Manic Masculinity In Veronica Sawyer

964 Words2 Pages

What initially sets Heathers apart from the classic teen movies of the eighties (Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, etc.), is that Veronica Sawyer is a complete character, with an arc that exists outside of male validation. She is able to persevere and refuses to fall into a traditional storyline in the opposition of terror, specifically masculine terror at the hands of J.D. If she wasn’t written as well, Veronica very well could have been a generic alt girl seen in the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. If that were the case, she would have only existed in the film to progress J.D’s narrative. Thankfully, this is not the case. From her fashion (lots of blue to correspond with the red, yellow, and green of the other Heathers), to her vernacular (“how …show more content…

When Veronica and J.D. kill Kurt and Ram, they forge a suicide note claiming that they were closeted lovers in a suicide pact. J.D. also brings a bag of items that would make it seem like the two jocks were on a gay lover’s tryst: a gay porno magazine, a candy dish, a Joan Crawford postcard, mascara, and mineral water. Veronica questions why J.D. would include mineral water, to which J.D. replies, “This is Ohio. If you don’t have a brewski in your hand, you might as well be wearing a dress”. Even J.D. is aware of the culture of the Midwest at the time (and still to this day to a certain extent). It is only in a hypermasculine culture created and dominated by compulsory heterosexuality and masculinity, that two popular and well off teens would need to kill themselves, just because they also happened to be gay. No one in Heathers realizes this. At Kurt and Ram’s funeral, Kurt’s dad cries over his son’s casket, saying “My son’s a homosexual, and I love him. I love my dead gay son”. J.D. leans over to Veronica and whispers, “Wonder how he’s react if his son had a limp wrist with a pulse”. It seems the only one who understands the effect of toxic masculinity as a result of Kurt and Ram’s death is J.D, but that’s the point. No one ever gets it in Heathers but J.D, that’s what …show more content…

Heathers plays these acts off casually, and is emphasized by neither Heather nor Veronica being shocked or surprised by what happens. Heather, tellingly, is most disgusted with herself during the night’s proceedings. After performing oral sex on one of the men, we see Heather alone, in a bathroom, spitting water out at a reflection of herself in the mirror. The abuses of men have shaped Heather and her entire self-perception, and the cruel actions she performs as top dog in her high

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