she is then both jealous and resentful of what they are and becomes a copy of what they are. In engaging with them, she is technically one of them. You can't paint yourself blue to match everyone else and not become blue. You were the one that picked up the paint and did the painting.

I identify strongly with this, like you, because I speak from experience. I have always been an outsider, in multiple ways I won't get into, but the most obvious and far reaching one in my life is racially and nationally. I grew up in Asia were some groups loathe Americans, or in particular have a problem with blacks. We are both fascinating and horrifying, something to be ashamed of. In asia to have a tan is a crime, and people deliberately avoid it. My own culture does the same. But I'm half and half, which is obviously problematic. On top of this, I grew up in Asia at a mostly white school. I was, for years, the ONLY BLACK CHILD in the entire school of several hundred, if not a few thousand. It was often that way for 9 years of my school years in childhood.

I learned the hard way. I got called the names. I got shunned. I got laughed at, mocked, ridiculed, blocked out, pitied. And at some points I became "easy going," riding along with people or groups because it was easy and at least SOME group was willing to allow me to tag along. It made life easier.

Eventually all the bullcrap of Heathers and the like made me get really really tired really really fast of having to worry what the hell everybody else thought of me. You look closer at what they're doing and what you're doing and you realize you will become far better than you ever were, and far better than they could ever be, just by loving who you are and standing as yourself without apology.

By the time I got to high school, guess what happened? That attitude had people calling me "social" and "popular." This is not a bragging point, but an ironical parallel. Veronica's "difference" and pride in that difference is what attracted the Heathers to her in the first place.

Others want what they can't have. They want to be what they can't be. They want to copy the strongest. So if you're strong and don't play that game, what are those copy-machines gonna do? Try to copy you.

What you said about Veronica being stronger than all the Heathers is true. There are forever going to be strong, DIFFERENT people and people will flock to them for one of these things: to attack them, suck their energy, or befriend them.

The first, because they fear and are jealous of the strength of that person. In being different you are different. That means you will forever be remembered, recognized, and noticed above and beyond everyone else. That is a boon most don't recognize until they are way older. Until then they resent it.

The second, weaker people, like the other Heathers, see your strength and if you're nice enough to let them, will suck you dry like a vampire. I am dead serious, and it has happened multiple times to me. This is, in part, what happens to Veronica because she didn't know any better. JD runs full throttle with her confused sense of loyalty and teenage desire, and plays on her political/sociological fears. He projects onto her his own isses with society (he's an energy sucker who happens to show her the hypocrisy in her own actions).

The third, true people of clear conscience and personal strength, recognize you for what you are and want to actually be your friend - learn and grow with you, and teach you what they know, and vice versa. That, of course, is the most desirable option.

Ash, hehehe, at least you realized it. Some people never do. Veronica made the mistake of knowing better and going along with what was easy and it unfortunately backfired in her face. But as humans with a nature for needing approval and recognition, we can all of us see why she made those mistakes, and hope not to repeat them.

rant over. woo!

WOW, you deserve a Pulitzer prize for the speech. hehe You really enlightened me even more. When you think about it, Heather Chandler was strong in her own way because at least she didn't copy anybody, but in another way she's caring what others think of her. For example, at the frat party; she hated every minute of the frat party but she went along with it because it would appear as if she was weak and a prude. But she was in reality weak for trying not to look weak. Damn that was a tongue twister. LOL

And I really empathize with you about the school thing. I had always been outgoing and sociable until I switched schools after 8th grade. In 9th grade, I was so lost like a fish out of water. For most of 10th grade, I was teased by this one kid for no apparent reason, and I tried to be nice. But at the end of that school year I realized why the kid continued to bother me, and that was because he knew he could and I wouldn't do anything about it because I was such a nice guy. So from then on I just made more friends and stayed focused on schoolwork, primarily English and writing, and things went smoothly. It's funny, I saw the kid in the hallway a year after and we said what's up to each other and it was very cordial. It really made me feel good because it meant I had moved on and that life had gone on.

Anyway, this whole discussion really proves what a worthwhile and powerful movie "Heathers" is. Thmilin, you seem so cool. I never knew someone who thought the same exact way, and especially in relation to "Heathers."

I've heard a lot about this film and have never watched it. In reading that, I'm curious as to my personal take on the movie. Thanks! I think I will look into watching it afterall.

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"Whaddaya mean 'illiterate'?! My mother and father were married right here in the city hall!"
-After The Thin Man

silverscreen - yessss, watch it. yeah it's a nineties flick and a bit different from what we're used to these days (less "edgy" and slick and all that) but it can really get a rise out of you. it was really good at kinda provoking a dream-weirdness but also the sense of being in high school with these girls and their evilness. the name "heathers" sounds so sweet, right? makes you think of rolling hills and wildflowers ...

yup, totally agree about the frat party - by TRYING to look like you don't care, you are in fact hurting yourself more. you are in that act believing you are weak or wrong for caring so you are trying not to be/do something you are/want to do.

overall, we can see the Heathers are examples of what society does to itself. These girls may have once been like Veronica, but became Heathers. oooo, scary. They think they're trendsetters, but everything they do with themselves is to please others (appearances for those they want to be liked and admired by) and everything they do to hurt others is just an example of what's been done to them. The abusees becoming the abusers.

yes, i'm sure there are others out there who went through the same crap. you just gotta live through it to get it, basically. some people are lucky (or maybe not?) to never get it. sometimes i used to get jealous of the "happy people" blissfully unaware of what it means to be resented or disliked because everyone's just always liked them and given them what they wanted, no problems, no questions asked. then i realize those are the same people who WILL see tragedy one day in some form and not know how to cope with it at all.

life's a crucible, and I'd rather be teflon tough. HA!

i thank you for your kind words! though i must stand up and say, I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK I'M COOL. but thank you, just the same.

haha Yeah I know you don't care what I think of you, but I do think you're cool for being intelligent. That's hard to come to by, believe it or not. lol And I don't expect you to agree with me, even though you agree with me now. It's all good.

And in reality, no one liked Heather Chandler. The two jocks like her because they want to screw her, and all the other girls are scared of her. And the girls that think they like her only think that because they have a false image of who Heather really is. They think her good looks and good fortune somehow justify her cruelty. It's like many celebrities, some of them may be ******** but people still worship them because they're not average joes.

Plus, Heather Chandler has a reputation and as long as she tortures herself by doing what she thinks fits her "cool image" then she will maintain her reputation. The new girls that enter high school will see her as a queen because she sets the bar, regardless of whether she's a nice person.

And I look at Veronica as being strong ultimately because after all those murders, everything would have stayed the same. Heather Duke was just going to continue where Heather Chandler left off and life would go on. But Veronica, as the "new sheriff in town" vows to make things different. And Veronica's confidant she can do that because she has Heather McNamara on her side as well as many others. That's the scary thing about exclusive cliques: you've excluded everyone but your small circle of "friends" and when your "friends" turn on you for whatever reason, you have no place to go. Heather Duke probably couldn't find other girls to create a new Heathers clique because she's not strong enough IMO.

Lear, please rate the film!

1-5 boxes of popcorn or an A-F!

Thanks, I want to peg the review, but I need a rating first.

I give the movie 5 popcorn boxes. It gets an A+ in my book.

Excellent. Thanks man! Pegging now, so you may see it float by on the forum sidebar.

Sedai, what exactly does pegging mean?

I mark the post as an official review. Go to the forum maiun page and peep the sidebar on the right. The three latest to be pegged will be shown there for all to enjoy. I try to hit them whenever I can, until Chris finishes getting the full thumbnail system together. Meanwhile, it's a good way to expose some of the reviews that might otherwise get buried in Movie Tab or elsewhere, like those of Mr. H. Pike.

um, i thought pegging meant something else entirely x-rated ...