I really enjoyed the movie Heathers, but Im the type of person who enjoys dark, ironic humor which is so satirical its shocking. In class and in the reading, we talked about what postmodernism is and what makes Heathers postmodern. I didnt realize just how empty the film is while watching it, but it really is comprised of nothing but references and allusions to other things. There is no overarching moral purpose in the film; the characters dont really learn a valulable lesson like teen-movies from John Hughes. In class, some people were amazed by how much this movie reminded them of their own highschool experience, which doesnt really surprise me for some reason. Heathers shows ( in a really cutting and over the top way) what high school is like, more than other films where lessons are learned and things are better than at the beginning of the film. The point is that there is no point, its all senseless and monotonously monstrous. Or should that be monstrously monotonous? Eh, either way I guess.
Que Sera, whatever will be will be. That pretty much sums it up.
Kill the queen bitch, another steps up to take control. Life goes on. If thats what you can call what these people have. I think that is the greatest irony of the film, suicide as a joke because the peoples lives are based on nothing but references to other things and dont have anything there of their own. In class we sort of decided (after great struggle to make him a hero in a variety of ways) that JD is really an empty and meaningless character. I think that all of the characters are really hollow and meaningless, and that is the meaning. Everything is meaningless. The power of the film is that many people see it as a good mirror of reality. I think it displays that no matter how much we want to attach signifigance in everything around us, like with Red hair scrunchy things or games of croquet, we are sadly mistaken in doing so. We had a good example of people doing this when we were talking about people blaming video games and people with trenchcoats in films for the tragedy at Columbine.
Or something like that. I dunno Im really sleepy, I probably missed the mark on the significance of postmodern ideas in this movie. I liked it alot though and thought it was really witty. Someone said it reminded them of Fight Club, which I didnt really see the same way myself but I must agree just because of the sense of really morose hilarity that entertains me so much.
One thing I brought up in class was whether this film would ever get made today? Would any mainstream filmmaker be able to do what Heathers does in this day and age? Personally I dont think anyone would because it seems so inappropriate now, but im interested to see what you guys think. Is America desensitized enough by violence to shrug the teen murders and high school bombings off? or is it a very sore area that no one will dare touch for a while? I dunno
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Films like "Heathers" are my kind of thing. I love dark comedies with a passion.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good arguement about it being just another empty post modern film. I like the way you use the opening and ending song to support your arguement. I like the idea of the meaningless being the meaning. It's true, what do they base their life values off of in the film? Which makes a solid commentary on our lives as students and the lives of those that have been lost.
I took the route of viewing it as the use of rhetorical hyperbole to parallel the reality of teenage suicide. My blog goes into detail about that. Maybe it's just wishful thinking and I'm looking for depth in a shallow pool. However, I know of a beautiful post modern film called "Things We Lost In the Fire" that deals with the concept of loss, grief and moving on in spite of the pain. It's gorgeous and it certainly has meaning. So maybe not all postmodern films are empty?
I agree with both of you on the point you guys make about life or the lives of others having no meaning to anyone in the film, it's all about personal gain socially and who is the most popular or has the control over the school. Not one character in the film truly cares about the value of life not even Veronica or the crazy hippie teacher, they both want attention whether from the news station or to be the new heather.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this film would be approved to be made today not in the world that we live in. It's unfortunate because it is so creative and really something different.
I really like this entry, because you explain how the film's lack of message or moral or happy ending is part of its satirical point, and thus perhaps more realistic than the typical teen movie. It's a nice way of resolving the question of whether or not the film's postmodern elements are just entirely empty, or more of a message themselves about mistaking movies for real life (or for that matter, mistaking the problems of very privileged midwestern teens as real life). I don't think it follows that therefore life has no meaning and high school is pointless (though it often seems so while you're in it) is that happy endings and pat moral lessons are pointless, and don't really reflect reality any more than the satirical premise of teen suicide as a way to be popular does.
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