Talkin’ HEATHERS with Andrew “G-Man” Robinson

Up until now, most of the entries in the “Falling” series have been movies I’ve watched umpteen times over the years. If I didn’t own VHS copies of them over the years, they were ones I at least watched relentlessly when they were broadcast on TV on Friday nights.

Which brings us to HEATHERS.

Growing up, this wasn’t a film I knew all that well owing to the fact that I only ever watched it in bits and pieces. In fact it was only ten years ago when Lindsay and I first met that I watched it end-to-end for the first time.

Still, having those scenes, lines, and pieces growing up felt better than nothing so I decided to offer it up for the writing series. In my call for submissions last week, it was actually the first one to be claimed.

Here’s the discussion that came from Andrew “G-Man” Robinson watching it for the first time…

 

Ryan McNeil: So before we dig in, did you have any particular preconceptions coming into HEATHERS?

Andrew Robinson: Not many, other than expecting to be annoyed by Christian Slater as there are very few films I’ve seen him in that I liked him in. I had heard it toed a line close to Election in giving a very interesting perception of High School, but what I received was more than I could ever imagine.

RM: Uh-oh, I like vintage Christian Slater, so this might not go well. Back to the matter at hand, how was it that you hadn’t seen the film up until now?

AR: I’ve been one of the weirdest film enthusiasts of the online personalities that I know and talk to. While I’ve always had a close relationship with movies I didn’t actively seek them out for a long time in my life. Especially when digging into the 80s films like this. I would’ve been more likely to seek out a Citizen Kane and American in Paris (as I’ve both seen) than ever randomly decide on Heathers without a little nudge from the internet.

RM: We’re all a little funny when it comes to what we decide to pull down from the shelves, so I’m sure you won’t be judged too harshly. What were some of your overall impressions of it now that you’ve seen it?

AR: Well I guess my first impressions were straight up surprise. I didn’t know what I had signed up for (other than high school and Christian Slater) so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Then the film opens with that scene of the three Heathers (loved that reasoning for the title) playing croquet and Veronica being dug into the ground being the target and I was immediately entranced. The film continued with a lot of great scenes where I didn’t know whether to take them literally or spend some time pondering what this meant in a cathartic metaphorical sense for Veronica as a frustrated teen.

So I’m about to stop myself with this overly pedantic response I say I sort of loved the film and had a lot of fun with it and am not sure how controversial (if at all since I have done no readings of other people’s thoughts on this movie) my decision on how to take the ending of this movie is.

RM: Well now you have my attention, what is your theory on the ending?

AR: Well firstly, contrary to any evidence in the film, I’ve decided to believe that J.D. (Slater) is a figment of Veronica’s imagination. She’s conjured up this anti cool culture guy who comes out of nowhere and happens to offer her a way to achieve all her personal goals, even if she doesn’t want to act on them willingly at any point in being a part of them.

So when we reach the end of the film and she saves the school, is not okay with telling the remaining Heather that she’s the top of the pyramid and Slater kills himself it seems all goo convenient for it go be anything else.

RM: Interesting. It’s like you’re seeing him almost a pseudo-Tyler Durden. I’m no expert in the film but I’ve never come across that theory before. Thing is though, too many other people acknowledge him – and the first time he brandishes a gun, Veronica’s not around.

AR: I know it’s a cop out but I felt that the shoe fit. I remember a year (or maybe two) back someone posted on the internet this theory that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was another Tyler Durden-esque film. Proposing that Ferris was a made up person that Cameron made up to give him the gumption to get out of bed and have an awesome day, I thought about it really hard and recognized that this argument could be made for almost any movie.

The moment you put the reliability of the protagonist in question then everything in the film is up for questioning. I could easily say that this entire movie is a fever dream and we just didn’t get that end where we see Veronica wake up. I know it’s a ridiculous cop out in explaining my reasoning, but it’s kind of how I’ve decided to take this film, and yes when I hear people use this argument for movies a little too easily I do pounce and call “bullshit” on that.

RM: Well speaking of Veronica and where her relationship with J.D. ultimately takes the story, there was an alternate version of this film written (and perhaps even shot, though I’m not sure). There’s an alternate ending where Veronica takes herself out instead. Do you think that would have played better or worse?

AR: Worse. The character progression was all about Veronica rising up the rankings in the school. At first it began as am accident and she never goes full on Bonnie and Clyde with the Christian Slater character, but that’s why her taking herself out would’ve never made sense.

Veronica ending her life would’ve only made sense if she had come to some realization that she was to blame for these horrible actions, which obviously she never did take blame for, which is proved by her stopping the bombing at the end of the film.

RM: Strange though, because she becomes slightly more aware of what’s happening to those around her and what hand she plays in it as the story goes along. I’m not saying she needs to rise to a “I must kill myself for the greater good” level of awareness, but it’s intriguing that she never gets to that point.

Y’know, as I was rewatching it, I couldn’t help but notice that it has a really grisly stripe running through it. HEATHERS is awful dark in tone for a teen film isn’t it?

AR: I think that’s mostly the reason why I want to believe in my theory about J.D. The dark tone is what made me keep in with the film completely because it just kept me trying harder and harder to prove this theory and kept me reading deeper and deeper into every line that a teacher or a Heather would say because I just believe that there was more than what’s just on the surface. Once again, not needing proof from the film, just what I see looking at it.

RM: So armed with that darkness, how does this movie stack up for you against other teen movies of its ilk – for instance CLUELESS, MEAN GIRLS and EASY A?

AR: I’ve actually never really seen MEAN GIRLS (in its entirety), EASY A is a film I didn’t completely love, and CLUELESS I barely remember. So how does it compare? Awesome!

RM: For me that edge comes back to the writing, even just down to the throwaway lines like “Fuck me gently with a chainsaw”. Is the dialogue still kick-ass, or it it just me?

AR: The writing is ridiculously sharp. But I think what makes it come off well is the banter between the Heathers, which we laugh at because it’s these preppy girls pretending like everything is so do or die at this stage of their life, and the school teachers (related to the suicides and their reactions). It’s basically great from us laughing at these people because we’re looking back and recognizing how stupid these things they did and said back then.

RM: “Eskimo…”

AR: I think what worked best about HEATHERS was the depiction of the high school wrapped with the mass suicides going on. It reminded me a lot of WORLD’S GREATEST DAD and how the school decided to treat these suicides. These girls were obviously not nice people but for some reason no matter who died the entire school started to go on about how loved they were. It’s that whole thing about people not wanting to talk shit about someone just because they’ve passed on no matter how horrible that person was in real life.

RM: Interesting that you mention that because I think while it’s been a while since either you or I was in high school, that this feeling of disenfranchisement and social status ruling all hasn’t changed very much in twenty-some years

AR: For that thought I point to 21 JUMP STREET from this year. It does touch on the change in social classes in high schools, and I kind of believe that.

RM: Damn that’s right. Well played! It couldn’t all have been bread and roses for you with this film, what didn’t you like about it?

AR: Does Christian Slater count??? I want to complain that he’s exactly what you expect. He tries so hard to make a James Dean impression, but continues to prove why performances like Chris Klein in LEGEND OF CHUN-LI was so memorable. Honestly otherwise there isn’t much I could complain about, the rest of the film remains fun and darkly comedic in the vain that I needed it to be to overshadow all of those things that bothered me (i.e. Christian Slater – he gets plural).

RM: On re-watching it, the one thing that really stuck out for me was the level of homophobia that wouldn’t play in a pop film like this now. Kind of a shame really since I think it ages the film a little more than it should.

Was there anything for you that made the film feel dated?

AR: Well everything about the school society. The fashions and such are easy to point out. I guess what dates the film the most for me has to be the general look of the film. It looks so much like PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE and DO THE RIGHT THING and such. It has this brightness to it that just screams late 80s, and any film made today that looks like that is done intentionally because it’s more than likely set in the 80s or referencing that time somewhat.

RM: So are you going to buck the trend, or will you keep to the party line in this feature of scoring the film a 7 out of 10?

AR: I guess it would get a solid 8.5 at least. I think based on the fact that the discussion of whether Slater is real or not and how valid the thought can be (you can tell me if you buy the theory or not) lets the film be just a bit better than anyone thinks it might be.