Heathers was released in theaters on March 31, 1989, capping off a decade of teen movies john hughes comedy (breakfast club, ferris bueller’s day off) Compare evil acid irony. Other high school-themed films in 1989 include Say whatever you want, Dead Poets Societyand bill and ted’s bizarre adventure– Very different movies, but both have a certain sincerity. HeathersAt the same time, he looked at the audience, rolled his eyes, and asked, “What are you? damage? “
although Heathers have been living in musical (Off-Broadway in 2014; West End in 2018) and a TV series (one season on Paramount Network in 2018), it is an original film—Screenplay by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehman, both making their debuts – which still have the greatest impact. It remains a scathing indictment of the brutal high school caste system of a pre-social media era, with its poignant ideas delivered in an almost laughably quotable script (“Fuck me gently with a chainsaw!”) that’s as funny as it gets. in 1989. Still, some elements don’t age as well as others. The cast is 95% white, and the homophobic jokes — which are really there for story purposes and only come from blatant idiots and bullies — are a bit jarring to hear in 2024.
But beyond that, there is something eternal Heathers That’s largely thanks to its tone, a unique blend of bitter, tired despair—”teen angst bullshit” (to quote Winona Ryder’s character)—and sly Intelligence, wrapped in production design, for a high school style and setting. Few teen movies use color so sparingly, and each of the croquet-playing Heather characters is known to adopt a hue that not-so-subtly reflects her personality. Heather Chandler (Kim Walter), the original Mean Girls, wears devilish red; Heather McNamara’s (Lisanne Falk) choice of yellow represents her cautious, “everyone else” What are you doing?” attitude towards life; Heather Duke (Shani Doherty) replaces Heather Chandler at the top, and her enviable green outfit turns to red.
Somehow, Veronica (Ryder, 16, who anchors the film with world-weary excellence) is also in this group, a fan of the color blue, usually paired with black, except for Heather Money Her presence in Heather’s family is never fully explained, aside from Dele’s sudden reminder.That “you wanted Become part of the most powerful clique in school. ” We know that Veronica didn’t have snobbish friends in her recent past and early days. Heathers She develops a relationship at Westburg High that will wreak havoc on Westburg High’s carefully constructed boundaries: falling in love with bad boy JD (Christian Slater), who is more than happy to help Veronica cash out An angry statement she wrote in her diary and read to the audience in voiceover – “I have to stop Heather“.
Heathers After JD and Veronica commit their first murder, the film shifts from a scathing high school comedy to a dark commentary on society as a whole.They covered up their crimes by fabricating Heather Chandler’s death – which was entirely their fault, although whether Veronica really Intend Killing her frenemy is a bit questionable – as a suicide, this is helped by Veronica’s handy ability to imitate anyone’s handwriting. As the death toll mounts, Veronica is horrified by the response in the small suburban Ohio town. Her Pat-loving parents, who were barely interested in her beyond her prom date, were as out of touch as the Westburg teachers who viewed the “suicide crowd” in their midst as either an inconvenience or a nuisance. Something to promote. The local police are similarly portrayed as out-of-touch fools, while JD’s father is too obsessed with his building demolition business to offer any sane guidance.
In a world where teenagers are left to their own devices or on the phone to join a talk radio show, Hot Issues, which offers questionably useful life advice—and not surprisingly, many of them have grown up to be toxic people. “Honey, Chaos killed the dinosaurs!” JD gleefully tells Veronica, while plotting to set off a bomb at a pep rally, which will be justified by a “suicide note” signed by the entire school. (Another of his bon mots is “Extremes always seem to make a lasting impression.”) It’s shocking to watch. HeatherKnowing that just a decade later, Columbine would forever change our view of how horrific real-life school violence can be—is impossible, in fact. no Come to think of it, even Veronica managed to save her classmates from mass destruction.
At the end of the movie, Veronica tells Heather Duke that “there’s a new sheriff in town” and that Westburg will hopefully become a kinder place now that the most popular and/or murderous students have been eliminated. , a more tolerant place.but Heathers It also left a final warning to the audience. While its cosmic theme is the pop ditty “Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It),” Heathers It begins and ends with different versions of the same song: “Que Sera, Sera (No matter what, it’s gonna be so)” – which warns us that “the future is not something we can see”.Things could get better, or they could go bad again, and it feels like an ending that’s both real-life and authentic Heathers‘My own worldview. To quote Veronica: “Lick it up, baby. lick. it.up“.
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