 Maygen Bazemore

English 101

April 5, 2016

Phillips

Heathers

Heathers, the 1988 film starring Winona Ryder (Veronica) and Christian Slater (JD), is a cult classic that not only addresses topics that were important in the eighties, but has also touches areas that are just as, if not more so, debated now. Purging, rape, bullying, and suicide are all seen throughout the movie. What really sets this film apart from other high school movies is the way the tragedies are handled. Each catastrophe is spoken about casually in Heathers; almost like the writer of this film, Daniel Waters, wanted the viewers to realize how ridiculous it is to treat these issues so inadvertently. The clearly defined barrier between the teenagers and adulthood is the primary theme of the movie. Heathers uses dark humor to point out the significance each topic seen in the film, and the similarities and differences between adults and teenagers.

 Heather Duke's purging issues are brought up a couple times throughout Heathers, Heather Chandler made fun of Heather Duke for being Bulimic. "Grow up, Heather. Bulimia is so '87" (Heathers 11:06). This comment in itself is shocking to hear. Heather Chandler has made this illness sound like a fashion trend that someone can just throw out when it gets old. Eating disorders aren't that easy to give up. Later, after Heather Chandler's death, Heather Duke was seen eating, and yet all Heather McNamara and Veronica did joke about her actually digesting food. Neither of them seemed to be the slightest bit affected by her improvement. "Reindl asserts that the essence of recovering is the development of a sense of self or, more precisely, the ability to sense the self" (Brouard 523). Developing a sense of self is a bit difficult without the support of loved ones, which is why it is so absurd that none of her friends seem to care about the illness. "Experts often attribute the increase to the intense focus in the popular media on thinness as an ideal for young women and to a greater recognition of the condition by health care professionals" (Shepphird). Bulimia became a trend because the media made both purging and the outcome of purging essential. They used to, and continue to make unhealthy girls look popular, attractive and desirable, making it seem like making yourself sick to lose weight is necessary to have a good life. 

Another issue shown several times in Heathers is rape. The actual word itself was never mentioned, but unwanted sexual actions were taken in multiple scenes. The first scene is at the college party. A college male takes Heather Chandler to a secluded room and convinces her to perform what is implied to be oral sex after she tried to talk him into going back to the party. After, she is seen rinsing out her mouth and looks quite disgusted with herself. Later, when Heather McNamara and Veronica go on a double date with Kurt and Ram, you can see Heather's flailing arms in the background as Ram holds down her arms, and yet, Veronica does nothing to help her friend. This scene can be argued as to whether or not she is actually being raped, but it would not be a surprise if it was meant to be rape in this movie. "Rape Casual Attitudes Among Adolescents," an article by Gloria Cowan and Robin Campbell, states "Felty, Ainslie, and Geib (1991) found that one fifth of their adolescent sample has experienced unwanted sexual activity" (Cowan and Campbell 145). Rape is a situation that doesn't get the attention it deserves. It's an issue that isn't spoken about because it's "uncomfortable" to handle. It's also a hidden issue because victims believe they're at fault, making them reluctant to report the case. "The research findings indicate that rape acceptance and victim blame in acquaintance rape are prevalent among adolescents" (Cowan and Campbell 145). If society will stop looking past rape like its nothing, similar to, but not to the extreme of how rape is viewed in Heathers, victims won't be ashamed for the crime they didn't cause and will get the help they need to recover. 

Martha Dunnstock was the primary bullied character in Heathers. Not even five minutes into the movie, Heather Chandler gets Veronica to forge a letter from a jock to Martha, just to make fun of her. They continue to poke fun throughout the movie, until Martha decides to attempt suicide, but survives. Even after, Heather Duke makes Martha's attempt into a joke. "No ...  that's the punchline. She's alive and in stable condition. Just another case of a geek trying to imitate the popular people and failing miserably." Martha isn't the only character bullied in this movie, though. Heather Duke is a prime example that shows even popular teens get bullied. Heather Chandler talks down to Heather Duke on several occasions. Once Heather Duke becomes the "top" Heather, she begins to bully Heather McNamara. "These researchers found that victims of abuse are often more likely to be disruptive, aggressive, and violent than their nonabused counterparts, and they explained such results as socially learned behaviors" (Ma 354). Heather Duke learned her oppressive behaviors after she was mistreated by Heather Chandler, which is an example of the victim-bully cycle. Heather Duke wasn't the only character bullied by Heather Chandler. After refusing to have sex with a college student and puking on the floor, Veronica was ready to leave the college party. Heather Chandler was not ready to leave, and promised to ruin Veronica's reputation. "A good deal has been written about girls and 'relational aggression' where psychological and emotional attacks are prominent, e.g. where girls suddenly shun one of their friends for no apparent reason, thereby causing her great distress" (Duncan and Owens 306). Kurt and Ram also bully the two nerds and attempt to bully JD. This entire movie just goes to show how anyone could be bullied, no matter your social status, appearance, or gender. 

Suicide in Heathers is taken unusually lightly. After the first "suicide" by Heather Chandler, the most popular girl in school, everyone is calm about the incident. The first scene after her death is the faculty and staff of the high school discussing how much time should they let the students take off. The guidance counselor, Pauline Fleming, finally spoke out, saying "I find it profoundly disturbing that we're told of the tragic destruction of youth, and all we can think to talk about is adequate morning times and misused vocabulary words!" (Heathers 31:55). Several comments are made after that show the lack of sympathy that both the students and adults have, such as the stoner girl summarizing the incident report from the newspaper. There was no compassion in the tone of her voice. The scene after Kurt and Ram "committed suicide," about fifty-five minutes into the movie, the Heathers are walking to school when they are stopped by a girl explaining what had happened. The expressions on both of the Heathers faces did not change; they just sat there, listening to the gossip like it was nothing. The girl telling the news even had a smile on her face as she explained that the two jocks had killed themselves. Later, the day after Veronica faked her death, Pauline Fleming stopped Veronica in the hallway. "JD told me you committed suicide last night! We have to talk, whether to kill yourself or not is one of the most important decisions a teenager can make." (Heathers 1:26:34) Ms. Fleming's response is an odd way to handle a false suicide. She seems to almost be scolding Veronica with no sympathy or caution in her voice.

 In reality, no one would handle suicides as easily as all of the people throughout this film have, which is why this movie is so unique. "When a student commits suicide, many others are placed at risk for serious mental health problems" (Celotta). Realistically, students would be shaken up about their classmates committing suicide. The lack of concern or reactions in the film shows just how ridiculous it is to take all of these things, suicide, bullying, and purging, so lightly. Society says that bullying is wrong, but when it comes down to it, people are constantly getting made fun of because of their appearance, their intelligence, their social status, or basically anything else that could possibly be "out of the norm," and everyone just looks right past it. No one thinks it's wrong until someone loses their life over the situation, and then it all of a sudden becomes an issue. In Heathers not even the suicide is an issue, which sounds terribly cruel, but it puts our reactions to bullying in perspective. 

In Heathers, there is a clearly defined barrier between adults and teenagers. The characteristics of all of the adults almost seem to be put in a teenager's viewpoint. They're all ingenuous. Veronica's parents are both prime examples of how simple-minded the adults are. "Goddamn, will someone tell me why I read these spy novels" (Heathers 16:02), is essentially all he says in the entire movie. Later, he makes the same statement about smoking a cigar, and to both lines, Veronica responds, "Cause you're an idiot." JD and his father even jokingly switch roles, where JD acts like the father figure and his dad is the son. At one point, JD's dad knocks on his door and asks JD for help with his homework. JD's response was, "Not right now, tiger, I'm a little busy." This is supposed to represent how teenagers view their parents and other adult figures. Teens just do what it takes to keep their parents entertained, much like a parent would to their naive children. Even the cops are seen smoking a marijuana joint in their police car; not at all the mature cops they should be. None of the adults have large roles in the movie. Pauline Fleming has the largest role, and seems to be the most realistic adult in the film. She is viewed as ignorant by everyone, including both other adults and teens. 

Even though the barricade between adults and teenagers is there, they aren't as dissimilar as they seem to believe. The most natural human in this entire film is the farthest from adulthood. About fifty-six minutes in, at Kurt and Ram's funeral, one of their younger sisters is seen crying over her loss. She is the only character seen in this film that actually cried over a death, which is the most natural reaction to a passing. Neither the teens nor the adults are found mourning over a death, which makes them a bit like each other. When Veronica sees the child crying, she realizes what she has done. It's almost as if she reverts to childhood a bit for a moment; like there is still a morsel of her childhood left in her. 

Heathers, the 1988 film starring Wynona Ryder and Christian Slater, is a cult classic for a reason. It may seem like just some dark comedy about murders that were framed as suicide, but Daniel Waters has created a movie about much more than that. He has managed to capture areas that were not only major in the eighties, but are also still frequently discussed over thirty years later. His dark humor has surpassed several levels of absurdity just to point out how irrational society is with purging, bullying, rape, and suicide, and compares and contrasts adults and teenagers. Heathers is a cult classic that will hopefully take part in making our future society easier to bear with. 

Brouard, Pierre. "Sensing the Self: Women's Recovery from Bulimia."JSTOR. ITHAKA, 2005. Web. 

06 Apr. 2016.

Celotta, Beverly. "The Aftermath of Suicide: Postvention In a School Setting."Academic Search 

Complete. EBSCO, Oct. 1995. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.

Cowan, Gloria, and Robin Campbell. "Rape Causal Attitudes Among Adolescents." Academic 

Search Complete. EBSCO, n.d. Web. 2016

Duncan, Neil, and Larry Owens. "Bullying, Social Power and Heteronormativity: Girls' Constructions 

of Popularity." Academic Search Complete. EBSCO, 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Heathers. Dir. Michael Lehmann. Perf. Winona Ryder Christian Slater. 1988. Videocassette.

Ma, Xin. "Bullying and Being Bullied: To What Extent Are Bullies Also Victims?" JSTOR. ITHAKA, 

Summer 2001. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.

Shepphird, Sari. "Bulimia Nervosa." Encyclopaedia Britanica. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
