Daniella Fishkin
Julian Cornell
MEDST 200
16 May 2018
Film Analysis of Heathers
Michael Lehmann’s 1987 film, Heathers, was notable for not only its time, but used as a common trope among contemporary filmmakers today. Part of its appeal is the effectiveness of the movie’s combination of form and content to create a visual and mental masterpiece. The clear use of mis-en-scene to help establish the role of characters played a key role in Lehmann’s film. His manipulation of sound and color is both whimsical and effective in creating the original narrative and mis-en-scene that Heathers encompasses.
The opening scene of Heathers is a clever way of introducing the time period and relationship between the characters. The establishing shot provides the information that the scene takes place in a garden. The first shot is an extreme close up of a girl, Heather Chandler, tying her hair in a red scrunchie with her red nails. Scrunchies were a popular trend among teen girls in the 80s showing this hair belongs to a popular girl. The decision of making her scrunchie and nails red denotes power, as red is normally a symbol of power. This scrunchie is introduced and carried throughout the film as a symbol of power as Heather Duke and Veronica Sawyer each put on Heather’s scrunchie, they are given control of the school. When we see what this girl is wearing, through a mid-shot, we see her dressed in a blazer with large shoulder pads, another symbol of power. This overemphasized use of symbols of power could represent that her role is the “ lead mean girl”. Heathers opening on a close up shot of Heather Chandler establishes her role as the leader amongst her peers, and represents her importance. In addition, throughout the entirety of the scene, Heather Chandler is always in the middle of Heather Duke and Heather McNamara, in the center of the frame, and the shot follows her.
The mis-en-scene of Heathers is introduced from the very first moments of the film. Heather Chandler wears all red, has red nails, and plays with a red mallet and ball. Heather McNamara wears yellow, Heather Duke wears green, and Veronica Sawyer wears blue, black and white.
The other girls are introduced in the establishing shot which is a long shot. They sit within a small white fence, displaying they are an exclusive group. Each girl has her own designated color present in their clothing and matching croquet racket and ball. This could symbolize that each girl has a fixed position in their hierarchy which is a common canon in teen films of the era. In a high angle close up, they are shown stepping on flowers, further emphasizing their mean girl tendencies. This is an important shot, because up until now, the Heathers have been presented as friendly, well mannered girls. This scene is quickly juxtaposed with them trampling flowers. The lawn they then through is introduced in a tracking extreme long shot. The shot shows a perfectly trimmed, ornate lawn with white stone statues and flowers. The scene is very slow and casual in its editing to make it seem more realistic. When the Heathers reach their destination, they stop and drop their balls, ready to play. After the first two Heathers take their shot, Heather Chandler picks up her ball and kisses it, before taking the shot. This shows the flirtatious side seen later of Heather Chandler.
In a high angle shot, using shot reverse shot, the Heathers are seen looking down at a new character. The fourth girl is a brunette, Veronica Sawyer, contrasted against the light hair of the three girls. She appears to be buried in the ground, her head sticking out. The girls then laugh at her and hit croquet balls into their face, setting up the relationship of the three girls to this one girl. Veronica being buried deep into the ground while the Heathers are standing above her, shows the viewers Veronica’s place in the Heather Hierarchy.
The opening scene of Heathers follows the three heathers play a game of croquet. The decision of what game the girls played is appropriate. Croquet is considered to be a game played by upstanding members of a community. This highlights the Heathers as rich, upscale girls. Croquet is played with a small mallet and a ball. A mallet can be scene as a type of weapon. The Heathers walk through the garden holding their mallets, juxtaposing their upscale nature with cruel intentions.
The film soundtrack opens with “Que Sera Sera” by Doris Day, performed by Syd Straw. The song is calm with a light tempo, introducing the serenity of the opening scene. The song about a girl’s daydream of her ideal future. An appropriate song to open Heathers, because the film is about popular girls trying to live the ideal life. In addition, the lyrics mention that the future is inevitable, while the Heathers have no idea what is about to happen to them in their near future. There are few sounds aside from the soundtrack. The first sound heard above “Que Sera Sera” is the sound of the Heathers trampling the flowers. The other is the smack of croquet mallets hitting balls. These two sounds are heard to showcase the cruel tendencies of the Heathers. After Heather McNamara’s hit, she misses and says “damn”, the first word of dialogue. This introduces the profanity the Heathers use often in conversation, further proving the idea that the Heathers aren’t as innocent as they appear to be. Incidentally when Veronica is hit in the head by Heather Chandler’s ball, we hear the girls laugh.
The scene that displays immense amount of mis-en-scene, that delves right into the aesthetic themes of Heathers is an hour and twenty minutes into the film. Veronica has a nightmare that JD kills Heather Duke and she must once again, pay her respects to a dead friend. The scene of Heather Duke’s funeral embodies the themes of Heathers with its whimsical outfits and color schemes juxtaposed with a dark scenario. As mentioned previously, Heather Duke’s color was green as repeated through her wardrobe and accessories. It is only appropriate that the filmmakers embody her green theme in her funeral.
A high angle shot of Heather Duke laying in her white satin coffin introduces the scene. The coffin looks to be resting on green grass. Heather is dressed in a green lace dress with flower embellishments, further establishing her role as the green Heather. Her dress and floral decor embody how green and natural her character is. She holds a bouquet of green, yellow, blue, and white flowers. There are two plastic blow up red roses crossing over her, atop her bouquet.
The real flowers could symbolize her friendships with Heather McNamara and Veronica, while the fake red flowers could symbolize her relationship with Heather Chandler for what it was-fake. Throughout the movie, the color red symbolizes power and popularity. It’s seen in what Heather Chandler always wore, and when the football players died they had red helmets and red footballs to show they had power in the school. Heather Duke’s fake red flowers could represent her fake popularity.
The camera then circles upward to reveal a priest dressed in red, yellow, and green; the Heathers’ colors. He begins talking with the camera upside-down, perhaps establishing how Veronica’s world is being turned upside down. The camera rotates so the priest is upright. The camera then turns to show the people at the funeral form the point of view of the priest. Everyone is seen wearing white graduation gowns, old fashioned 3D glasses (one red lease, one blue), and four people are holding plastic roses. The 3D glasses could show that no one is there for the purpose of sharing their condolences. They are there to watch the show unfold, watch another student in their school commit suicide. As the camera pans over them, they show no remorse, appearing almost bored. There is a small issue of continuity editing in which once the camera pans up, it seems that in Heather Duke’s coffin is now filled with fake green grass. By her feet there are two more fake roses. There are two large plastic red roses in the foreground of the shot as tall as the frame.
In the window behind the priest, and the windows in the back of the church have blue lights streaming in. Blue is Veronica Sawyer’s color and many scenes of her have blue lighting. The blue coming in from the window shows that this is a part of Veronica’s universe. Jump cut to Veronica, the camera slowly starts zooming in toward her. She is seen standing at the back of the church, looking on, dressed in her signature blue, juxtaposed against red light shining from behind her, a reflection of Heather Chandler. The camera then turns back to zoom into Heather Duke, showing where Veronica is focused, the camera displaying her guilt.
The music gets louder when Heather Chandler walks in to talk to Veronica, further emphasizing the key role she plays in everyone’s lives. She is dressed in red and black stripes and her hair is all up in a Frankenstein-like fashion. Her outfit is similar to Beetlejuice, symbolizing coming back from the afterlife. Their conversation takes place using shot reverse shot. Heather Chandler then grabs Veronica’s head and shoves her down, into a “plate of spaghetti” symbolizing her ultimate demise. The decision to use Veronica’s point of view when she is shoved down makes it a little more scary for the audience, as if they are feeling it too. This action can be a foreshadow for how JD is coming for Veronica next.
The sound of the scene plays a key role in setting the mood. The score is “Third Funeral” by David Newman. It opens with a bang and bell, a common sound used in movies when someone dies. The priest’s words are still heard while the music, an ominous chorus singing angelically. As the song becomes more haunting with sounds of howls of wind, the priest’s voice gets louder until he is almost shouting. From the way the scene is taken using shot reverse shot, it appears that the priest is talking directly to Veronica as he shouts “the way that life can suck”, referencing what JD told Veronica he would forge in Heather Duke’s suicide note. In many dream sequences in movies, a common way of waking up the character is to bring the dialogue from their real life into the dream. While Veronica is talking to Heather Chandler, Heather starts talking in the words her mother is using to wake her up. As Veronica asks Heather “What are you doing here?”, Heather responds “I made your favorite- spaghetti, lots of oregano”. Heather then yells, in the voice of Veronica’s mother, “Dinner!” which ultimately wakes Veronica up.
Heathers, directed by Michael Lehmann in 1987 is a black comedy about three Heathers and their ultimate downfall as the popular clique as Veronica, a friend of the Heathers teams up with JD, an allegorical social justice warrior trying to take down the schools hierarchy. The form of the film assisted in providing information about the narrative. Whether is it clothing explaining personalities, or camera movement to pick up emotions, Lehmann brilliantly meshes together film form and content.
How have the filmmakers arranged and constructed the elements of mise-en-scène? How are they utilized to reveal story and character information? What tone or effect does the organization of mise-en-scène produce? What role is played by the production design?
How have the filmmakers organized space and plot information through editing? What characterizes the editing and how does it contribute to the narrative? How does editing serve to influence our perception of the main character(s) and the scenario? What is the role of pacing and the duration of the shots? How does editing encourage us to identify with the characters?
Consider the role of sound. What role does the score play in enhancing characterization and mood and how might it convey theme? How is the soundtrack, including both diegetic and non-diegetic sound, utilized and to what effect? Please discuss the score (the music), the dialogue and the sound effects.
How is framing utilized? What is the role of camera movement in the sequence? How are camera height, level, distance and angle utilized?
Reflect upon the role of narrative structure and genre for this film. What expectations do we have as a result? How do genre and narrative provide a framework for our understanding of the story as it unfolds?
Please support your opinions with specific examples but do not provide a synopsis of the action of the scene except where necessary to elucidate your point(s). In your response, it is critical that you utilize proper essay format with an introduction, conclusion, explicitly stated thesis and logically developed argument. Please make sure to have a coherent argument and relate each of the parts of the essay to one another. The essay should be at least 7, but no more than 10 pages in length, double spaced.