Obviously, the turn of events present in the film is to the extreme, but the film accurately shows the need for people in high school to be liked and seen as "popular". As soon as Heather Chandler dies, Heather Duke doesn't bat an eye lash to take over dead Heather's spot. Even when Heather dies, "suicide gave her depth," and the many people that hated her before her tragic death, showed up to her funeral. High school students change with the trend. They conform, and in the film it was the trend to mourn Heather's death, but no one really cared. Even Heather's own "friends" weren't sad and almost happy that the Queen B was gone. You might think this plot takes the pressures of high school to ridiculous levels, but the film uses hyperbole to explain the stereotypes of mean girls and cliques in high school. The film tackles many issues that teens face, like the pressure to always be on top or fit in and to follow the order of social hierarchies. The film also uses hyperbole to put high school issues into perspective. Sure, your friends may be annoying, but at least no one in your school is trying to blow up the school.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Are You A Heather?
Every girl deals with mean girls at some point in their life, but the posse of "Heathers" that rule the school in the film, Heathers, takes it to an extreme. In the film, there is a group of four girls, all named Heather, except one named Veronica. The "Heathers" are the group of girls that everyone hates but secretly loves. They are the classic mean girls that feed off of other people's weaknesses. Although Veronica has been friends with the girls for a long time, she starts to disapprove of the other girls' cruel behavior, and is seen as the "rebel" of the group. When Veronica and her new boyfriend, J.D. confront clique leader Heather Chandler and accidentally poison her, they make it appear a suicide. Soon Veronica realizes that J.D. is intentionally killing students he does not like, and he wants to blow up the school. She races to stop J.D. while also clashing with the clique's new leader, Heather Duke.
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The points about conformity and hyperbole are really good but I feel like you are missing some of the other situations "Heathers" go through. I may be wrong because I know the play better than the movie, but popularity itself seems to be an issue. When reading through a synopsis of the movie didn't Veronica lose standing with the Heathers because she refused sex and to just act like a popular because that was what populars acted like. Following the Status Quo is a huge part of the Heathers and although you do touch on it, you don't really explain the importance of it.
ReplyDeleteThink about the hyperbole of the Heathers vs J.D.. Where the Heathers follow the Status Quo of the popular girls,"rich, snobby, mean, and free with their actions". J.D. seems to be trying to break the status Quo, he tries to destroy the high school which is like a physical representation of the status quo, but in doing so falls into the status quo of an loner who hates the world and blames it for his problems.
As I was saying you touch on many of the some of the issues within the "Heathers" but also miss so many of the other ones.
I can see where you are coming from with this ¨Are You a Heather¨ character description. And I can see where you are trying to address what people specifically are like in real life and what other characters they might represent. This could be a good thing or a bad thing for their rep.
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