Heathers Influence On Teenage Girls

(By-line)

Michael Lehmann’s 1988 black comedy, Heathers, modernises the characteristic Gothic genre – cracking the age old stereotype of the damsel in distress and exploring dark taboos that no one has since dared to remake in a teen film.

As killer heels click down the halls of Westerburg High School, students part like the red sea: making way for the queen bee who rules the school with a toxic mix of cruelty and fear. Her ruby scrunchie is a sign of her reigning terror and a threat to all. She is wealthy. She is manipulative. She is Heather Chandler. Wouldn’t life be better without the very existence of this evil red queen? Well, If Heathers has taught us anything, its that “it is one thing to want somebody out of your life, it is another

Veronica Sawyer is less one-dimensional than the average damsel in distress, and instead embodies a new type of gothic heroine. What makes Veronica such a compelling character is that she isn’t labelled as hysterical or over-emotional, but rather aggressive, clever, rebellious, and beautiful. Heathers has changed the way teenage girls are portrayed on screen – it acknowledges the complexity of the female adolescent and breaks the unpopular/in need of a makeover cliché. She is neither innocent nor vulnerable, and not at all helpless. At first Veronica seems unruffled about the murder of her enemy, and rather takes it as a joke when watching the sappy aftermath. Blinded by J.D’s charm, she is then fooled into murdering another two students. Finally, her intuition kicks in. Instead of being controlled by J.D, Veronica declares her Bonnie and Clyde days to be over and ends their relationship. She eventually matches the pieces together and discovers J.D’s plan to blow up their high school, and singlehandedly fights J.D and saves the school from a deathly massacre. His power over Veronica shatters – and she ultimately saves herself. Bloody and wounded, J.D surrenders: “You’ve got power. Power I didn’t think you