“Heathers” is very effective in presenting the problems plaguing American high schools, yet lacks the neat final summary John Hughes movies conclude with. This being the case, I don’t think “Heathers” had a message or moral it was trying to portray. Things happened in this movie with irrelevant action, questioning expectations in Hollywood movie plot and characters. J.D. is not an antihero, just doing things for fun and not acting on a higher power of improving society.
I’m not sure if I agree with Nick Burns’s statement that “Heathers” “robs youth, all youth” by taking away value and meaning of things in youth culture. Ultimately, the vapid emptiness in the film resulting from countless cultural references with no meaning points out the shallowness in society and adults rather than the youth. There is no sane adult intervention in this film. We can see how the society in which these kids live could lead to suicide (even though there is only one actual suicide in the film). It’s like the adults expect the kids to be suicidal, not questioning the murders believing them instantaneously to be suicides. If anything, I think this movie robs adults of their power, exploiting to the youth the lack of power they in the social hierarchy of the American high school. It is as if this Ohio high school is its own society, seething with power struggles and intimidation.
Here are some links to things I thought of while watching this film:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/16/video-game-shoppers.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg
I thought your interpretation of the movie was interesting. I really didn't think of the movie like this before but I can see where your coming from. I like how you mention that this high school is in its own society. I also agree that I don't think J.D. is any sort of antihero. It's interesting too how the adults like you said don't question anything and just assume that these are all suicides rather then murders.
ReplyDeleteI loved your interpretation and cannot agree with you more on how this film completely robs adults of their power, exploiting to the youth the lack of power they in the social hierarchy of the American high school. As I said in a pervious post, the adults and authority figures were shown as a complete joke, mainly more immature and out of touch with reality than these teens. It was as if they didn't matter and did not have a true place in society or a positive influence on these teens’ lives. It was shocking to see how easily these suicides were accepted and the fact that they were never questioned or investigated.
ReplyDeleteYou have some interesting ideas. I like how you ran with the idea of this film robs authority figures rather than the youth. The adults are seen as having very little intellectual significance at all. J.D. speaks to his father as if their roles are switched, Veronica's father is an idiot and he knows it, the police accept every murder they see as suicide without any further investigation. And the biggest issue the school addresses having to do with the deaths is whether early dismissal is appropriate or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how the adults expect the kids to be suicidal. I think it's part of the reason why the deaths are so readily accepted. It gets to the point where when the students die, it's like a breathe of relief from worrying about them.
ReplyDeleteI'd have liked to see you take this analysis a bit further. It's not unusual for teen movies to lack a stabilizing adult presence--in fact, that's extremely typical of the genre. It's not entirely clear from what you've said here what you think is really important (or not important) about this film's message (or deliberate lack of message). What do you think? Is it social satire, a satire about teen movies and the expectations the genre sets up, or just a cold-hearted festival of empty references?
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