Heathers 2018 Trailer Thoughts
How do you screw up this badly???
Ever since I saw the first promo image for the new Heathers TV show, I got bad vibes. The more promotional stuff they release, the worse it gets. The trailer just came out andā¦hoo, boy.
First of all, you can tell theyāre trying wayĀ too hard with this project. The original film (and, subsequently, the musical adaptation) has a remarkable dialogue pattern, especially when it comes to creative insults.Ā āFuck me gently with a chainsaw?ā Incredible.Ā āSuck my third nipple?āĀ āOh my clit???ā Iām sorryā¦what the hell was that? All the dialogue in the trailer is obviously trying to be witty, but just falling flat and sounding horrifically unnatural. The crazy dialogue worked in the original because it was a mockery of the way popular girls would talk, with made-up slang, but with a twist that made it memorable. There was a shock to the words, but they felt *right* coming out of the charactersā mouths. The trailerās dialogue seems so incredibly forced.
Second, whatās up with JD?Ā āLetās snort adderall, make out, and kill Heather.ā JD is an edgy punk, but *yeesh*. The actorās delivery was incredibly stiff. JDās character works because heās edgy but charismatic. He gives off the aura of someone whoās half-joking, so that when the characters (and audience) realize that heās actually serious, itās terrifying. Christian Slater did this brilliantly, as have the JDs from the stage adaptation that Iāve heard and seen. The trailer gives me nothing to like about JDās character. Iām getting Light from Netflix Death Note flashes- an unremarkable, too-edgy-for-his-own-good, boring character. It could just be the trailerās editing, but my hopes arenāt all that high.
Can we also mention how the trailer spoils almost everything? JD really being the main villain, the murder/fake suicides plots, a character getting paralyzed??? I get that you need to sell the dark tone- you need to show people what youāre watching. So tease Heather Chandlerās murder, but donāt spoil just how much everything escalates. Thereās a delicate balance, since this spoiler-y point is part of the main premise, but you can sell it *much* better.
The scenes of the teachers chatting about how minority/unconventionally attractive people can be popular now is so damn forced. Why would teachers discuss that??? Why donāt they think an Asian girl can be popular??? What is happening??? Why did they overplay this point instead of letting it be natural???
Now, the elephant in the room: the newĀ ādiverseā Heathers.
I get what they were going for. And itās an interesting idea. Social norms being turned on their heads and seeing how the dynamic of the typical high school cliches change. This could have been a good idea.
But Heathers is the *wrong story for it.*
Heathers is a story about the following:
1.) The stereotypical Popular Kids vs. Social Outcasts dynamic
2.) The sensationalization of teen suicide
3.) Toxic relationships of all kinds: platonic and romantic
The point of Heathers is showing the typical stories of rebelling against the status quo (nerd becomes popular, outcasts get revenge on bullies) and turning the audienceās expectations on their heads. Itās supposed to be stereotypical. The Heathers need to be your conventionally attractive, stuck-up bitches youād expect to find in a high school, not the outcasts. Veronica and JD have to be the outcasts. The audience roots for the underdogs to take over the status quo and find themselves horrified when things go too far. And thatās not to say you canāt make the Heathers diverse! For instance, in the musical adaptation, the original actress for Heather Duke was a Korean-American woman. But they need to have the Stereotypical Mean Girl vibe- they *cannot* be the outcasts because *the story hinges upon other characters filling that role*.Ā
Thatās without mentioning the unfortunate implications. Iām a firm believer that a characterās race, gender, or sexuality doesnāt mean that writers or fans should treat them differently than you would any other character. But do the creators of this show not realize what the content of the story is? A couple of straight white kids murdering and attempting to murder minority kids (no matter how cruel they are) carries a LOT of unfortunate implications. Moral ambiguity or not, itās sketchy. Especially since they make the murders look like suicides; suicide is a significant problem with LGBT kids and people who fit the other myriad of labels being pushed upon the Heathers. Itās insensitive.Ā
My main point about this is: you can have minority characters as villains, you can try to shake up the status quo with your storytelling, you can try to put new twists on a preexisting story. But you need to think about *what your story is* and, given the cultural climate, what message these decisions are going to send.Ā
I love Heathers, and I know a personās thoughts about an adaptation shouldnāt be consumed with how it compares to the original. But this show is clearly trying to market off of nostalgia for the movie (see the shot of Heather C. falling onto the table) and younger generationsā love for the musical adaptation. Itās trying to be different while imitating the original and failing on all accounts. Itās possible the show could prove me wrong. But I sincerely doubt it.
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